The New York Giants' starting lineup feels mostly set in stone, and we haven't even seen this team play a single snap of training camp yet. There are still a few smaller questions and position battles that need to be settled, but John Harbaugh's vision for this franchise feels set in stone.
While ESPN's Seth Walder, Aaron Schatz, and Mike Clay ranked the best starting lineups in the NFL, they had the Giants come in at a measly 23rd. And regardless of how you feel about the placement, it's hard to ignore that some of their projected Week 1 starters for this team feel a bit off the mark.
The goal is for Harbaugh to raise the floor of this roster, which requires starting your best 22 players against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1. It's quickly become clear that third-round rookie Malachi Fields is one of the best players they have on offense. However, the trio didn't name him a starter.
Malachi Fields was not included in the Giants' projected starting lineup
Instead of starting the man who has been lighting up OTAs with his contested-catch ability, ESPN projected that Big Blue would run with Darnell Mooney and Darius Slayton as their starting wideouts behind Malik Nabers, with Fields set to start his rookie season as the WR4 behind these veterans.
This could just be an instance of rolling with seniority and giving the 22-year-old the rookie treatment, but this still makes no sense. Nabers is no guarantee to be full go for Week 1 as he continues rehabbing a torn ACL suffered in Week 4 against the Chargers, and without him, this WR room is bleak.
Mooney fell just short of 1,000 receiving yards in 2024, but he's the NFL's equivalent of Russian Roulette. For as talented as he is, he's equally volatile, and don't even get me started on Slayton, because that guy has no business starting for any team at this point, and especially not this one.
The Giants drafted Fields because they have no other receiver like him. At 6-foot-4 and 218 pounds, he's the true big-bodied target they've coveted, and he should emerge as Jaxson Dart's favorite target in the red zone. And once Nabers is healthy, they should be the future of this receiver room.
The former Notre Dame Fighting Irishman has quickly impressed this new coaching staff throughout the summer, and that should only continue as training camp unfolds. It shouldn't take long for him to make an impact, but these three clearly haven't been following Malachi Fields and the G-Men.
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