The most fun part about the first offseason with a new head coach and new coaching staff is seeing all the ways a team finds ways to improve areas they struggled in in the prior season. For the New York Giants, you can call out several different position groups, but one is already starting to stand out.
Not the receiver room or the DBs, but the linebacker room had the biggest improvement of John Harbaugh's first offseason in New York. The Giants swapped out Bobby Okereke for Tremaine Edmunds and Arvell Reese, who somehow fell into their lap with the fifth pick in the 2026 Draft.
There's no sugarcoating how much better Big Blue got at linebacker under Harbs and new DC Dennard Wilson between those two guys alone. It's a night-and-day difference, and the infusion of athleticism in the Giants' linebacker room is being praised as such. Their LB overhaul came in eighth in a ranking of the 10 most improved position groups of the offseason from ESPN's Ben Solak:
"Reese and Edmunds should give the Giants an infusion of team speed and stopping power at the second level of the defense," Solak wrote. "And New York's 2.5 yards allowed before contact per carry last season -- the league's worst figure -- should recover back to league average.""
Tremaine Edmunds and Arvell Reese are raising the bar for the Giants
Not only did he further justify Okereke's release, he made it clear the G-Men improved by signing Edmunds. Despite his struggles in 2025, he's younger, bigger, and faster than his predecessor, and Joe Schoen helped draft him in the first round in the 2018 NFL Draft as the assistant GM in Buffalo.
However, Solak noted that's not the only move that's turning heads: the Reese pick is too. The 20-year-old got buzz as someone who'd transition to edge rusher in the NFL, but in New York, he'll complement Edmunds as an off-ball LB, but will also be a rotational edge rusher due to his versatility.
By bringing in two freak athletes at the linebacker position, the Giants are much scarier on the second level of the defense. And just like many of us do, Solak expects this pair to help elevate a New York defense that was one of the worst in the NFL at stopping the run for the last half-decade.
Linebackers set the tone for the defense. They take pressure off the defensive line, are elite tacklers, and offer help in coverage. And going from Okereke to Edmunds and Reese is a change fans should be eating up. Now we won't have to rely on Darius Muasau or Demetrius Flanagan-Fowles to play key roles. Micah McFadden is now a high-end rotational guy because of these two as wel.
The Super Bowl-winning coach worked with some elite backers in Baltimore. Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, C.J. Mosley, and Roquan Smith have all been All-Pros. And Solak knows Harbaugh's MO of elite LB play is something the Giants will reap the rewards of between Tremaine Edmunds and Arvell Reese.
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