New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh needs an elite off-ball linebacker the way a bagel needs cream cheese. Over his 18 seasons as a head coach, he’s had some of the best anchoring his defense: Ray Lewis, C.J. Mosley, and Roquan Smith.
That’s why it wasn’t all that surprising that on Day 1 of the legal tampering period, Harby shored up the middle by signing Tremaine Edmunds to a three-year, $36 million contract. He didn’t stop there, either, double-dipping into the linebacker pool the next day by bringing Micah McFadden back on a one-year prove-it deal.
McFadden suffered a season-ending Lisfranc injury in the season opener against the Washington Commanders, cutting his contract-year campaign short by 16 games. Over his four seasons in North Jersey, he’s shown flashes of being a good player, which is why it was nice to see New York interested in bringing him back this offseason. But the honeymoon period might end before it even begins.
In Gordon McGuinness’ latest mock draft for Pro Football Focus, the additions of Edmunds and McFadden didn’t stop the G-Men from landing Sonny Styles, the best off-ball linebacker in the 2026 class, which could quickly complicate McFadden’s comeback story:
"The Giants' free-agency signing of linebacker Tremaine Edmunds doesn’t dampen their chances of targeting Styles, in my opinion. He missed just 2.2% of his tackle attempts and earned 85.0-plus PFF grades in coverage and run defense this past season, ranking second among nearly 200 qualifying draft-eligible linebackers."
Giants mock draft suggests linebacker might still be in play at No. 5
The former Indiana Hoosier trusted the organization that oversaw his rehab and brought him back on a $3.5 million prove-it deal (worth up to $5.75 million). It gives him a chance to reestablish himself in a new defensive system under Dennard Wilson while proving he can still be the high-volume tackler Big Blue leaned on in 2023 and 2024 when he posted back-to-back 100-tackle seasons.
But if the G-Men take Styles fifth overall, McFadden’s comeback tour could get complicated real fast.
Styles is the kind of linebacker that teams ignore positional value for on draft night. It’s not every day you find a 6-foot-5, 244-pound unicorn running a 4.46 40, leaping 11-foot-2 in the broad jump, and posting a 43.5-inch vertical.
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The former Ohio State safety turned linebacker brings rare versatility to the position, with the speed and coverage ability to match up with tight ends and running backs while still flying downhill against the run. His range, tackling efficiency, and experience calling the defense have even drawn comparisons to Fred Warner, which is objectively awesome.
If this is McFadden's fate, it's such a bummer. The team released defensive captain Bobby Okereke earlier in free agency, so the route to a starting role was right in his grasp. But McFadden is no unicorn. And if a unicorn like Styles lands in the Giants’ lap on draft night, that comeback story might get rewritten pretty quickly.