The New York Giants' defensive line rotation will be a battle to watch throughout the summer. After a massive offseason overhaul, clues are already starting to emerge about which players are rising—and which could be falling out of the picture entirely.
One player making an early impression has already started shifting perception in real time, and that spells trouble for a veteran who was once considered a reliable presence on the interior.
Abdul Carter hasn’t played a single NFL snap yet, but you wouldn’t know it based on how he’s performed at minicamp. The rookie edge rusher has been a force off the line, earning praise for his speed, versatility, and relentless pressure. Whether he’s coming off the edge or sliding inside, Carter has been an immediate problem for opposing linemen in practice. Even in non-padded drills, his presence has been impossible to ignore.
That’s great news for the Big Blue Nation. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows for everyone...
Giants’ defensive reset might not leave room for Rakeem Nunez-Roches
Jaren Kawada of ClutchPoints named veteran defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches as a likely roster casualty, largely because of Carter’s emergence and the wave of additions around him.
Big Blue invested heavily in the front seven this offseason, bringing in Carter, Darius Alexander, Chauncey Golston, Roy Robertson-Harris, and Jeremiah Ledbetter—all of whom could cut into Nunez-Roches’ role:
"When fully healthy, the Giants will want Burns, Carter, Thibodeaux, Alexander and Golston all on the field much more than Nunez-Roches," Kawada wrote. "This is a potentially elite pass-rushing team, lowering the value of the durability and depth Nunez-Roches provided in 2024. With younger players like Elijah Chatman, D.J. Davidson and Jordan Riley providing depth, there is a good chance Schoen sees no value in retaining Nunez-Roches."
Nunez-Roches had a career year in 2024, racking up 52 tackles and two sacks while playing 57 percent of defensive snaps. But that workload came out of necessity, not because the Giants wanted to. The team was thin and banged up on the interior, and Nunez-Roches was one of the few veterans who could give consistent reps.
The problem is that durability only goes so far in 2025, especially with the cap savings that come from cutting a non-guaranteed contract. Nunez-Roches carries a cap hit of over $5 million this season, and with younger, cheaper options already turning heads, the financials might do him no favors — they currently own the second-lowest cap space in the league.
If Carter keeps ascending and others around him continue to impress, the Giants could decide to move on from the 31-year-old veteran well before Week 1. The depth is deeper, the competition is fiercer, and for now, the spotlight is clearly elsewhere.
Nunez-Roches won't go down without a fight... but his situation is one to monitor moving forward.