4 biggest weaknesses on the NY Giants roster
By Zak Musso
The NY Giants surprisingly made the playoffs in 2023 and even won a postseason game despite having one of the weakest rosters in football. Much of the 2022 success can be attributed to NFL Coach of the Year Brian Daboll, as well as offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale.
Those three elite coaching minds covered up many of the Giants roster warts. The Giants had arguably the league's worst receiving core, a sub-par tight end group, a revolving door of really bad inside linebackers, a revolving door of cornerbacks playing alongside Adoree' Jackson, a shaky offensive line and no depth on the defensive line.
Joe Schoen addressed many of those problems this offseason but couldn’t address them all. Here are the four main weaknesses on the New York Giants roster:
4. Safety
Xavier McKinney is one of the NFL's best young safeties and is cemented as the starting strong safety for the 2023 season. His starting safety partner is yet to be determined, and there are not a lot of great options.
The Giants signed veteran defensive back Bobby McCain to play safety this offseason, and he seems to be the leader in the pack to start alongside McKinney. Youngster Jason Pinnock was claimed off waivers from the Jets right before the season started in 2022, and he will challenge McCain for that job.
Neither had great seasons in 2022. PFF ranked Pinnock and McCain as the 60th and 61st-best safeties in the NFL last season. Second-year player Dane Belton will factor into the mix in 2023, but he dealt with injuries in 2022, and was given the worst coverage grade among all NFL safeties by PFF for his 2022 efforts.
Rookie seventh-round pick Gervarrius Owens has impressed at OTA's, but it's never good when a seventh-round rookie is playing significant snaps. Safety will be a position to keep an eye on moving forward for the Giants.