With the NY Giants preseason set to kick off on Friday night, many fans are excited to see this team suit up for the first time since the rough loss to the Eagles last winter in the playoffs. While the starters won't see the field a ton, it's always nice to see how the team's depth performs against others.
The Giants will be playing three games this preseason: against the Lions, Panthers, and Jets in that order. Hopefully we see some young, unproven players make headway over the next few weeks and potentially earn a larger role in 2023 during these games. Regardless, here are four expectations fans can have for the Giants' preseason.
4. Collin Johnson will dominate once again
During last year's preseason, we saw former fifth-round pick Collin Johnson dominate on the field. However, a torn Achilles ruined what could have been an incredibly promising season for the 25 year old. Now, though, Johnson has the chance to once again prove that he can be a game-changer for the NY Giants' offense.
Johnson is one of the most interesting players in the league from a physical standpoint. Coming in at 6-6, 222 pounds, there are few players in the secondary that can match Johnson's height and size. What makes this even better is that with this size comes some pretty impressive speed as well.
Injuries have halted what could have been a very productive career by now. While he likely won't be a star, you can't teach the size and speed. There isn't much holding Johnson back from being a good WR3/4 for any team other than health. Despite this, Johnson needs to show once more that he can be dominant in the preseason.
3. Tre Hawkins will get plenty of run
A pleasant surprise from NY Giants training camp was ookie sixth-round corner Tre Hawkins. Through the team's sessions this summer, Hawkins has been nothing short of fantastic to the point where he's been consistently earning first-team reps. Now, with preseason around the corner, don't be surprised to see Hawkins get a hefty number of snaps.
The Giants' track record of mid-to-late-round picks in the last six years has been rather rough. Since 2017, the only game-changing player the Giants have drafted in rounds 3-7 has been Julian Love. Even then, he had just one genuinely good season with the team before signing with the Seahawks. If Joe Schoen can change the narrative surrounding the team's drafting ability it would be huge for the Giants' success.
Hawkins has the chance to be the first productive player ever drafted out of Old Dominion. There have only been five players drafted out of said college and none of them have done much during their NFL careers. Despite this, we have tons of confidence in Hawkins being the outlier.
Expect to see Hawkins not only start during the teams' preseason opener, but he could potentially start in the other two games as well. At the very least, we expect Hawkins to see significant snaps in all three games in order to test his abilities moving forward.
2. Darrian Beavers will shine once again
Despite only playing 1.5 preseason games last year, Darrian Beavers showed a lot of promise that has us excited about what he can do as a full-time starter - if he wins the job that is. The run-stopping instincts and coverage abilities he put on display are more than we have seen out of any Giants linebacker in years.
While it's just the preseason, it goes to show how bad the Giants' linebacker core has been over the last seven or so years. Now, Beavers has the potential to be a legit game-changer while playing alongside Bobby Okereke. Their playing styles will work perfectly alongside one another and it has us incredibly excited to watch.
Okereke, as we all know, is an elite run-stopper. While Beavers, on the other hand, is a coverage specialist who is still solid against the run. This is the perfect combination to have at linebacker with how the rest of the Giants' defense is set up. However, for this to work, Beavers must show once again that he can be dominant in the preseason.
Beavers, a sixth-round pick, has the chance to change the narrative around the Giants' late-round drafting just like Hawkins. If he plays as well as we think he will, the Giants will have a monster on their hands at linebacker. It'll be interesting to see if he beats out Micah McFadden for a starting gig.
1. The interior offensive line will be a turnstile
Throughout training camp, the Giants have been running several different lineups with their interior offensive line. Most notably, players like Ben Bredeson, Josh Ezeudu, and Mark Glowinski have been moving between different spots and in/off the bench. With this in mind, it makes sense to see more of the same heading into the preseason.
Recently, the Giants' interior line featured a change in things, with Ezeudu at left guard, John Michael-Schmitz at center, and Bredeson at right guard. Normally we'd see Bredeson at LG and Mark Glowinski at RG. So, what can we expect during the preseason? Well, we think plenty of movement will continue.
While this is normally what happens during the preseason, it has much higher stakes than usual. This time around, it really seems like we won't know the starting interior offensive line until moments before the Giants' Week 1 matchup against the Cowboys.
It's impossible to tell who will be starting as of now. However, we're incredibly excited to see the positional battles during the preseason games themselves. Players like Ezeudu and Bredeson still have a lot to prove and they won't have a better chance to do so than during this year's preseason.