Ranking the 7 most important NY Giants players on defense

3. S Xavier McKinney

During the periods in which Xavier McKinney missed time due to injuries, his absence was incredibly apparent. The impact McKinney has on the Giants' defense is quite underrated and without him, the team's defense was notably worse, especially when it came to their ability to stop deep passes.

When on the field, opposing offenses fear McKinney's ability to track down any ball that goes deep in the secondary. His presence on the field changes the way opposing offenses play a lot of the time. This is why he didn't have as many interceptions in 2022 as he did in '21. His skillset wasn't as known in 2021, so teams weren't afraid to test him. Now, teams know just what he's capable of.

Hopefully, McKinney can remain healthy for the entirety of the 2023 season. They need him to be considering that they lost Julian Love and have a big question to answer about who will be playing next to McKinney. The defense needs the consistency and elite ball-hawking skills McKinney brings to the table all season long.

Expect the noise surrounding McKinney to get much louder in '23. Not only will he continue to improve, but with how well the Giants looked last season and going into next, the media will be all over this team. It's only a matter of time before everyone's made aware of McKinney's talent.