We need a football discussion.
The Team that started the end of last year will have a very different look especially on defense.
Hopefully, 2 promising players will return to form in Connerlly and Peppers after being injured...the Giants defense can still have 6 new faces.
Bradberry and Martinez are the high profile FA...but Kyler Fackrell (or Xmen) will hopefully have as much of impact if Golden does not return.
The new face that excites me most is McKinney....and its not even about what he brings to table....which is plenty...but more about removing Bethea, who I thought was absolutely a wasted spot. His play deteriorated badly.
Darnay Holmes seems to be the most likely candidate to take over the slot corner role. His buzz is growing.
The one unplanned starter might be the replacement Baker, which is unfortunate as he was playing well at the end of last year. Luckily, the Giants have several options...Beal, Ballentine and Love or even Dravon Askew-Henry. The skill level is encouraging.
I am not sure any of the 7th RD draft picks will see the field outside of special teams but you never know....
The DL was the Giants defense strength and expect they will take a step forward....
I feel their biggest hurdle is getting on same page as a unit.
But when they do, I feel this defense can become an asset vs a liability.
Granted, they still need that game wreaker...to make the defense a force. Maybe someone steps up.
Thoughts?
I think Beal has a golden opportunity in front of him. I expect him to be starting opposite Bradberry and I expect him to play very well. In limited action last year, I thought he was very good.
I would like to see what they do with Julian Love. He could start at nickel conceivably. Had the fastest 3-cone at the combine a year ago so he has the C.O.D. skills and quickness.
I know everyone is on Holmes and he was drafted to be the nickel, I just think Love would have the advantage over him year 1 if that's where the coaching staff wants to put him. Ballentine would have to make a big leap from year 1 to year 2 but he has the athleticism to do it.
Nobody talks about Fackrell much but that's a good solid player.
The guy I'm most excited about is Lorenzo Carter. Washington was terrible, their line a mess, but that week 15 game (I think) against Washington last year, Carter was dominant, all over the place making plays. Would love to see him make the jump in year 3 to be a high-level pass rusher. Really excited about the linebackers with Connelly coming back, hopefully he can stay healthy.
And of course McKinney. I just hope he does his job, really learns the defense. We don't need him to be Ed Reed, just be solid and it will work out. This defense still might be a player away but I think they have enough pieces to be really good. It will come down to health.
Really, the key to this defense might very well be McKinnney. It's asking a lot but if he's the second coming of someone like Polomalu we might have a fun D early on. But that's obviously asking for the sun, moon and stars. If he can at least man the position adequately the D should be much better than last year. It needs to be for this team to compete. I still think the O is fine more or less. It has scored points the last 2 years, just needs to be better at running the ball. With Barkley and Thomas now in the fold along with the better coaching, I don't think that's asking too much at all.
I'd say the two unkowns right now are inside linebacker and corner.
I think Beal has a golden opportunity in front of him. I expect him to be starting opposite Bradberry and I expect him to play very well. In limited action last year, I thought he was very good.
I would like to see what they do with Julian Love. He could start at nickel conceivably. Had the fastest 3-cone at the combine a year ago so he has the C.O.D. skills and quickness.
I know everyone is on Holmes and he was drafted to be the nickel, I just think Love would have the advantage over him year 1 if that's where the coaching staff wants to put him. Ballentine would have to make a big leap from year 1 to year 2 but he has the athleticism to do it.
Nobody talks about Fackrell much but that's a good solid player.
The guy I'm most excited about is Lorenzo Carter. Washington was terrible, their line a mess, but that week 15 game (I think) against Washington last year, Carter was dominant, all over the place making plays. Would love to see him make the jump in year 3 to be a high-level pass rusher. Really excited about the linebackers with Connelly coming back, hopefully he can stay healthy.
And of course McKinney. I just hope he does his job, really learns the defense. We don't need him to be Ed Reed, just be solid and it will work out. This defense still might be a player away but I think they have enough pieces to be really good. It will come down to health.
Good thorough well conceived post but I beg to differ about Love at nickle /slot corner (over Holmes). Love, I thought, played far better at S than he did at CB last year. Even with McKinney and Peppers as the defacto starting safeties, Love's value as a good 3rd safety for 3 safety sets, and the under-rated value he brings as the #1 depth replacement to either McKinney or Peppers, gives Holmes a clear window for the job as slot corner.
I also think Holmes is flat out faster, particularly straight line, and a more physical and better tackler than Love up around the LOS.
We'll see, because that's assuming the Giants don't need Holmes as a boundary CB, which is far from certain.
It's all about the coaching. This D is so unproven but it's not all rookies and undrafted slobs. There's a lot of talent here. It's just unknown.
There's considerable talent on paper in the secondary, but need young prospects to develop, namely Peppers, Baker, McKinney and for a solid nickel to emerge.
Up front, there's talent but not the type of talent equating to potential pay days the open market could present to them. Which is why I think Tomlinson will be gone, and LW really has to play to potential to get an extension at the level he wants. If that plays out as I expect, and players like Hill and McIntosh don't develop, suddenly the DL is really lean again.
My thinking 100%.
Last year's ratio was under water. Out of 256 individual defensive starts I count:
54 went to major liabilities (Bethea, Ogletree, Baker, Haley, Hamilton, Stupar, Tae Davis). That is 20% of last year's starts.
80 starts went to net positive impact players (Jenkins, Golden, Tomlinson, Lawrence, Peppers, Williams, Connelly) - about 30%, however it should be noted several never played together at once.
That left about half the starts to JAGs and rookies (Carter, Hill, Mayo, Love, Beal, etc)
Looking forward the best news is I don't see near as many liabilities penciled into the starting lineup since Baker's role is going to need to be earned moving forward. It may seem trivial but it could make a big difference simply reducing the liabilities that were present last year by 10% or more. Remember haley, hamilton, and baker getting dominated by randall cobb vs. Dallas in key 3rd down and RZ moments?
Separately another area for optimism is that the list of potentially good players subtracts only Jenkins and Golden (as of now), but adds Bradberry, Martinez, McKinney, and if last year was any indication there may be a less heralded player like Holmes or Fackrell ready to make an impact right away.
Here's a semi-realistic best case scenario - these 8 players play well under Graham and combine to make 75% of available starts (~96):
Connelly
Williams
Tomlinson
Lawrence
Bradberry
Martinez
McKinney
Peppers
There may not be an all pro in that group but in this scenario they would account for 40% of the starts - which would be another 10% improvement over last year. Whether or not those improvements get them over the tipping point of being an actually good NFL defense I'm not sure.
Of the mid to late round picks, I suspect only one or two will really have an impact. My guess is Connely (in time) and Holmes are eventual fixtures, with Love and Ballantine factoring.
I think Ximines, Carter, Hill, and McIntosh are bottom of the roster career players.
To turn the corner the high round, high resource guys need to be the face. Peppers, Williams, Baker, Lawrence, Bradberry, McKinney, and Martinez have to live up to their contracts or draft position.
You can have a low batting average with the mid and late round picks, but you have to nail the high round/high resource acquisitions.
The bigger issue is how good of a DC is Graham and the coaches he assembled. Is he a poor/mediocre coach or is he someone who will maximize talent with diverse scheme and learned well under Belichick?
The thing the Dolphins and Giants had in common last year (aside from getting the doors blown off week over week) -- was routine confusion on the field.
I'm strongly hoping with a new system, all of the new faces, and the unorthodox offseason, that the Giants can field a sound, principled, group who can execute on the same page play-to-play.
I am concerned about Connelly’s status to start the season. He will need time to get his knee back to where it was. This is one of the reasons why I prefer to move Coughlin to ILB this season.
Coughlin is smart and according to scouting reports is solid in coverage. Graham could utilize his pass rush skills up the middle.
Add Golden.....with Lawrence and Williams.....should generate pressure.
Can't wait to see this D on the field. I think we could have a smart, fast, rangy defense!
Time was the one thing this new staff and players could not afford to lose.
Otherwise I share the optimism.
I also think one of the LBs drafted will be a pleasant surprise.
Odds are some of these kids will develop into good pros. We need more than some to develop.
There were a bunch of players that had played and succeeded together -- Hammer, Strahan, Corey Miller, Jesse Campbell, Sparks were all starters in '94. Sehorn, Bradzke, Armstead, and Wooten had also been rookies on that good 94 defense.
It was the 4th year under Mike Nolan, in those 4 years the Giants had been a top 10 defense 3 times.
At $16M his salary is more than everybody else on the team by a pretty big margin this year.
So yeah, he better be key to something.
The Giants are putting a lot of money now and potentially in the future at stake over Williams.
If he's not one of the cornerstones on defense this year, it's a disappointment.
Hopefully ....a more reasonable longterm deal can be worked out.
Practically, it's just so much better for the team to get this year rolled into a bigger contract.
Invest a lot of money in years 6,7,8 of his career and have the flexibility to walk away with minimal dead money in year 9.
Agree on this. I love the McKinney pick and I think we’re going to love him over time, but I also think missing live spring practices hurts a guy like him the most. He’ll likely be called on to start as a rookie, which means reading and adapting to NFL offensive schemes.
He comes from Saban and played against SEC competition, obviously, so he’s better equipped than most. But I agree it’s a tall order for him to avoid mistakes early on.
There were a bunch of players that had played and succeeded together -- Hammer, Strahan, Corey Miller, Jesse Campbell, Sparks were all starters in '94. Sehorn, Bradzke, Armstead, and Wooten had also been rookies on that good 94 defense.
It was the 4th year under Mike Nolan, in those 4 years the Giants had been a top 10 defense 3 times.
True. I guess I’m hoping for a miracle
I am not expecting Graham to step in and the Giants to become the Ravens, and be blitzing half of the time.
The one area I'm optimistic about is with more talent in the secondary, that Peppers is utilized more as a pass rusher. He was part of extra pressure far less as a Giant than he was in Cleveland, even though he was equally or more productive. That's the guy I'm excited to see getting sent home more.
On the plus side I like the addition of Martinez. I think he's a guy that's always around the ball. The D-line should be excellent against the run. Bradberry is an improvement over Jenkins just in the attitude department. I think Jenkins was more of a pain in the ass than he was worth. If there is improvement from guys like Ximines, Peppers and Love it could pay big dividends.