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The New York Giants decided to retain general manager Joe Schoen after a disastrous 3-14 campaign in 2024 largely because of his success at the draft table last spring.
Schoen only had six selections to work with but made all of them count. The offensive players are well known (wide receiver Malik Nabers, tight end Theo Johnson, Trunning back Tyrone Tracy Jr.) but the defensive players made their mark as well.
Safety Tyler Nubin, cornerback Andru Phillips, and linebacker Darius Muasau all were major contributors on defense.
Phillips was recently identified as the Giants’ “unsung hero” for the 2024 season by Kevin Patra of NFL.com.
Schoen has taken a lot of Ls recently, but Phillips is a W. The third-round pick looks like a steal after Year 1, proving to be the Giants’ top cover man. He led Big Blue with a -7.2 target EPA and was the only New York corner with a negative EPA per target (-0.17). The Giants desperately need help on the outside of the defense heading into 2025, but they should be confident in Phillips growing in the slot gig. Between Nabers, Phillips and Tracy, the Giants’ 2024 draft class produced multiple building blocks.
Phillips, a third-round pick out of Kentucky, played in 14 games in 2024, starting three, but he was assigned basically as a slot and nickel corner with Deonte Banks and Cor’Dale Flott manning the outside spots.
Nabers, who was nominated for Offensive Rookie of the Year, is content this year’s draft class is the one that will get the Giants back on the winning track.
“We’re happy where we’re at,” Nabers said. “Continue to grow every day. A lot of things to fix, a lot of things we can look back on in our rookie year and continue to try to get better for next year. I’m happy with the group that decided to come here, that they picked. We’ve been doing a lot of great things.
“I feel like we’re all dawgs… We’ve got that mentality that we want to win. Nothing’s going to stop us from getting done what we want to get done. To have that as a group and all in one, the sky’s the limit for us, I’m happy for that.”
The Giants have not had such an impactful draft class since 2007. They won the Super Bowl that season.