Is the Giants’ pass rush about to go nuclear?
Are the New York Giants setting the stage for a real turnaround?
The Giants have bounced between irrelevance and a punchline over most of the last decade. There have been a few great individual performances, but it’s been mostly bad football since 2016.
But GM Joe Schoen has put a significant amount of resources into the defensive side of the ball over the last two years. He’s added top free agents as well as high draft picks to the Giants’ defense to give them a feared unit. However, they never quite reached the critical mass to be a consistently great unit.
Finally, it seems that the additions are starting to generate some excitement.
ESPN’s Mina Kimes made the bold, and surprising, decision on a recent podcast to put the Giants in her projection of the Top 10 Defenses for the 2025 season.
“I chose this team entirely based on the idea that the defensive line can just completely take over games and ruin the lives of quarterbacks,” Kimes said.
Making quarterbacks’ lives hellish has, historically, been the name of the game for the Giants’ defense. The Giants have had very good secondaries in the past, but their ability to rush the passer has always been their defensive identity.
Of course, a defensive front does need coverage to give them time to get home. And one of the problems with the Giants’ defense over the last couple seasons has been that while they can generate a pass rush, injury and a revolving door in the secondary. Now, Kimes believes that the additions of Jevon Holland and Paulson Adebo could let the front play up to it’s potential.
“They also added some players in the back end that I think could stabilize things with Javon Holland at safety, [cornerback] Paulson Adebo, [Dru] Phillips is really good. I really like the combination of Javon Holland and Tyler Nubin together, because I think you can have Nuban playing closer to the box where he’s better, personally,” Kimes said.
“But set that aside. This is all about the front, Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence, Abdul Carter, Kayvon Thibodeux. Yeah, it’s a nightmare.
“And they’re deep, I like the D-Tackles they have. They drafted Darius Alexander as well, and bring in Chauncey Golston.
“Every year there’s a defense where the pass rush just goes nuclear and I feel like ‘why not the Giants?’ Why am I crazy to have them at 10?”
Dominique Foxworth had to be talked into the Giants fielding a Top 10 defense, first stating that they were too out of left field because “It’s the Giants!” Eventually, however, he conceded that Dexter Lawrence has a case to be Defensive Player Of The Year, and Abdul Carter is unlikely to be a “miss”.
The question, and it’s a fair one, is whether or not the Giants’ secondary will stabilize and hold up against the pass. The Giants need to be better at forcing quarterbacks to hold the ball, defending tight window throws, and being opportunistic in generating turnovers.
All that said, the feeling here is that the Giants should have a good, even great, and disruptive defense. I won’t put a number on their final ranking in any particular metric. But given the overall investment on that side of the ball over the last several years, it would be a disappointment if the Giants didn’t have a feared defense.
Last year, the Giants managed to finish 13th in pass rush win rate, tied for eighth in total sacks, and fifth in sack rate.
That was with Lawrence and Thibodeaux missing significant time to injury, Brian Burns playing through multiple injuries of his own, and Azeez Ojulari having his season ended by injury.
This year, the Giants should have at Brian Burns Kayvon Thibodeaux, Abdul Carter, and Chauncey Golston at edge. Inside, they’ll have Dexter Lawrence, Darius Alexander, and Elijah Chatman.
Behind that group, they’ll have Bobby Okereke returning to health and Micah McFadden coming off of a breakout year.
That should be, as Kimes says, “terrifying.”