Giants’ Pre-draft Roster Earns a Surprising Rank in New Analysis

The New York Giants, who had the third-worst record in the NFL last year, have come a long way following a busy free agency period that has seen the roster earn a somewhat surprising ranking in terms of overall impact ahead of the NFL Draft.

So claims a new analysis by Austin Mock of The Athletic [subscription], which ranked all 32 NFL rosters based on various metrics that “assigns a ‘value’ to each player that shows their impact on a single game.’ 

Surprisingly, the Giants, who will be picked third in next week’s draft, were NOT among the three worst teams, though they did end up with a negative value score of -2.4 on Mock’s final assessment. 

However, that placed them 25th  on the list, ahead of the Bears, Browns, Patriots, Saints, Raiders, Jets, and Titans.

At least on paper, the Giants did an acceptable job filling some of the deep potholes on the roster in free agency, including cornerback, safety, quarterback, defensive line, and offensive line.

While the Giants still don’t have a franchise quarterback, general manager Joe Schoen has set the roster up in a way that mirrors what he did with the offensive line last year: adding veteran depth on short-term deals while continuing to draft younger players to develop for the longer term.  

In the upcoming draft, the Giants, assuming they stay at No. 3, should have their choice of Penn State edge Abdul Carter or Colorado cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter. 

Mock believes (as do we) that if Hunter is on the board, he would be a better fit for the Giants, given his ability to play two positions where the Giants could still use some additional firepower.

That said, Carter wouldn’t necessarily be a significant dropoff since there’s no harm in building on a defensive pass rush that last year tied for sixth in the league (with the Packers) with 45 sacks despite finishing 15th in quarterback pressure rate (21.8%).

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