Surprising Unit Named NY Giants' Biggest Weakness in New Preseason Analysis

“The Giants also have a running back group with unproven potential. Tyrone Tracy Jr. needs to take the next step, and Cam Skattebo will have to earn the RB2 role over Devin Singletary. There's a lot of potential in the youth, but it's the team's biggest question mark right now.”

That exact statement from Ballentine’s final sentence is precisely why his selection of the backfield is a peculiar one for this analysis. As he said, there is potential in that position group, and the Giants have seen it playing out since they took Tracy in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft. 

Tracy, a former college wide receiver at Purdue, wasn’t expected to be much of an impact player in his first season, given his developing intangibles and the presence of Devin Singletary as the Week 1 starter. 

Nonetheless, it wasn’t long before he was thrust into the spotlight and turned his opportunity into one of the brightest rookie campaigns across the league. 

Tracy would go on to start 13 games for the Giants after taking control of the starting reins from Singletary and give the Giants a second-best 839 yards and five touchdowns with over 1,000 yards from scrimmage in that span to give the Giants some hope for the post-Saquon Barkley era. 

As he will be joined by Skattebo, the team’s fourth-round pick this year, in the backfield for the upcoming season, assuming Skattebo’s recent injury setback doesn’t become a long-term issue. 

A duo of Tracy and Skattebo would potentially give the Giants a duo of talented ball carriers who can do different things with their skill sets.

Tracy brings the speed and shiftiness to impact the zone rushing plays, whereas Skattebo is a total bruiser who is difficult to bring down and will wear defenses out with his insatiable toughness up the gut. 

Instead, what seems like the obvious choice for this analysis is the Giants’ offensive line. The organization has made a desperate effort to upgrade and maintain a consistent front, which often defines the most successful offenses in football. Still, a combination of injuries and underwhelming performances from high-value players has not yielded the desired results. 

The Giants found themselves an All-Pro caliber left tackle in Andrew Thomas, who is well respected around the league for his impeccable pass protection. However, he is only a stalwart for as long as he can stay on the field, and that has been an issue as the 2020 first-round pick has missed 18 games since 2023 with lower body ailments. 

On the interior, the overall picture seems a lot bleaker. The Giants are desperate to see a breakout year from their young center, John Michael Schmitz, who has struggled to hold his own at times. The two guard spots on either side of him haven’t established definitive starters, and the health of their depth largely looms on the transition of Evan Neal this summer. 

And as we all know, the longer it takes for the offensive line to gel and hold a consistent product for an entire season, the more difficult it could be for this Giants offense to meet its max potential.

They have a more capable quarterback in Russell Wilson and a collection of solid weapons, but they will be tested by how they can perform under some pressure that’s bound to seep through their wall of protectors. 

The first factor is to hope for health to remain strong as the season progresses, as the unit looked somewhat promising in the first several weeks of last season before Thomas’s injury started the landslide.

Other than that, it’s easy to say that the Giants’ offensive line should be considered their biggest roster weakness until proven otherwise. 

What happens next with the NY Giants? Find out! Follow and like us on Facebook. Visit our YouTube channel for the latest videos. Want to send a question in for our mailbag? You can do so here.