Three Goals NY Giants Must Accomplish at Training Camp

One of the most commanding new presences entering the Giants locker room this summer is undoubtedly rookie outside linebacker Abdul Carter. 

The Penn State product and No. 3 pick offers the Giants their fourth talented edge rusher in a strong position group, but a unique problem at the same time—where to play him to allow him to shine alongside his teammates?

Besides Carter, the Giants have returning veterans Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux competing for work on the edge of the defensive front. 

Burns figures to be the team’s No. 1 option given the huge investment and the fact that he was second in sacks last season (8.5).

The Giants also have Chauncey Gholston in the mix, but he can play at the defensive end position as well and figures to see more of his time there. 

All of that leaves the Giants with the goal of allocating snaps between Carter and Thibodeaux without completely dismissing them from the impact of the defensive line, which is expected to be huge this fall.

The best spot for this situation will likely involve Carter taking reps from inside. It’s a role that he is not a stranger to, and one he took up in his first couple of seasons with the Nittany Lions in college before transitioning to an outside linebacker in his 12.0 sack season as a senior.

Sort Out CB2

While the Giants have Paulson Adebo set to man the No. 1 corner job on the perimeter, the search for the veteran free agent signing’s No. 2 partner in the starting secondary appears still very much open, and the main competitors at this stage figure to be Cor’Dale Flott and Deonte Banks.

Given the young age of the Giants' secondary and its projected status in 2025, there is a pressing need for one of their developing players to step up. Flott (4 years) and Banks (3 years) have each been in New York’s system for a few years now, but it’s tough to say that either has been a complete stud in coverage. 

Coming off last season, when the unit was a complete launching pad for opposing offenses and ranked 28th in coverage grade, both players struggled. 

They also held some of the highest snap totals in the Giants’ position group in that span. Still, they were penalized a total of seven times while allowing completions of over 65% of their targets for 1,036 yards (315 after the catch) and seven touchdowns. They held one forced turnover between the two of them, Flott’s interception in Week 16 against Atlanta. 

Those numbers need drastic improvements for the Giants to be taken seriously in the deep field. Flott can flash some likeable length that could make him a decent defender in zone coverage to swat away footballs and disrupt routes, but he has had trouble staying on the field with three games missed in each of his first three seasons. 

Banks, the Giants 24th overall pick in 2023, has a lot more pressure on his shoulders to perform like a first-round pick that can shut down the best receivers in the league. 

He was drafted for that exact role, yet he has often been exposed in man coverage by elite pass catchers, and the frustration has shown in his tendency to rack up penalties (14 career) that set the entire team back. 

There is hope that a fully stocked pass rush up front will help alleviate the toll of constantly being the last line of defense, and the secondary will get more opportunities to get their hands on the football and kill drives with turnovers.

Evan Neal's Conversion to Guard

For as long as they’ve been working on improving the offensive line, the Giants have constantly had an issue with depth as the season progresses. 

It’s not always due to injuries, though, and in Evan Neal’s case, it’s more so the talent that just hasn’t gelled throughout the ranks to afford the Giants less concern when the dreaded injury bug does strike. 

Neal, the team’s No. 7 pick three years ago, has struggled to perform as a solid pass protector at the same level he did at Alabama, and it’s caused his role to start changing within the offensive front. More specifically, the Giants are seeking to successfully shift Neal over to guard to see if he can fare better on the inside. 

Last season, Neal was the eighth-lowest ranked lineman on the Giants’ roster, notching a 49.6 grade in 314 pass blocking snaps. 

He was forced into duty mostly during the second half of the season at right tackle after Jermaine Eluemunor was shifted to left tackle to fill in the space left by Andrew Thomas. 

Neal was unable to take advantage of his opportunity and improve his pass blocking metrics very much, allowing two sacks, five hits, and 17 total pressures while being penalized six times as a result of his inability to stay toe-to-toe with the game’s best edge rushers. 

One area where Neal did impress was in the run game, where he scored a career-high 80.6 grade that led the entire offensive line. He was especially strong in zone gap schemes, which helped the ascension of rookie running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. into one of the league’s most impactful offensive novices, with an 839-yard and five-touchdown resume.

By moving him to the guard position and seeing if he can fully convert, the Giants are hoping that one area is something they can build off with Neal. Their run blocking was subpar last season, ranking 24th in the NFL, and they’ll need some extra beef in the middle to help their new core of ball carriers thrive in the trenches.

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