Two Players Could Define Giants' Defense

The New York Giants entered the 2024 season with the hopes of an upgraded pass rush stealing games against more talented offenses. The story of their season wasn’t as simple as that plan would suggest. Poor quarterbacking derailed any chance of competing, rendering a strong pass rush relatively meaningless.

New York signed quarterback Russell Wilson to change that. He is a significant upgrade over Daniel Jones and an adult in a quarterback room hoping to incubate rookie Jaxson Dart until he can take the mantle.

But the Giants added to the defense, too. In March, they revamped their secondary, adding corner Paulson Adebo and safety Jevon Holland to force more turnovers. And when the NFL Draft handed New York a blue-chip edge rusher, general manager Joe Schoen didn’t pass on the opportunity, making one of the league’s more dangerous units liable to jump into the league’s elite.

Schoen, however, didn’t touch the middle of his defense, despite Bobby Okereke and Micah McFadden each taking a step back in 2024. The Giants’ upgrades will make those linebackers the x-factors of the 2025 defense.

Okereke had a career year in 2023 before the transition to defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s defense limited his production. Wink Martindale’s high-risk, high-reward defense let Okereke shoot downhill and make more plays at or behind the line of scrimmage, rushing the passer 101 more times in 2023 than 2024 (per Pro Football Focus).

Subsequently, it’s no surprise that in his new role, he found less production. In five fewer games, Okereke logged seven fewer passes defended, 56 fewer tackles, and five fewer tackles for loss. He didn’t intercept a pass, adding to a defense-wide struggle to find the football.

McFadden remained consistent against the run but was worse in coverage, an expected development given his skill set. As he enters a contract year, proving he’s more than a B-minus-level starter would fortify New York’s defense.

Like last year, the biggest threat to the Giants’ defensive success is an offense so poor that they are rarely in an advantageous situation. The second biggest is the team’s run defense, which was slightly below average by expected points added per play a season ago.

With an unproven rookie starting next to Dexter Lawrence up front and two pass-rush-first edge rushers ahead of them, New York’s linebackers will play an outsized role in defending the run. If they can’t make up for the defensive line’s inconsistencies on the ground, it will show up in the second level and threaten the entire unit.