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[New York Giants]

Training camp preview: New York Giants biggest question on the offensive line

Andrew Thomas throwing out a first pitch recently at Yankee Stadium. | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

That is easy — the health of star left tackle Andrew Thomas

The offensive line has been a Rubik’s Cube for the New York Giants for more than a decade. Multiple general managers and head coaches have tried to solve the puzzle, but success has been elusive, fleeting at best.

As we enter 2025, there are again plenty of questions about the line that will try to protect whichever of Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, or Jaxson Dart is taking the snaps from center.

The biggest one, though, is easy to identify, crucial to the Giants’ chances for success this season, but impossible to answer.

Can the Giants get a full, healthy season out of star left tackle Andrew Thomas?

That has not happened since 2022, when Thomas was a second-team All-Pro. Not coincidentally, the Giants that year won their only playoff game since the 2011 Super Bowl season.

In Thomas’s two injury-plagued seasons since, the Giants have gone 9-25. Thomas’s lack of availability is not the only reason for the Giants’ issues, but their inability to adequately replace their best offensive lineman has not helped.

Thomas has played in just 16 of 34 games the past two seasons. The Giants are 3-15 with him out of the lineup, 6-10 with him in it.

Thomas did not practice this spring. He was rarely seen at practice with his teammates as he rehabbed from Lisfranc foot surgery out of view of the media’s prying eyes.

The Giants have said there is nothing to worry about, that they were just being cautious with Thomas. Coach Brian Daboll would only say this spring that Thomas is “doing everything he can do to get better.”

There was a Thomas sighting recently at Yankee Stadium as he threw out a first pitch.

Andrew Thomas throws out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium! ️ pic.twitter.com/6zJ5MpFjzt

— New York Giants (@Giants) July 10, 2025​

Thomas looked fine moving around and landing on that surgically-repaired left foot. That, though, is not trying to block defensive ends or speedy edge defenders like Micah Parsons.

Having signed James Hudson and drafted Marcus Mbow, the Giants have a better plan for filling in for Thomas should he miss time.

That, though, does not lessen how important both Thomas’s talent and his leadership are to an offensive line that needs both.

Other questions​

There are plenty, and we have discussed most of them in-depth throughout the offseason.

Can Evan Neal make a successful transition to guard?

The 2022 No. 7 overall pick failed to establish himself as a viable right tackle in three seasons. If Neal can become a good guard and take over a starting role it would help the Giants in several ways:

• It would salvage something from a top 10 draft pick who thus far has not worked out.
• It would move veteran Greg Van Roten, a decent player but considered by some the weakest link on the Giants’ offensive line, to a backup guard/center role.
• If he plays well and the Giants can re-sign him, Neal would give the Giants a still-young player to help build around in the middle of their line. Neal turns 25 in September.

Giants optimistic about ‘power broker’ Evan Neal’s transition to guard

New York Giants’ Evan Neal ‘doing well’ after embracing his move to guard

Can John Michael Schmitz continue to improve?

The Giants drafted Schmitz in Round 2 of the 2023 NFL Draft hoping he would end a merry-go-round at center that began after Weston Richburg left the team in free agency following the 2017 season.

Schmitz has been the starting center for two seasons, but has yet to prove he will be the long-term anchor in the middle of the line the Giants hoped they were getting.

Schmitz’s play took a significant jump from his rookie to sophomore seasons. It needs to take another one in Year 3.

Will that happen?

Giants’ John Michael Schmitz considered a bottom-tier starting center

Make or Break: Can John Michael Schmitz become the player he was drafted to be?

Have the Giants improved their depth?

They have certainly tried, with the signing of Hudson and the drafting of Mbow. Neal earning a starting job and keeping it by playing well would help as Van Roten would be an excellent swing player on the interior of the line. Continued development from second-year player Jake Kubas would also help.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/...-question-on-the-offensive-line-andrew-thomas

 

[New York Giants]

Dexter Lawrence named a top 15 player by Pro Football Focus

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

Lawrence ranked No. 14 overall

The accolades continue to pour in for New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.

Pro Football Focus has named Lawrence the 14th-best player in the NFL entering the 2025 season. PFF says:

Lawrence has emerged as one of the NFL’s most dominant defensive players over the past three seasons. His 89.9 PFF grade in 2024 ranked third among defensive tackles, trailing only Chris Jones and Cameron Heyward. He leads all interior defenders with a 93.3 PFF grade since 2022, and he sits second to Jones in PFF WAR. Lawrence’s versatility sets him apart — he’s the only defensive tackle with 90.0-plus grades in both pass rushing and run defense over that span.

It appears that Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs will be the only interior defensive lineman ranked higher than Lawrence in the PFF50.

Lawrence was previously ranked No. 29 on the top 100 players list published by Pete Prisco of CBS Sports.

A survey of executives, coaches and scouts by ESPN has Lawrence as the best defensive tackle in football.

With Lawrence, 27, at the top of his game, and help coming from Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Abdul Carter and a revamped secondary, it could be fun to see what the Giants defense is capable of in 2025.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/...e-named-a-top-15-player-by-pro-football-focus

 

[New York Giants]

Training camp preview: New York Giants biggest question at defensive line

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

Did the Giants do enough to boost this group?

The New York Giants have struggled to stop the run for years despite quality defensive linemen. Last season, however, Dexter Lawrence was the only notable name after the departure of both Leonard Williams and A’Shawn Robinson during — and after — the disappointing 2023 season.

Understandably, the Giants’ defense allowed 4.6 yards per carry and 136.2 yards per game, both ranking 27th in the league last year. The lack of talent and competency around Dexter Lawrence, coupled with the transition to a more two-high shell defense, resulted in increased responsibility for the linebackers and a concerning inability to stop the run.

The overall defense finished 29th in EPA per play, and Shane Bowen had to tailor his defense to lackluster personnel after the Lawrence injury just to stop the run. This Giants’ regime trusted the expertise of the defensive line coach Andre Patterson to develop and maximize lesser investments, such as Jordon Riley and D.J. Davidson.

This approach allowed Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll to focus on other areas of the roster while addressing different issues that were plaguing the Giants. New York found themselves lacking depth along the defensive line, and the young players never took the necessary step forward to strengthen the defense.

Rakeem Nunez-Roches led the team in defensive line snaps with 608, followed by Lawrence at 551 (injured after 12 games). Elijah Chatman — a rookie UDFA — played 423 snaps, and Riley and Davidson each had less than 300 (248 and 261, respectively).

Nunez-Roches is a respectable rotational player, but not a 40-snap-a-game type of player. The biggest question surrounding the Giants’ defensive line group is: Did the Giants do enough to strengthen the defensive line?

New York drafted Darius Alexander in the third round after they signed two veteran free agents: Jeremiah Ledbetter and Roy Robertson-Harris, while still having Nunez-Roches, Lawrence, Chatman, Davidson, and Riley on the team. I love that they drafted a player like Alexander, and I’m happy with the veteran additions that should allow the cream to rise to the top throughout training camp.

Furthermore, the Giants also signed EDGE/DL Chauncey Golston from Dallas, who will likely kick inside and play along the trenches as well in certain situations.

With that said, I’m not sold that it’s enough. If anything were to happen to Lawrence, this unit is significantly undermanned from a talent perspective. It’s plausible that Alexander and possibly even a young player like Riley or Davidson take a significant step forward in their development. However, the unit still has several older players, some of whom are in decline.

It’s a better situation than last season, though, and I’ll sign up for that every day of the week.

Who will start next to Dexter Lawrence?​

Who will be the starter opposite Dexter Lawrence in base personnel? Will Alexander quickly seize this role in training camp, or will one of the veterans earn reps early on with Lawrence? These are questions that we may be able to answer during training camp. All the previously listed defensive linemen have a realistic shot to earn this role with a jump forward.

However, Alexander, Ledbetter, Nunez-Roches, and Robertson-Harris seem like the favorites unless Davidson and Riley take a significant jump. Chatman may still occupy his same role as a sub-package rusher. Elijah Garcia and Cory Durden will be battling Chatman for a roster spot through training camp.

New York may also consider employing a hot hand approach on the line of scrimmage. Perhaps play the matchups and adjust the reps throughout the game, which is highly likely. Still, will one of the defensive linemen separate himself from the others?

Roy Robertson-Harris or Jeremiah Ledbetter?​

Schoen signed both players in March, and both are on the wrong side of 30 years old. Robertson-Harris played in 398 snaps for the Jaguars and Seahawks last season. He managed 16 pressures but was underwhelming in run defense and seemed out o place on both teams.

However, Robertson-Harris is one season removed from recording 42 pressures with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The 31-year-old 6-foot-5, 290-pound defensive lineman had three consecutive seasons prior to 2024 with 35 or more pressures — all recorded with fewer than 900 snaps in any given season.

He’s not far removed from significant role-player production on a defense that wasn’t that great in Jacksonville. Ledbetter is a somewhat different story. He was teammates with Robertson-Harris for 2.5 years in Jacksonville and played over 800 snaps across the last two seasons in Duval (2023-2024). He had a total of just 16 pressures, but was more reliable as a run defender and more gap-disciplined.

The camp battle between Robertson-Harris and Ledbetter is one to watch, especially when we factor in the other players in the position group.

Davidson or Riley factors?​

D.J. Davidson is entering his final year under contract, and his tenure with the Giants has been underwhelming. He’s already 27 years old, but his career was significantly impacted during his rookie season when he tore his ACL. He spent 2023 healthy but just a year removed from his knee injury and last season was his first year where he was able to prepare for a season without an injury as a veteran. He only managed 261 snaps and eight pressures last season.

Riley flashed, albeit dimly, throughout his rookie season of 2023, but did little last season with his 248 snaps. He was much less sturdy against the run and had little to no impact against the pass. It was concerning to see the Giants opt to give snaps to other free agents they just signed rather than look to develop Riley. It’s a big season of opportunity in a more crowded room for both Davidson and Riley.

Elijah Chatman’s role?​

Chatman had 19 pressures last season and played well in his niche role as a situational pass rusher in sub-packages. He was one of the discussion points of training camp last season, and Patterson raved about his development and strength. He’s short and slightly undersized but plays much bigger than one would expect.

Still, the Giants added Alexander, who may eat into Chatman’s role, and is Chatman valuable enough to earn a roster spot if Alexander or if the Giants employ a NASCAR package more frequently?

Rakeem Nunez-Roches​

The Giants may look to release Rakeem Nunez-Roches if the depth of the defensive line group proves reliable. Nunez-Roches is still a respectable NFL player who can earn snaps, although he isn’t a difference-maker. If the Giants release him, they would clear $3.6-million in cap space with a $1.43 million dead cap.

So New York would have a net gain of $2.16 million compared to keeping him on the roster. OverTheCap has the Giants with just $3.8-million in cap space — money is tight. New York can free up some wiggle room if they release Nunez-Roches, but is it worth it?

Lawrence's return to prominence?​

Can Lawrence return to his prominence post-elbow surgery at 27 years old? I think yes. Lawrence had 36 pressures and nine sacks last season before his injury. That was after a 65-pressure season in 2023 and a 70-pressure season in 2022. His pairing with Patterson helped him unlock his massive potential, and he’s still young enough to thrive in his glory years.

The selection of Abdul Carter, along with Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux will only help the defensive line group and Dexter Lawrence in passing situations. A lot of protection packages will look to prevent Lawrence from creating interior pressure — four hands! But that may not be easy to sustain if Carter, Burns, and Thibodeaux are dominating on the edge.

Bowen’s usage of the Wide-9 will inevitably lead to constrained pockets that force quarterbacks to step up into a bull-rushing Dexter Lawrence. More statistics are coming for Lawrence if the Giants can take leads and allow this fearsome pass rush to pin their ears back.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/...ork-giants-biggest-question-at-defensive-line

 

[New York Giants]

Fantasy Football ‘25: RB rankings and tiers

Can Barkley stay atop the competition? | Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

A first look at the position that dominated in 2024

Welcome to Part II of my preliminary rankings and tiers for each major position for fantasy. My quarterback rankings dropped a few days ago, and you can find the rest of my preseason fantasy content here. Wide receiver and tight end will follow, and I’ll update them all in August. Hopefully, these initial looks will help you to start thinking about player values and draft strategies.

Before we get to the rankings and commentary, here are two general thoughts about the RB position.

1. 2024 was the year of the running back. Don’t be distracted by what happened with consensus No. 1 pick Christian McCaffrey last season. Running backs stayed remarkably healthy in 2024, and very few starters lost their jobs during the season. The result was the best overall season for backs in quite some time. We had a 2,000-yard rusher, a 1,900-yard rusher, 11 backs with at least 1,500 total yards, 16 with at least 1,000 rushing yards, and eight with at least 15 total TDs. I don’t have a research department to look it up, but you have to go back a long, long way to find a season with similar totals hit (if ever). My guess is we’ll see some regression in 2025 and especially with lots of rookies poised to share or even lead multiple backfields. I also think last year’s results will push running backs up draft boards this season. In recent seasons, more wide receivers have creeped into Round 1 of drafts than ever before, but I think this year you’ll see a lot of first rounds that are at least 50% running backs.

2. Rookies will be a big factor. Last season, fourth-round pick Bucky Irving and fifth-round pick Tyrone Tracy, Jr. were the only rookie backs to clear 500 rushing yards. Pay no attention to that. This season is going to be different, as multiple rookies are poised to have significant backfield shares right out of the gate, and more will have opportunities as the season goes on. It’s a very strong class, plus there are a lot of older backs who are penciled in as starters. I expect some injury regression to the norm for the position, in general. Rookie backs often take a few weeks to get going, as pass protection is trusted to veterans to start. I’ve got ten rookies ranked in my Top-55 RBs, and I’m not an outlier. This could be the year of the rookie running back.

I’ve organized the running backs into tiers, as I do at every position. You should do the same. To reiterate what I said in the quarterback column, everyone wants the best players, and a tiered approach allows fantasy managers to have a great view of (a) ranges of players who can be expected to have similar fantasy production, (b) where the drop-offs are between those ranges, and (c) how many players in a range remain available at any given time. Tiers really help when position runs come, and they facilitate more effective drafting, regardless of whether you use a snake or auction format.

My running back rankings and tiers are for Half-Point PPR. In Full PPR, the backs who catch a lot of passes climb the rankings. Season-long rankings shown are on a Fantasy Points Per Game (PPPG) basis and exclude the final week of the season.

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
Derrick Henry continues to truck Father Time

Tier I – The Top Dogs

1. Saquon Barkley

2. Bijan Robinson

3. Derrick Henry

4. Jahmyr Gibbs

5. Christian McCaffrey

Commentary: A lot of rankers have knocked Barkley from the No. 1 spot, but I haven’t. Yes, no RB1 has repeated in almost 20 years, and yes, he had almost 500 touches last season including playoffs, and the next-year history of guys with that kind of workload isn’t good. Plus, he’s now 28. So what? He’s in a perfect situation and I think he has the best chance to finish as the RB1 this season, so he stays at the top spot for me.

Henry over Gibbs? That’s crazy, I hear you say. No, it isn’t. He actually finished slightly ahead of him last season (RB2, 18.6 FPPG, vs. RB3, 18.3 FPPG), and that was with Ben Johnson in Detroit, David Montgomery missing multiple games late in the season, and it was also before the Lions lost two of their offensive line starters. Henry shows no signs of slowing down, and like Barkley is in a terrific situation, with an extremely mobile QB that keeps defenses from stacking the box.

McCaffrey is the wild card here, and his range of outcomes is the widest of any starting back on the board. If you do draft him, I strongly suggest nabbing Isaac Guerendo a round or two before his ADP, as insurance.

Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images
Don’t sleep on JT, regardless of the QB is

Tier II – More studs

6. Devon Achane

7. Ashton Jeanty (R)

8. Josh Jacobs

9. Jonathan Taylor

10. Bucky Irving

Commentary: Most people will be happy with any of these backs as their RB1. Jeanty’s ranking is very high for a rookie, but like Ezekiel Elliott in 2016 and Barkley in 2018, he’s in a great situation to dominate touches early, and has the talent and skillset to be an all-purpose producer right away. Achane carries some risk as his success is so closely tied to the health of his starting quarterback. In the 11 games that Tua Tagovailoa played last year he was the RB1, but in those he missed, he was just another guy. Taylor has an RB1 season on his resume, while Jacobs has an RB3 season on his, and both are true three-down workhorses. Irving was the RB6 from Weeks 10-17 last season as a rookie, and should build on that in an excellent offense.

Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Cook goes vertical for one of his 18 TDs

Tier III – Solid RB1s

11. Chase Brown

12. Kyren Williams

13. Kenneth Walker

14. Breece Hall

15. Chuba Hubbard

16. Alvin Kamara

17. James Conner

18. James Cook

19. Joe Mixon

Commentary: There should be some great performers in this tier, but with each back, there are just enough lingering concerns to keep him off the tier above. A few of these guys (Kamara, Conner, and Mixon) are at the age where RBs start to break down, or slow down, or both. In the case of Kamara, he should be peppered with targets, but the Saints could be so bad that it puts a damper on his TD opportunities and upside. Walker has had issues staying healthy and Hall took a step back last season. Brown blew up in the second half last season (RB5 Weeks 8-17, after he took over the backfield), but will he get the same kind of volume? Williams had ball security issues last season and the Rams have drafted a running back in two straight drafts. I could go on, but you get the picture.

Photo by Brooke Sutton/Getty Images
Omarion Hampton and the rest of the rookies are coming

Tier IV – The Tweeners

20. David Montgomery

21. D’Andre Swift

22. Omarion Hampton (R)

23. R.J. Harvey (R)

24. Aaron Jones

25. Tony Pollard

26. TreVeyon Henderson (R)

27. Isiah Pacheco

28. Kaleb Johnson (R)

29. Quinshon Judkins (R)

Commentary: Look at all those rookies! I warned you. All five of them could and probably will lead their teams in touches, but you might need to be a bit patient (see the first part of this article). Judkins could face some discipline for an off-field incident that happened in early July, so his ranking is going to be fluid. There is real value to be had in this tier, and while most of these guys project as RB2s, it’s very likely that you’ll have at least one or two in this group that end up performing as RB1s.

Can Tyrone Tracy repeat his rookie success?

Tier V – The Flexes

30. Jaylen Warren

31. Najee Harris

32. Javonte Williams

33. Brian Robinson, Jr.

34. Tyrone Tracy, Jr.

35. Travis Etienne, Jr.

36. Tyjae Spears

Commentary: The backs in this group have stand-alone value, and upside if they can command more volume than the share that’s currently projected. Williams, Robinson, Tracy, and Etienne all project as “starters” for now, but in backfields that are likely to be committees. Harris suffered an eye injury on July 4, but appears to be OK, and the Chargers didn’t bring him there just for spot duty.

Tier VI – The Sharers and Top Handcuffs

37. Jordan Mason

38. Rhamondre Stevenson

39. Zach Charbonnet

40. Isaac Guerendo

41. J.K. Dobbins

42. Tank Bigsby

43. Rachaad White

44. Cam Skattebo (R)

45. Austin Ekeler

46. Ray Davis

47. Tyler Allgeier

48. Rico Dowdle

49. Jaydon Blue (R)

50. Braelon Allen

51. Jaylen Wright

52. Jerome Ford

53. Trey Benson

Commentary: Some of the players in this tier have some stand-alone value, but in most cases an injury or some other major issue would need to occur for them to take off. 2024 notwithstanding, history tells us that this will happen, and I’m going to believe in that history. It’s hard to predict injuries, so I try to load up on a few of these players in the later rounds. Having a suddenly-relevant player stashed is a lot better than competing for him in a waiver wire stampede.

Tier VII – RB Depth

54. Jaydon Blue (R)

55. Bhayshul Tuten (R)

56. Roschon Johnson

57. Kareem Hunt

58. Justice Hill

59. Blake Corum

60. Nick Chubb

61. Kendre Miller

62. Marshawn Lloyd

63. Zack Moss

64. D.J. Giddens

65. Dylan Sampson (R)

66. Will Shipley

67. Jaleel McLaughlin

68. Raheem Mostert

69. Keaton Mitchell

70. Devin Singletary

71. Miles Sanders

72. Jarquez Hunter (R)

Commentary: For some of the higher-ranked players in this tier, what I wrote for Tier VI applies here as well. They could be an injury, suspension, or fumbling problem away from being weekly starters, and maybe even league-winners. Load up! Lottery tickets are worth holding, until you absolutely need the bench spot for something else. I could keep listing names of third stringers, but decided to cut it off at player 72, which equates to six running back spots per team in a 12-team league. In larger leagues or those with deeper benches, you’ll want to rank more RB depth.

Coming next: Wide receiver rankings and tiers, so keep it here!

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/18/24469558/fantasy-football-25-rb-rankings-and-tiers

 

[New York Giants]

Big Blue View mailbag: Old friends, new questions as training camp arrives

The mail’s here!

We have made it, good people! This is the final Big Blue View mailbag before training camp starts. Let’s get to it.

Doug Mollin asks: On Monday, you had a story on [Andrew] Thomas being in ESPN’s top 10 tackles.

Got me thinking back to that 2020 OT draft class — four top-ranked tackles with many experts having their own favorites and rankings.

Six years later ....

• Wirfs is #1. Not many people would argue against that.
• Thomas is #2. Injuries have been the main culprit reducing his value.
• Becton is a distant #3, even coming off of an Eagle make-over.
• Wills is #4, also derailed by injuries and The Browns. Currently a free agent and may take the season off.

Who were you pounding the table for back in that draft? I remember personally being fine with any of them other than Becton.

Ed says: Doug, I’m almost ashamed to admit that I was a Becton guy. In my final mock draft of that year, I took Becton for the Giants over the other three tackles.

Here is some of what I wrote:

I am fully aware, of course, that Becton is probably the riskiest of what is considered the Big 4 offensive tackles.

I don’t know if Becton is the best offensive tackle in this class ... I know this — he’s my favorite. Potential gets GMs fired, but what I know is that the 6-foot-7, 364-pound Becton has the highest ceiling of any tackle in this class. If there is a Hall of Fame offensive lineman in this draft class, odds are he is it.

I’m going for broke. The Giants have won 12 games in three years. Solid is for later. Drafting scared is for someone else. Safe is for the next GM. The Giants will probably take Jedrick Wills of Alabama, and that would be just fine. So would Tristan Wirfs or Andrew Thomas. I’m going for the home run.

I would have been wrong. That much is clear. There were reports before the draft that GM Dave Gettleman loved Wirfs. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett pounded the table for Thomas. Gettleman gave him Thomas. Both ended up being better choices than the guy I would taken a swing on.

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Gregg Wanlass asks: Another year of optimism and yet concerns. We seem to have stacked our offensive line with bodies, yet it seems the final alignment is TBD. Given that experience playing together is really important for effective line play how do we use the relatively short period of time to 1) choose the starting unit; 2) select who makes the team; and 3) give players reps in different positions to achieve the flexibility needed once injuries occur.

While the coaches will use training camp to set the lineup I would imagine going in they have a desired composition —which to me would have Neal at LG. Just seems logical for them to hopefully get some ROI from that draft pick and determine his value going forward. But regardless if that is the outcome my question to you if you were coach Ed, is how would use the time in preseason games, joint practices, intra squad practices to get a starting five set who have played together on more than a series or two before the real snaps count. It seems to me this should be a priority and an area where we have shown that we don’t seem as prepared as we should be when the season opens. Is it worth the risk of injury to get the starters more reps?

Ed says: Gregg, the reality is that I think you are worrying about something that is not a real issue with this group. The starting five entering training camp is Andrew Thomas (LT), Jon Runyan Jr. (LG), John Michael Schmitz (C), Greg Van Roten (RG), Jermaine Eluemunor (RT). That is the same group that started last season, and there were a lot of snaps played/practice reps taken by that group before injuries struck.

The only question this year is whether Evan Neal will take a starting job away from Van Roten. If you are the Giants you want to make that decision as quickly as you can to, as you pointed out, let them practice together as much as possible.

The Giants made that mistake in 2023 when they did not settle on a starting combination until just days before the season opener.

As for whether it is worth the risk of injury to get starters more reps, I think the answer to that is a qualified “yes.”

I hate, hate, hate starters not playing in the final preseason game. The Giants play their final preseason game on August 21. They open the regular season on September 7, 17 days later. If starters don’t play at least some in that game, the last competitive snaps they will take are on Aug. 16 against the New York Jets. That is a gap of 22 days — more than three weeks without competition.

I think that’s ridiculous, and it’s no wonder that the quality of play is generally terrible the first couple of regular season games.

If it was up to me, starters would play in that game. Perhaps that should even be the game where the starters play an extended period of time.

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William Broderick asks: Ed, the term “blocking tight end” makes me cringe. Hey defense, look who’s on the field, guess what we are about to do. If your blocking tight end has 5 receptions on the year for 35 yards, what’s the point? (Our blocking tight end had less than that in 329 snaps). No defense will respect that. Use an extra offensive lineman, what’s the difference? The defense knows it’s a run heavy set. Keep the tight ends on the roster that can actually run routes and catch the ball.

Ed says: William, there is more to playing tight end than running routes and catching the ball. Blocking is a big part of the job. It’s why Chris Manhertz, a college basketball player, in entering his 10th NFL season.

What’s the difference? I know that teams sometimes use an offensive lineman as a “jumbo” tight end. Guess when they do that? When they don’t have a player like Manhertz who is athletic enough and powerful enough to block players on the edge, and to at least run a pass route and occupy a defender.

Per Pro Football Focus, Manhertz played 343 offensive snaps. The Giants ran the ball on 203 of those (59.2%). That, to me, is not a giveaway that the Giants are going to run the ball.

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Topher asks: Instead of a blocking TE, why don’t teams create a receiving OT? He should block better and if taught to catch the ball, possibly a more inconspicuous option to receive the ball. In blocking situations it gives them 3 OTs playing at once.

Ed says: Geez, a second blocking tight end question/complaint. A record!! Maybe the first two blocking tight end questions in mailbag history!!

Topher, what’s the difference if you call the position blocking tight end or receiving offensive tackle? A guy like Manhertz really is an extra offensive tackle, and he is accustomed to lining up on the end of the line, playing in space and releasing off the line of scrimmage when called to do so. A 320-pound offensive tackle probably doesn’t have the athleticism teams want in a player lined up as an eligible receiver, even if he rarely gets the ball thrown to him.

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Anthony Cantore asks: Ed, do you have any confidence that Brian Daboll will have the Giants ready to play to start the season? He hasn’t had them ready the last 2 seasons.

Do have any confidence that players will improve under Brian Daboll’s coaching? Most players have regressed (Banks, Thibodeaux, Okereke) or never developed (Hyatt, Schmitz, plus a handful of other players).

Ed says: Anthony, were the Giants not ready or were they just not good? I have my issues with the way Daboll does things. In particular, I wish someone would convince him to give his key players more preseason snaps. But, hey, the Giants started 7-1 in 2022 with Daboll running training camp.

I thought Daboll ran a more competitive camp last summer, a lot more competitive 11-on-11 that he had used in 2023. It didn’t matter once the season started.

As far as players improving, it is important to remember that Daboll isn’t the guy running their position drills, running their meetings, working with them individually. That is what the position coaches are for.

I would disagree that Kayvon Thibodeaux has regressed. The guy was hurt last year. John Michael Schmitz improved in Year 2. Jalin Hyatt has an excellent position coach in Mike Groh. Quarterback issues have been part of the problem for Hyatt, but the young man has to take some of the responsibility for his own failings, as well.

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Jim Schmiedeberg asks: Lots of speculation on Daboll’s seat being hot. I don’t see it. I think it would take an unmitigated disaster of a season for Daboll to lose his job. I don’t see how you draft a QB who the coach wanted, and who the player wanted to play for, only to fire the coach after this season. I don’t think there is an X amount of games they need to win this year, I just think the Giants need to put a product on the field that shows growth. 6 or 7 wins sounds about right.

I know you’ve spoken in broad strokes on this, but how “hot” do you think Daboll’s seat really is?

Ed says: Hey, Jim! It’s a blast from the past! For those of you who have not been around Big Blue View since the beginning in February of 2007, Jim Schmiedeberg was the first contributor ever added to Big Blue View. That was waaaay back in May of 2008. So, nice to hear from an old friend of the site.

As for Brian Daboll’s seat, I vacillate on this one. In the end, I am not sure it is as hot as many in the national media think it is. A 9-25 record over the last two seasons is, obviously, awful. You would think a much better record would be required for Daboll to get a fifth season as head coach. Because of the drafting of Jaxson Dart, Daboll’s reputation as a quarterback developer, and the Giants’ failed experience with Daniel Jones after making him go through constant upheaval, I’m not sure the record will matter all that much.

I believe the Giants will be looking for reasons to keep Daboll, not reasons to get rid of him. The team playing respectably is part of that. The bigger part, though, is whether we get to the end of the year and ownership feels like there is enough promise in the Daboll-Dart pairing that they don’t want to break it up.

---

Peter Smyth asks: Way too early Pollyanna question for you. If we are in fact building a winning team, capable of going all the way, is our “championship window” the next 4-5 years?

I’m wondering this as our recent high draft picks (Carter, Nabers, Dart) are all on rookie contracts with fifth-year options. If they turn out to be “great” players, isn’t our window, like, now?

Or in a year or two maximum?

Look at Cincinnati, they had a lot of great players on rookie deals and now they are paying the piper. They are not as good as they were a few years back. In today’s NFL, it seems like it’s waaay easier to win when your best players are on rookie deals. Thoughts?

Ed says: Well, Polly, I mean, Peter I think it is ridiculous to talk about being in a “championship window” when a team is coming off a 3-14 season and has gone 9-25 the last two years.

That said, I understand your point. It is always easier to stack your roster with talent when you have a quarterback on a rookie contract who has established himself as the guy you want to build around. If Jaxson Dart is what the Giants hope he will be, the time will come when they have to pay him a massive chunk of change. The same applies to Malik Nabers and Abdul Carter.

The Giants need to start showing progress. Not just one good year followed by a bunch of awful ones. Consistent progress that makes them a consistently competitive team. If they can’t do that in the next few years that will mean a) Dart isn’t the guy and they will be back in the market and b) Carter and Nabers won’t stick around, so the Giants won’t have to worry about paying them.

If those things happen, you are back to square one rebuilding again.

---

John Churchill asks: My question concerns injuries, which seems to plague the Giant players. I know we have FieldTurf Core HD, which has drawn complaints from some players. Is the turf the problem or something else?

Ed says: John, I know that players want to play on grass and that research shows that is a safer surface than any type of FieldTurf. But, this complaining about the turf at MetLife Stadium has got to stop.

Yes, there used to be a lot of complaints about the surface at MetLife Stadium. The FieldTurf Core system was installed there in 2023, and it has not been an issue. Any complaining has been just players who want nothing to do with turf, or fans still looking to blame someone/something for injuries.

It’s football and guys get hurt. Something else that happens when teams are bad is that guys end up on IR the last few weeks because whatever injury they have just won’t heal quickly enough to make it worth keeping them on the roster. If there were playoffs involved, some of those guys would not land on IR. I think that skews the numbers.

Incidentally, using Adjusted Games Lost from FTN, the Giants were 13th in the NFL last year with 70.3 Adjusted Games Lost. There were 19 teams with more AGL than the Giants.

---

ctscan asks: With all the talk around the surplus of mouths to feed at the edge position, I feel like Chauncey Golston has been lost in the shuffle a bit. We were all very excited by his potential as a rotational piece when we signed him, but now it’s hard to see how he’s ever gonna step foot on the field behind the big three edges. even using him inside is less attractive now with the hope that Alexander takes those snaps. I actually don’t know what his presumed utility at DT is. can he stop the run inside?

At this point, do you see him as excellent flexible depth or maybe as a resource that is destined to be under utilized? Prior to signing the extension, there was plenty of chatter around Moving Thibodeaux based on the projected number of snaps that might be available to him. Does it make sense to think about trying to trade Golston for the same reason but even more so? What might we get for him? Maybe try to trade him for and up and coming run stuffing defensive tackle with a similar salary and pedigree?

Ed says: CT, you are right to wonder exactly where Golston will fit into the defense. It seems like the Giants signed him with a specific role in mind, and then drafted Abdul Carter No. 3 overall for a similar role. There were times when Golston was working with the third team during spring practices.

Thing is, Golston is a good player. He can play just about anywhere on the defensive line except nose tackle. He can play on the edge. His versatility brings options, and opportunities for him to get on the field.

I don’t know exactly how defensive coordinator Shane Bowen will employ Golston, or any of the myriad chess pieces he has. But, having options is a good thing.

Having depth is a good thing, too. How come as soon as it even looks like the Giants might have some depth there are questions about trading it away? You are also not the first one to mention adding help on the defensive line, which is something I don’t get, either. What are Golston, Darius Alexander and Roy Robertson-Harris? Someone among a group of good players — Jeremiah Ledbetter, Rakeem Nunez-Roches, Elijah Chatman — might not make the roster. No, the Giants don’t have a second bonafide superstar next to Dexter Lawrence, but what they have looks pretty good to me.

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Submit a question​

Have a Giants-related question? E-mail it to [email protected] and it might be featured in our weekly mailbag.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/...stions-as-training-camp-arrives-big-blue-view

 

[New York Giants]

Survey results: Giants fans can’t wait to see the first rounders

Thomas Salus-Imagn Images

Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart are the biggest draws

The New York Giants 2025 training camp is almost here — it opens Wednesday, July 23rd.

This year has already been an active one for the Giants, and there’s a feeling that the team is on the precipice of something. The hope is that they’ve set the stage to shock the NFL world, or at least right the ship and get the franchise moving in a positive direction.

If this team is going to be consistently competitive for years to come, it will be because of their young first rounders. So with that in mind, we asked you which of the Giants’ last four first rounders you were most excited to see in camp, Abdul Carter, Jaxson Dart, Malik Nabers, or Deonte Banks.

It probably shouldn’t have been too surprising that Carter and Dart ran away with it.

I’ll admit that I was expecting these two guys to lead the voting, though I’m not sure I was expecting them to take a combined 88 percent of the vote.

It makes all the sense in the world that fans are hyped for Carter and Dart. After all, they’re headlining the newest crop of Giants and they’re the hope for the future. The Giants’ work in the 2025 NFL Draft was widely praised, and that’s due in large part to the team securing those two players.

Drafting Carter was widely heralded as the “smart move” for Joe Schoen. Likewise, only sacrificing the 99th pick and a future 3rd to turn the 34th pick into the 25th for Jaxson Dart was viewed as a master stroke.

Fans — and the team — are hoping that Carter can be a similar type of talent as Von Miller or Micah Parsons.

Dart, meanwhile, is “The Guy” for Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen. One of the biggest reasons Schoen and Daboll were hired was their respective roles in identifying and drafting Josh Allen with the Bills. Dart represents their chance -- maybe their only chance -- to draft a quarterback of their own. Daboll is, by all accounts, incredibly excited for his young passer, and fans likely want to see if he can live up to the hype.

On the flip side, it's a bit surprising that Banks and Nabers didn't make it closer. Nabers is a budding star, who could take his game to the next level with Russell Wilson. Banks hasn't lived up to his draft pedigree, but he could also be the lynch pin for the defense. Banks playing up to his potential would prevent opposing quarterbacks from finding any easy answers in the Giants secondary, and allow the pass rush to really wreak havoc.

But still, Nabers and Banks are known quantities, while Dart and Carter are the exciting new kids. The best part is that we'll get to see all of them in action soon enough.

The 2025 season is almost here. Follow this link for more information on FanDuel sportsbook.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/...ants-fans-cant-wait-to-see-the-first-rounders

 

[New York Giants]

Make or Break: Is this the last stand of Evan Neal?

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Can Evan Neal successfully transition to guard?

We’ve been building to this over the course of the 2025 offseason, and it seems as though we’ve been heading here for a couple years now.

Will Evan Neal be a member of the New York Giants beyond 2025?

Neal was the second pick made by Joe Schoen as the Giants’ GM, who picked Neal 7th overall in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Giants have one of the best left tackles in the NFL in Andrew Thomas, but the rest of the offensive line had been a massive question for years. The selection of Neal was widely praised, and it was believed that he would give the Giants young, athletic, and talented bookends for the foreseeable future.

That, obviously, isn’t how things worked out.

Instead, Neal has only played 29 of 51 possible games due to injury and has been inconsistent at best when he has played. While injury has obviously disrupted Neal’s development at tackle, the Giants simply can’t afford to devote any more time to hoping he can become a consistent starter there. Instead, they’re settling on Jermaine Eluemunor to reprise his role at right tackle and are moving Neal inside to guard.

This is his last chance to prove that he can be a starting lineman and a long-term piece for the Giants.

In other words, this is truly a make or break year for him.

Why he can make it​

The single biggest factor working in Neal’s favor as he moves inside is his raw strength. Neal is a massively powerful man with great grip and core strength that allows him to control defenders in pass protection or distort the line of scrimmage.

Neal is capable of being a bulldozer of a blocker when he plays with proper leverage. He does a great job of getting under defenders’ pads, uncoiling his hips, and running through the block.

And while Neal has gotten better about his hand placement, landing inside his opponent’s framework and seeking inside leverage, he’s strong enough that he can still win the rep even if his placement isn’t ideal. In general, he can at least stalemate defenders even if he doesn’t win the overall leverage battle.

Neal also has plus athleticism for a guard. His movement skills were a source of consternation at tackle (more on that in a bit), however he should have good feet for a guard. Neal actually showed much better lateral movement than he was credited when he returned from injury in the second half of 2024. He as able to widen the pocket and match speed rushers around the outside.

At guard, Neal won’t have to cover quite so much ground, which should allow him to quickly get into position against defensive linemen or blitzers attacking the A or B gaps.

Neal is at right tackle in each clip. In the first play, he becomes responsible for the linebacker that walks up to the right B-gap. He’s able to match the linebacker’s speed into the backfield and remove him from the play so Tyrone Tracy could pick up four yards on first down.

In the second play, Neal is matched up against Jadevon Clowney in a Wide-9 alignment. While Clowney isn’t the explosive freak athlete he was a decade ago, he’s still athletic enough to post a pass rush win rate just below that of T.J. Watt (18 percent to 19 percent). Neal was able to hit his land marks and get into position quickly enough to neutralize Clowney’s rush. He also showed quick-enough feet to re-anchor and absorb the power of Clowney’s second effort

Neal has done a tremendous amount of work transforming his body since he last played guard. Back in 2019, Neal carried a fair amount of “sloppy” weight but has since put in the work to build a much more athletic physique.

(Neal is left guard number 73)

Thanks to his work, he moves better in space than you may expect from a man who’s listed at 340 pounds.

Here we see him pulling from the back side of the play at the right tackle position all the way across the offensive formation to the left C-gap. He does a good job of getting out ahead of Tracy, laying the block on Erik Kendricks which allows Tracy to pick up seven yards.

That should translate well to a guard position, where pulling is a relatively common way to change the numbers game when running the ball.

All told, Neal has great play strength, plus quickness for a guard, and the athleticism to be a factor pulling or at the second level. He also has longer than average arms at 34 inches (average is 33 inches for both guards and defensive tackles), which is another advantage on the inside.

That’s quite a bit working in his favor, if he can overcome a potential issue that was seen as an asset at tackle.

Why he may not​

The major concern for Neal with respect to his move inside to guard is his height and leverage.

As mentioned above, Neal isn’t as un-athletic as his reputation would suggest. He has pretty good speed in the open field and lateral agility when matching speed to the outside. Likewise, he isn’t a heavy-legged waist-bender who simply can’t sink his hips and play with good pad level.

However, he’s tall for a tackle and is exceptionally tall for a guard.

The average height for a guard at the NFL scouting combine is about 6-foot 3 1⁄3 inches tall. It isn’t a coincidence that interior defensive linemen are also about 6-foot-3.

Neal, meanwhile, is 6-foot 7½ inches tall, or more than four inches taller than the average guard. In other words, Neal is roughly three standard deviations taller than the average NFL guard — for those of you playing the home game, he’s in the top 99.7 percentile for height among guards. As a consequence, Neal will have to be incredibly conscientious of, and consistent in, maintaining his leverage and pad level.

If he can’t, his impressive strength is neutralized and interior defenders will be able to get under his pads.

That also brings us to one of the most persistent issues in Neal’s tape at offensive tackle: Redirection.

Neal was typically able to hit his landmarks when kick-sliding against edge rushers. His worst reps, however, came when he would have to suddenly change direction and move back inside to block a different gap. Neal doesn’t have lightning quick feet, but they aren’t egregiously slow either. Instead, his problems seem to come from the fact that he is a long-limbed athlete and a relatively high-cut 6-7. In other words, he has a high center of gravity and needs to gather himself when changing direction.

The fact that he has to gather himself before redirecting back inside can have a few downstream effects.

Obviously, Neal can be slow to react to athletic rushers who execute inside moves. That, in and of itself, can lead to losses and pressure leaking through his gap. Things go from bad to worse if Neal rushes or panics when trying to change direction suddenly. As we’ve see pretty regularly in scouting reports, straightening knees can lead to a cascade of bad outcomes, from loss of balance, to losing leverage, to losing balance. Those, in turn, tend to impact blockers’ hands or movement and lead to particularly ugly losses.

Combined with his sheer height, any loss of leverage from straightening knees lead to very bad losses right in the quarterback’s face.

There’s the added concern of Neal’s height with Russell Wilson at quarterback. Wilson is used to having to play around taller linemen and he features a very high release point that mitigates his own stature. That said, Neal suddenly popping up could clog sight lines and passing lanes over the middle. That could disrupt the offense, even without the prospect of pressure in Wilson’s face.

Final thoughts​

Of the various players who are in “make or break” situations, Evan Neal’s is likely the most dire.

He’s in the final year of his contract, and if it doesn’t work out with the Giants, he doesn’t really have much tape he can point to for other teams. If he can’t secure a starting job this year, he’ll likely have to hope he can rehabilitate his career on a one-year deal with another team.

That’s worked out before, but Neal would have to make sure he landed in a good situation, and that might not present itself.

At the same time, the Giants obviously want Neal’s move to guard to pan out. After all, a competent (or even good) starting guard is hardly a good return on the seventh overall pick — but it’s still a lot better than nothing. Neal becoming a starting guard, whether it’s left guard or right, would go a long way towards solidifying the line for the foreseeable future. The Giants may yet have to draft a starter at right tackle if they don’t view Jermaine Eluemunor as a long-term piece, but that’s better than having to find a tackle and a guard (and a center, pending John Michael Schmitz’s own make or break year).

The operative question is whether or not Neal can complete the transition inside, and it’s a thorny one.

Is he just too tall, too big, to be a guard?

There’s a persistent notion that bigger is always better for football players. However different positions demand different traits — you wouldn’t ask Andrew Thomas to play cornerback, nor would you ask Dexter Lawrence to play wide receiver.

And Neal’s height could be a legitimate problem once the pads go on in camp. If he can’t consistently play with good knee bend to counteract his height, he could struggle against defensive tackles’ natural leverage. Likewise, his height could be a problem for the Giants’ quarterbacks and clog passing lanes.

On the other hand, he could be a good guard if his height isn’t a problem.

He has many of the requisite traits to be a solid interior lineman. He has length, strength, power, and quickness — not to mention the necessary bloodymindedness to mix it up with defensive tackles. He’s a good run blocker and has the movement skills to be a reliable blocker. It’s encouraging that Neal took a definite step forward in multiple areas of his game after returning from injury in 2024.

He could yet build on his work in the second half of 2024 and take another step forward at his new position.

But right now, we don’t know and changing positions always adds another layer of questions to projection. One way or the other, we’ll get our answers and they could be consequential for the Giants as well as Neal.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/20/24469381/make-or-break-is-this-the-last-stand-of-evan-neal

 

[New York Giants]

Livestream! New York Giants training camp preview

Big Blue View writers discuss the opening of training camp

It is almost time for New York Giants training camp. To celebrate, and to break down all of the pertinent storylines, Ed Valentine, Chris Pflum, Nick Falato and Tony DelGenio of Big Blue View will be live on YouTube to discuss the beginning of the 2025 season.

Is the optimism justified? Will the schedule be too much to overcome? Is, or should there, be a quarterback competition? What are the other storylines? Who are the players to watch? Can this training camp get the Giants ready to start the season in a way the last two camps could not?

We will be going live at 6 p.m. Join us, and drop your questions in the chat. We will try to get to some of the best ones.

See you there!

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/20/24470990/livestream-new-york-giants-training-camp-preview

 

[New York Giants]

Despite improvements, ESPN still has no love for New York Giants’ roster

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Giants finish 27th in roster rankings

The offseason is at an end for the New York Giants and the NFL as a whole.

The 32 teams are about to open training camp and start the push toward the regular season. Over the next month they’ll be paring their 90-man rosters down and we’ll start to get a much better idea of what the teams will look like in September.

ESPN analysts Mike Clay, Aaron Schatz, and Seth Walder collaborated to evaluate and rank all 32 rosters as a final offseason exercise.

We combined their rankings to form the ultimate preseason roster ranking, considering factors such as talent, age and production.

We didn’t stop there. Along with projecting every starting lineup, Clay detailed the strongest and weakest position groups for each team, Walder identified X factors and Schatz picked nonstarters who could have an outsized role this season.

The bottom line: They rank the Giants 27th in the NFL.

But let’s go over each section and why they made the decisions they did.

Biggest strengths​

ESPN says: Defensive front. The Giants still have many major roster concerns, but they might have the league’s best defensive front. It starts at edge rusher with arguably the league’s most intimidating trio. Brian Burns is seventh in the NFL with 54.5 sacks since entering the league in 2019, Kayvon Thibodeaux ranks 21st with 17.0 over the past two seasons, and, as if that’s not enough, New York spent the third pick of April’s draft on Abdul Carter. The Giants’ D-Line also features one of the league’s top defensive tackles in Dexter Lawrence II (second-team All-Pro in 2022 and 2023). — Mike Clay

I don’t know how you could go anywhere else. Tacking Dexter Lawrence on as almost an afterthought at the end is a decision, but edge defenders do tend to garner most of the attention. Lawrence may not be able to replicate a season that had him on pace to finish with 12.5 or 13 sacks as a nose tackle, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be a (hugely) disruptive force.

The trio of Burns, Thibodeaux, and Carter should be absolutely terrifying to opposing offensive lines and will (hopefully) give opposing coordinators fits trying to scheme for them. Each of them are explosive, athletic, and versatile players, giving the Giants a huge number of options for creating pressure and havoc.

The biggest question about the unit here is who’ll be lining up next to Lawrence and when. The Giants added Darius Alexander (who had one of the highest pass rush win rates among the rookie defensive tackles), as well as depth pieces in Chauncey Golsten, Roy Robertson-Harris, and Jeremiah Ledbetter. I’m also curious to see how the experience of being forced into starting roles has impacted the development of Elijah Chatman and Jordon Riley.

Biggest weakness​

ESPN says: Offensive line. The Giants are set to return all five starters from 2024, but that might not be a good thing. LT Andrew Thomas is very good, but he has missed substantial game action in recent seasons and doesn’t have a ton of help. LG Jon Runyan, C John Michael Schmitz Jr., RG Greg Van Roten and RT Jermaine Eluemunor all posted below-average-to-poor PFF grades and run block win rates last season, with all three interior linemen ranking bottom 20 in the latter stat among 92 qualified players. The draft provided minimal help, as fifth-round guard Marcus Mbow was the only OL investment. — Mike Clay

I’m just going to say it: If the Giants get a similar level of play from their offensive line in 2025 as they did prior to Andrew Thomas’ injury in 2024, and that is their greatest weakness, their roster is much better than 27th in the NFL.

The Giants’ offensive line simply was not the problem with the team to start the year. They were league-average in pass protection, and their run blocking improved as their chemistry developed over the course of the year. And frankly, I am expecting level of play as their baseline, with a realistic case for improvement.

Jermaine Eluemunor will have all offseason and camp to settle in at right tackle. He was initially signed with the intention of playing left guard, but was forced to right tackle after Evan Neal’s setback, and then over to left tackle following Thomas’ injury.

John Michael Schmitz is a young player who showed growth and improvement in his second year. Another offseason of work, as well as consistency in coaching, should lead to continued improvement. Development isn’t linear, and Schmitz has the tools to be successful.

Finally, Evan Neal could supplant Greg Van Roten at one of the guard positions. If so, he’s likely at least as good as Van Roten with the potential to be a significant upgrade. His transition inside is no sure thing, but the upside is significant if it works.

Of course, there are obvious concerns for the unit:

• We haven’t seen Andrew Thomas, how is he moving after surgery?
• What happens if Van Roten declines and Neal still can’t unseat him?
• What happens if John Michael Schmitz can’t continue to develop?

But just because those are realistic concerns, we shouldn’t take them as given.

2025 X-Factor​

ESPN says: Safety Tyler Nubin. Despite being a rookie, Nubin led all defensive backs in run stop win rate last season among those with at least 50 qualifying plays. Now, he’ll be paired with Jevon Holland, an experienced safety who had success in Miami. If Nubin takes another step, Holland meets expectations and cornerback Paulson Adebo succeeds in his first season in New York, you can start to see how the back end of this defense could come together. — Seth Walder

This is a fair choice on Walder's part.

One of the most interesting, and potentially exciting, aspects of the Giants in 2025 is the number of young players who could step up and be difference makers this year.

Nubin was obviously great last year, and played up to his billing as one of the best safeties in his draft class. Likewise, Dru Phillips was one of the most disruptive slot corners in the NFL, despite also being a rookie. If either takes the next step in their development, they could be legitimately special players.

On the offensive side, Tyrone Tracy averaged the same yards per touch as Saquon Barkley did as a Giant... Despite 2024 only being Tracy's second year ever as a running back. He has fantastic quickness, vision, and contact balance and could be even better this year with better play around him on the offensive line, quarterback position, and at wide receiver. The combination of Tracy and Cam Skattebo could make for a very fun and dynamic rushing attack.

Theo Johnson is a rare athlete at the tight end position, but was unpolished coming out of Penn State. Brian Daboll has said that he believes Johnson has "Gronk" like potential as a TE 1. If he can realize that potential, the combination of he and Malik Nabers could make the Giants very tough to defend through the air.

And, apologies to Ed (who doesn't want to hear anything about Jalin Hyatt), more consistent and aggressive quarterback play could allow him to be the explosive weapon he was drafted to be. Hyatt has been a frustrating player on tape, because while he has gotten open downfield, the Giants' quarterbacks seldom looked his way.

The Giants have featured one of the least-explosive passing attacks in the NFL over the last several years, but a duo of Hyatt and Slayton would give them scary speed on the outside to stretch the field.

Nonstarter to know​

ESPN says: Cornerback Cor’Dale Flott. Flott started 10 games last season but has been pushed to the bench because of the addition of Adebo. Flott’s coverage DVOA ranked 60th among qualifying cornerbacks, but he got better as the season went along. Flott is looking for the opportunity to play more this season and earn a second contract somewhere, as his rookie deal is about to end. — Aaron Schatz

Calling out Flott is an interesting choice, and potentially a very good one by Schatz.

Flott and Tae Banks have split starting duties in OTAs and mini-camp. And while that might not mean that there’s a full-blown camp battle for the starting job, Flott could at least be pushing the 2023 first rounder. He did absolutely improve over the course of 2024, and while I still expect Banks to be the starter, Flott has the potential to make things very interesting across from Paulson Adebo.

I mentioned Cam Skattebo as a potential X-factor for 2025, and he could fit in this category as well. Skattebo brings a very physical running style and despite being a relatively limited athlete, he has exceptional vision and contact balance. It wasn’t a coincidence that he was 2nd in rushing yardage (1,711) and 6th in rushing touchdowns (21) last year.

Adding Skattebo’s punishing running style to contrast a much more explosive passing offense is definitely an exciting thought. Unless, of course, he becomes the starter — in that case he goes back into the “X-Factor” category.

Final thoughts​

I can’t fault anyone who is skeptical of the Giants in 2025. They need to prove that they’re capable of being consistently competitive before anyone should put their faith in them.

So I won’t argue with anyone who dismisses them after a decade of irrelevance.

That said, after watching a considerable amount of tape on them this off-season, I can’t help but come to the conclusion that this team has a lot of potential on the roster. Part of that is due to the inherently optimistic philosophy taught by the Scouting Academy (“Tell me what he can do!” as director Dan Hatman likes to say). But also, the Giants have a very young roster, many of whom have undeniable upside. Just because they haven’t reached their upside in year 1 or 2 doesn’t mean they won’t in years 3 or 4 — that’s all part of player development.

If you watched our Training Camp Preview livestream, I reiterated the feeling I’ve had regarding the Giants all year: By the end of 2025, this will be a team that NOBODY wants to face.

That may be due to the defense to start the year, but if Russell Wilson can provide a stable foundation, the offense could be scary as well.

So I won’t fault ESPN for placing the Giants in the bottom quarter of the NFL. The team hasn’t really earned the right to be reckoned higher yet. However, I won’t be at all surprised if they shock the NFL world are a “team to watch” by the end of the year.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/...-still-has-no-love-for-new-york-giants-roster

 

[New York Giants]

The A-B-Cs of New York Giants training camp

Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Lots of thoughts on players and other things before camp begins

With New York Giants training camp almost here, let’s take an alphabetical look at what to watch when it comes to the 2025 Giants.

A is for ... Abdul: Expectations are already through the roof for Abdul Carter, the edge defender the Giants selected No. 3 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. Carter is the betting favorite for Defensive Rookie of the Year, and the Giants themselves seem to believe they have something special on their hands.

B is for ... Banks: Former first-round pick Deonte Banks has gone from being counted on to be the Giants’ No. 1 cornerback in 2024 to being looked at as the biggest question mark in a revamped secondary a year later. There is an old saying that you are only as strong as your weakest link. So, will Banks drag the Giants’ secondary down in 2025, or will he become the player the Giants were looking for when they drafted him?

C is for Competition ... What will the best competitions be this summer? Could Cor’Dale Flott really take a cornerback job from Deonte Banks? Can Evan Neal be a starting guard? Which wide receivers fill out the depth chart? What competitions are you most looking forward to?

D is for ... Dart: As NFL analyst Greg Cosell has said, the biggest priority for the Giants this season is to develop rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart. Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka indicated during the spring that the Giants have a step-by-step plan for Dart that spans multiple years. We will get to see Dart play in preseason games this summer, and get some idea where he is on that development curve. Even though he won’t be the starting quarterback Week 1, the ups and downs of Dart’s training camp and preseason will be a daily story.

E is for ... Evan: Can Evan Neal make a successful transition to guard after three failed seasons as a right tackle? Neal’s progress at guard will be one of the stories of the summer, and maybe one of the stories of the season.

F is for ... Fidone: Can tight end Thomas Fidone, a rookie seventh-round pick, make the roster? If he doesn’t, will he get snapped up on the waiver wire before the Giants can get him to the practice squad? Maybe more importantly, if you are into tattoos would you let ‘Tommy Tatz’ ink you?

G is for ... Gano: Can the 16-year veteran show he is healthy and can be relied upon after two injury-plagued seasons?

H is for ... Hyatt: Jalin Hyatt added as much as 25 pounds this offseason, hoping the added weight and strength will help him finally become the playmaker the Giants thought they were drafting in 2023. Even Hyatt, though, admitted he has to learn how to run with the added weight. Think about running and cutting full speed while carrying a small child, or while having a 25-pound backpack strapped on. Hyatt was impressive in the spring. Let’s see if it continues in the summer.

I is for ... Injuries: Hopefully, the Giants don’t suffer any major ones before the games begin to count in September.

J is for ... Jets: The Giants will hold two joint practices this August with the New York Jets. On Tuesday, Aug. 12 the teams will work out at the Jets’ facility in Florham Park, N.J. The following day, Wednesday, Aug. 13, they will be at the Giants’ facility in East Rutherford.

K is for ... Kayvon: Media outlet after media outlet has proposed this offseason that the Giants trade fourth-year edge defender Kayvon Thibodeaux. Well, that hasn’t happened. Thibodeaux has been good for the Giants in his first three seasons, but probably not the star hoped for when he was selected No. 5 overall in 2022. Will this be Thibodeaux’s best year? Will Carter’s presence lead to a diminished role? It’s going to be interesting to watch.

L is for ... Lawrence: Dexter Lawrence — Big Dex, Sexy Dexy, whatever you want to call him — might be football’s best defensive tackle. With all the upgraded talent around him on defense, that is a scary thought for opposing offenses.

M is for ... Mbow: After trading their second-round pick to move up for quarterback Jaxson Dart, the Giants waited until Round 5 to address their need to add youth to the offensive line. Will Marcus Mbow, who is thought to have five-position versatility, pay Day 3 dividends? That would be a huge help for a team that badly needs young offensive line talent.

N is for ... Nabers: We never saw star wide receiver Malik Nabers take a single practice rep in either individual or team drills during the spring. The Giants said they were being careful with Nabers as he was rehabbing a toe injury that has bothered him since college. I don’t know about anyone else but I find that curious and can’t help thinking something happened with Nabers during the offseason. It will be interesting to see how the Giants handle Nabers during training camp. Is the toe a concern? Today, no. If Nabers is barely practicing this August, maybe the answer becomes yes.

O is for ... Open Practices: There will only be 11 of them during training camp. The schedule is as follows:
Gates will open at 8:30 a.m. ET
All practices will begin at approx. 10 a.m. ET*

Wednesday, July 23
Thursday, July 24
Friday, July 25
Sunday, July 27 (Back Together Weekend)
Monday, July 28
Tuesday, July 29
Thursday, July 31
Friday, Aug. 1
Saturday, Aug. 2
Monday, Aug. 4
Wednesday, Aug. 13 (Jets Joint Practice)

*Scheduled times subject to change. In the event of inclement weather, practice will be moved indoors and there will be no public viewing. For the most up-to-date information on training camp, visit Giants.com, @Giants on Twitter, the Giants App, or call the Training Camp Hotline at 201.935.8111 ext. 1070.

P is for ... Paulson: The Giants signed Paulson Adebo in free agency to be their No. 1 cornerback and to lead a young group at that position. Let’s see if he can do those things. The Giants love his work ethic and his willingness to work with his more inexperienced teammates.

Q is for ... Quick: The Giants need a quick start to the season. In the playoff year of 2022 they gena 6-1. In 2023, they started 1-5. In 2024, they started 1-3, won a game, then lost 10 straight. Can this training camp provide the groundwork to get off to a decent start despite a difficult first four weeks (at Commanders, at Cowboys, vs. Chiefs, vs. Chargers)?

R is for ... Russell: It’s been all sunshine and rainbows with Russell Wilson and the Giants. Wilson, as he always does, said the right things. HIs coaches love him. His teammates love him. That hasn’t been the case for Wilson in recent seasons. We will see how long everyone keeps tossing flowers, rather than “Darts”, at Wilson.

S is for ... Skattebo: Will Cam Skattebo’s power-packed “run through telephone poles” style of play translate in the NFL? What role will he play in the 2025 backfield? We will begin to get answers to those questions this summer.

T is for ... Thomas: Can Andrew Thomas be healthy for a full season? After two years of leg and foot injuries, including Lisfranc surgery, can he return to form as a dominant left tackle? Those are critical questions for the Giants.

U is for ... Underdogs: That is what the Giants will be all season. DraftKings Sportsbook has the Giants favored in just one of their 17 games, Week 5 vs. the New Orleans Saints.

V is for ... Victories: How many will there be?

W is for ... Winston: Jameis Winston always seems to be having fun. He’s become that lovable, cartoon character backup everyone wants to root for. Until he has to play and starts firing passes to the wrong team. Will Winston get an opportunity to contribute on the field in 2025? Or, would the Giants skip over him and go straight to Dart if Wilson is injured or they simply decide to move on?

(We have now reached the part of this exercise where I wish I had never started it. How would you fill the last three letters?)

X is for ... X-Factor: I know, cheesy. But, we do the best we can. Anyway, there are actually several ways to go to figure out an ‘X-Factor’ for the Giants. I am going to go with second-year tight end Theo Johnson, and whether or not he can show the ability to become the big time tight end that head coach Brian Daboll seems to believe he can be. Johnson was showing signs becoming a real weapon in the passing offense before going on IR due to a Lisfranc injury. If he can become a dominant force in the middle of the field that changes the Giants’ passing offense for the better.

Y is for ... Yardage (thanks, Tony D.): The Giants were 30th in the league in yards gained last season and 29th in 2023. They spent a lot of resources improving the defense, but made a calculated bet that improving at quarterback would be the elixir for the offense. Can they get to middle of the pack in yardage gained? When they did that in 2022, finishing 18th, they made the playoffs.

Z is for ... The end for Brian Daboll?: I am cheating on this one, but our ABCs have not addressed Daboll’s status. If Year 4 is not good enough, however John Mara chooses to define that, it will be understandable if Daboll does not get a Year 5 as Giants head coach.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/21/24458302/an-alphabetical-look-at-new-york-giants-training-camp

 

[New York Giants]

Former Giant edge defender Lorenzo Carter is retiring

Lorenzo Carter | Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images

A third-round pick in 2018, Carter was never the force the Giants hoped he might be

The life cycle of an NFL player doesn’t last long. An example came Wednesday as former New York Giants edge defender Lorenzo Carter, a third-round pick by the Giants in the 2018 NFL Draft, has told the Tennessee Titans that he plans to retire.

Carter is just 29. He played in the league for seven years.

When then-GM Dave Gettleman drafted the ultra-athletic Carter 66th overall the Giants hoped he would become an impact pass rusher. That never materialized. Carter’s single-season high in sacks was 5.0, which he reached during his final season with the Giants in 2021. He finished his career with 21.5 sacks.

After four years with the Giants, the former Georgia star signed with his hometown Atlanta Falcons. He spent the last three seasons there, before signing with the Titans as a free agent in March.

As camps open around the league, Carter has decided that his football playing days are over. He played in 96 career games with 62 starts.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/...r-lorenzo-carter-is-retiring-tennessee-titans

 

[New York Giants]

Giants news, 7/23: Andrew Thomas starts on PUP list, Malik Nabers, K’Von Wallace, more headlines

Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

New York Giants headlines for Wednesday

Good morning, New York Giants fans!

From Big Blue View​

• Andrew Thomas placed on PUP list by New York Giants
• Malik Nabers debuts at No. 67 on the NFL’s Top 100 list
• What to look for during Giants training camp, position-by-position
• New York Giants signing veteran safety K’Von Wallace
• Pre-training camp NFL power rankings: New York Giants still near the bottom
• Former Giant edge defender Lorenzo Carter is retiring
• Survey: Which camp battle are you looking forward to?

Other Giant observations​

25 Questions in 25 Days: Keys to the season | Giants.com​

The Giants finished tied for eighth in sacks last season and were on pace for more – and possibly make history in the process – before injuries to Lawrence and Thibodeaux. They doubled and tripled down on the defensive front with drafting Carter third overall and Darius Alexander in the third round. That was after they had already signed veterans Chauncey Golston, Roy Robertson-Harris, and Jeremiah Ledbetter in free agency.

Sacks alone don’t lead to wins. That’s why defensive coordinator Shane Bowen is emphasizing takeaways (see: turnover chest), where the Giants had the fifth-fewest in the league in 2024. That’s where Paulson Adebo and Jevón Holland, newcomers in the secondary, come into play. If the defense can steal some possessions for the offense, which in turn capitalizes on them, then that is a tried-and-true formula to be in every game.

Paulson Adebo talks about creating turnovers​

Training camp is almost here & our cornerback interviews are up on the @Giants Huddle Podcast.

️CB's: https://t.co/Ome0ep05Es
️Adebo 1-on-1: https://t.co/nYuP9BPa36
Subscribe: https://t.co/3jrxmgZkq5
Youtube: https://t.co/3NmjKty3ip
Adebo YT: https://t.co/fDoPSi6tK0 pic.twitter.com/lip8CR3AN5

— John Schmeelk (@Schmeelk) July 22, 2025​

Giants fandom starved for nothing more but elite Malik Nabers sophomore season | New York Post​

By the end of his record-breaking rookie season, Malik Nabers practically had highlight-starved Giants fans chanting “One. More. Catch.” And begging him to come back onto the field.

The true encore performance begins Tuesday, when the Giants report for training camp and all eyes return to a burgeoning summer tradition of seeing what circus catches Nabers can make on the practice field.

New York Giants 2025 training camp preview | ESPN.com​

Keep an eye on: Mike Kafka reclaiming playcalling. It has kind of flown under the radar, but it will be interesting to see what the Giants' offense looks like with Kafka seemingly destined to call plays again. This comes after Daboll served as the offensive playcaller last year when New York finished 31st in points per game and owner John Mara suggested after the season it might be best for the head coach to give that up.

Kafka, who had the responsibility the previous two seasons, called plays this spring. How much different will the offense look with him reinstalled as the playcaller? Will it last, or will Daboll call a last-minute audible and reclaim the reins? Something to keep an eye on throughout the summer.

Giants’ 10-step plan revisited: Will Joe Schoen regret trading up for Jaxson Dart? | The Athletic​

As for differences, I’m once again left questioning why more wasn’t done to upgrade the offensive line, particularly in the draft. The significant departure from my plan and Schoen’s actions was trading up for Dart late in the first round. That wasn’t a strong consideration in February when trading for Stafford or taking Sanders with the No. 3 pick were viewed as more realistic outcomes.

I would have liked the picks from the Dart trade to be used on the trenches. I would have been comfortable waiting until next year to go all in at quarterback. However, I understand why this regime took the plunge, given the current state of affairs. Schoen and coach Brian Daboll have confidence that Dart will save their jobs and turn the franchise around. Everything about the Giants’ offseason plan hinges on how Dart pans out.

Giants veterans making their way into camp​

Camp szn. pic.twitter.com/p1NPRwijKC

— New York Giants (@Giants) July 22, 2025​

Giants training camp: 3 position battles to watch | NJ.com​

Right guard: Greg Van Roten vs. Evan Neal If Evan Neal had any shot of being the next tackle-to-guard success story, the Giants would have moved him there two seasons ago. He’s not winning the job over Van Roten, who started 17 games last season.

NY Giants: Ranking the most impactful players for 2025 season | The Record​

8. John Michael Schmitz, C. Schmitz has shown incremental progress over his first two seasons, so that’s positive. But has the former second-round pick out of Minnesota done enough to cement his place as a foundational piece up front? That’s certainly up for debate entering a pivotal third year. He’s not a dominant physical presence, at least not consistently, and has had trouble with powerful interior defenders.

At this point, Schmitz needs to establish himself as a player the Giants can count on to be a constant. He’s not there yet, as neck and ankle injuries cut his 2024 campaign short in Week 15, and veteran Greg Van Roten looms as someone who could step in as a placeholder at center if Schmitz does not emerge as the linchpin Schoen and Daboll drafted him to be.

2025 NFL training camp position battles: Picks to win 10 notable competitions across the league | NFL.com​

Russell Wilson vs. Jameis Winston vs. Jaxson Dart. THE PICK: Wilson. I think Daboll sticks with the veteran to open the season, particularly given Big Blue's slate in the first month: at Commanders, at Cowboys, vs. Chiefs, vs. Chargers. But when things go sideways and the fan base starts clamoring for Dart, Daboll turns to the rookie in hopes he shows enough flashes to prolong the coach's tenure in New York.

The Six NFL Story Lines to Follow as Training Camps Begin | The Ringer​

I get the impression that Giants head coach Brian Daboll has set up a Mortal Kombat–esque ladder for first-round pick Jaxson Dart to climb during training camp: If Dart can show that he’s able to balance taking care of the ball with taking chances within the structure of Daboll’s offense, he can pass Jameis Winston on the depth chart and become the backup. If Dart can navigate the pocket efficiently and solve problems with his playmaking, then perhaps there’s a chance that he could take the starting job from Russell Wilson.

How the Giants landed in the Meadowlands​

You can’t think of the Giants without thinking of The Meadowlands.

The story of how the land was chosen and the decades of work that followed to restore and protect one of the most unique natural landscapes in the region.

The Meadowlands : https://t.co/n05PzlTJ8I pic.twitter.com/3NvTPc9e9k

— New York Giants (@Giants) July 21, 2025​

NFL Betting 2025: One prop to target for each NFC team | PFF​

Bet: RB Cam Skattebo — Over 3.5 rushing touchdowns (-115). Even though Skattebo will share the backfield with Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Devin Singletary, he will play a crucial role in the Giants’ short-yardage offense. Tracy and Singletary struggled to score near the goal line last season. Conversely, Skattebo excelled in goal-to-go situations over the past two seasons in college, having converted 22 touchdowns, tied for the second most in the FBS.

Around the league​

Micah Parsons at first Cowboys practice, but appears to be ‘hold in’ situation | Blogging The Boys

Cowboys sign edge rusher James Houston | Pro Football Talk

Terry McLaurin doesn’t report to camp while waiting for a contract extension | Pro Football Talk

Philadelphia Eagles 2025 training camp preview | ESPN.com

Report: Eagles sign veteran edge rusher ahead of training camp | Bleeding Green Nation

Matthew Stafford dealing with sore back at start of Rams training camp | NFL.com

Hendrickson won't report to Bengals camp amid contract stalemate | ESPN.com

James Cook will reportedly attend Bills training camp amid contract negotiations, RB seeks lucrative extension | CBSSports.com

Stefon Diggs cleared to fully participate in Patriots training camp after ACL tear | The Athletic

Bears CB Jaylon Johnson will miss 'a few weeks' due to offseason leg injury | CBSSports.com

Packers agree to 4-year, $88 million extension with OT Zach Tom | The Athletic

Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu retiring after 12 seasons | NFL.com

Jets unveil renovated locker room that includes 92 new lockers, barbershop | NFL.com

BBV mailbag​

Have a Giants-related question? E-mail it to [email protected] and it might be featured in our weekly mailbag.

BBV YouTube​

You can find and subscribe to Big Blue View YouTube from the show’s home page

BBV on X: Follow @BigBlueView | Ed Valentine: @Valentine_Ed | Threads: @ed.valentine | Bluesky: @edvalentine

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Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/...camp-malik-nabers-andrew-thomas-pup-headlines

 

[New York Giants]

Fantasy Football ‘25: WR rankings and tiers

Nabers should be busy again in 2025 | Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

A first look at the receiver position for 2025

Welcome to Part III of my preliminary rankings and tiers for each major position for fantasy. My quarterback and running back rankings dropped last week, and you can find the rest of my preseason fantasy content here. I’ll round it out with the tight end position next, and I’ll update them all in August. Hopefully, these initial looks will help you to start thinking about player values and draft strategies.

Before we get to the rankings and commentary, here are some quick comments on the wide receiver position.

1. 2024 was a rough year for WRs. In my running back rankings column, I called 2024 the year of the RB. A related event was the underperformance of the wide receiver position. The number of high-profile receivers that got hurt for long stretches in 2024, or whose production suffered significantly because their quarterback got hurt, was unusually high. A bunch of receivers taken in the first six or so rounds of fantasy drafts last year ended up being big disappointments. The scoring at the top reflects that. Of the top eight non-quarterback fantasy scorers last season (Half PPR), seven were running backs and the other was receiving triple crown winner Ja’Marr Chase. If we go back and look at each of 2021, 2022, and 2023, that same metric was split evenly, 4-4, between running backs and wide receivers.

We’ll have to see whether 2024 started a new trend. The bottom line is that some very good WRs should be slightly discounted in 2025 as RBs get pushed up draft boards.

2. What will we get from the 2025 rookies? Once upon a time, rookie wide receivers usually needed time to adjust to the complexity of NFL passing offenses. Those days are mostly over. We’ve seen a lot of rookie wide receivers excel in recent seasons, and 2024 was no exception as L.S.U. teammates Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas, Jr. both finished inside the Top 10 at the position. Ladd McConkey and Xavier Worthy came on during the second half and were both Top-20 WRs from Weeks 11-17. It wasn’t all roses though, as Top-10 NFL draft picks Marvin Harrison, Jr. and Rome Odunze both underwhelmed. It’s still the case that years 2 and 3 are the most common for wide receiver breakouts.

This year’s rookie receiver class doesn’t profile as being comparable to last year’s excellent crop. Top-10 NFL draft picks Travis Hunter and Tetairoa McMillan both landed in good spots to produce right away, but I don’t think either of them will approach the production we saw from Nabers or Thomas last season. That said, there are some rookies that make for decent later-round dart throws this season, and you’ll have to be patient with them.

3. Watch for camp news. Remember what I said above about receiver injuries in 2024? Chris Godwin, Rashee Rice, Brandon Aiyuk, Christian Watson, Stefon Diggs, and Rashid Shaheed all suffered season-ending injuries at various points during 2024. Watson will almost surely miss the start of the season and probably more, but most of the rest should be ready. Rice and Jordan Addison face possible suspensions, and Terry McLaurin and Jauan Jennings are potential holdouts (or hold-ins) as they seek new contracts. My rankings reflect news as it stands today, but they’ll change as we learn more.

I’ve organized the wide receivers into tiers, as I do at every position. You should do the same. To reiterate what I said in the quarterback and running back columns, everyone wants the best players, and a tiered approach allows fantasy managers to have a great view of (a) ranges of players who can be expected to have similar fantasy production, (b) where the drop-offs are between those ranges, and (c) how many players in a range remain available at any given time. Tiers really help when position runs come, and they facilitate more effective drafting, regardless of whether you use a snake or auction format.

My WR rankings and tiers are for Half-Point PPR. In Full PPR, the target hogs climb the rankings some. Season-long rankings shown are on a Fantasy Points Per Game (PPPG) basis and exclude the final week of the season. Finally, how you approach this position depends in part on the size of your league and its starting lineup requirements.

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Want to be the #1 WR? You’re chasing Chase.

Tier I – The Triple Crown Threats

1. Ja’Marr Chase

2. Justin Jefferson

3. CeeDee Lamb

Commentary: All three of these players should be gone by the sixth or seventh pick of most drafts in 1-QB leagues, and with good reason. If you want to worry about whether J.J. McCarthy can support Jefferson as an elite WR, go ahead, but remember what happened last year with Sam Darnold. Jefferson has proven over and over that he’s QB-proof and especially with Kevin O’Connell at the helm. Chase might only be scratching the surface of his enormous potential, and as long as Dak Prescott is upright, Lamb should be among the league leaders in targets, catches, and yards.

Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images
Penix to London - the next great connection?

Tier II – Studs, continued

4. Malik Nabers

5. Puka Nacua

6. Nico Collins

7. Amon-Ra St. Brown

8. Brian Thomas, Jr.

9. Drake London

Commentary: This is the epitome of a flat tier, in my view. I can make a case for ranking these players in almost any order. The oldest player here is Collins (26), so it’s a very young group of stars that’s still ascending. The players in this tier all have a realistic shot at 150 targets, and all should be long gone by pick 20 in most drafts. Fun fact 1: Collins led all WRs in fantasy points for the first month of the 2024 season, before getting hurt in Week 5. Fun fact 2: Nabers led the NFL in targets per game in 2024, with 11.3. Fun fact 3: In the three games started by Michael Penix at the end of last season, London had 22 catches for 352 yards and two TDs, on 39 targets.

Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Evans: Don’t bet against a 12th straight 1,000 yard season

Tier III – Fringe WR1s/Solid WR2s

10. A.J. Brown

11. Tyreek Hill

12. Ladd McConkey

13. Tee Higgins

14. Mike Evans

15. Garrett Wilson

16. Jaxon Smith-Njigba

17. Terry McLaurin

18. Davante Adams

19. D.K. Metcalf

20. Rashee Rice

Commentary: Here’s where things get interesting. I debated putting Brown at the back end of Tier II, and he certainly has the talent and resume to be there. But two things happened last season that give me pause. The Eagles’ defense improved significantly vs. 2023, and the team added Saquon Barkley. The result of these developments was the most run-heavy offense in the NFL, with Brown’s volume dropping by almost two targets per game. Hill is another tough call. Just two years ago, he led the NFL with 1,799 receiving yards. That dropped by almost half last year as he played through injuries and Tua Tagovailoa missed multiple games. I have him ranked higher than most and he could be an absolute steal in Round 3, but the possibility exists that the decline for the cheetah has already arrived.

Speaking of guys over 30, Evans is perennially underrated, and I should probably move him up, age be damned. Ditto for Adams. Meanwhile, Rice could be suspended for multiple games so his presence at the bottom of this tier is tenuous, at best. Wilson should again be among the league leader in targets, but what will he do with them, and can Justin Fields support him as a Top-10 WR, as he did with D.J. Moore in 2022? Questions abound for Tier III, but there are some excellent players here. I prefer all of these guys as my second wide receiver, but depending on my build and league size, can live with most of them as my WR1.

Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images
Can Waddle and Hill bounce back in 2025?

Tier IV – WR2s

21. Courtland Sutton

22. D.J. Moore

23. Xavier Worthy

24. Marvin Harrison, Jr.

25. Devonta Smith

26. Zay Flowers

27. Jaylen Waddle

28. Jameson Williams

29. Chris Godwin

30. George Pickens

31. Tet McMillan (R)

32. Calvin Ridley

Commentary: Speaking of the aforementioned D.J. Moore, I had a lot of trouble ranking the Bears’ pass catchers, what with all the positive changes happening in Chicago, and Caleb Williams entering year two. This tier is full of players with upside to beat these rankings, and I feel like I’ll have one or two of these guys on every fantasy team I have in 2024. Quick thoughts: I like Waddle for a big bounce-back. I worry that Flowers is limited by the offense he plays in. I don’t think Harrison is going to have a major breakout in 2025. Worthy gets a decent bump for however long Rice is out. Finally, I’m slightly worried that Godwin will miss the start of the season and ramp up slowly, as he recovers from a serious ankle injury (and surgery). He’d be ranked near the top of this tier if he was 100% healthy.

Tier V – WR3s/Strong Flexes

33. Chris Olave

34. Jerry Jeudy

35. Travis Hunter (R)

36. Jordan Addison

37. Jauan Jennings

38. Khalil Shakir

39. Rome Odunze

40. Jakobi Meyers

41. Deebo Samuel, Sr.

42. Jayden Reed

43. Stefon Diggs

44. Darnell Mooney

Commentary: Similar to the prior tier, there might be more questions here than answers, but you’ve got players that could easily outperform their ranking, and in some cases by a lot. Difference-makers that you get in the middle rounds can win you a league championship. If Joe Flacco starts most of the year, Jeudy could be a thing. Olave is extremely talented, but he could be one hit away from never playing again, and the quarterback situation in New Orleans might be the league’s worst. Can Deebo revert to earlier form, with a new start in D.C.? Will Odunze break out in year two, with Ben Johnson in town? You get the picture. The good news is some of these players will come cheap. Hunter won’t though, and I won’t be grabbing much of him unless his price drops a bit. In IDP leagues, he’s more interesting.

Tier VI – Flexier Flexes

45. Josh Downs

46. Cooper Kupp

47. Ricky Pearsall

48. Keon Coleman

49. Brandon Aiyuk

50. Matthew Golden (R)

51. Michael Pittman, Jr.

52. Christian Kirk

53. Emeka Egbuka (R)

54. Rashod Bateman

55. Rashid Shaheed

Commentary: You wanted even more guys with upside? Fine, here they are. Receiver is deep, and it’s a bit hard to predict who from this range will be worthy of weekly starts, but we know that some will. I want to take a couple of swings in this tier if I can, and I also think you can find some OK “floor” players here, to fill those WR3 and flex spots in deeper leagues. If you want to think of Tiers V and VI as one big blob of receivers, I’ve got no issue with that. There’s definitely a drop from top to bottom (who both happen to be on the Saints), but in the final analysis not all that much separates these 23 receivers.

Tier VII – Solid WR Depth

56. Luther Burden III (R)

57. Adam Thielen

58. Cedric Tillman

59. Romeo Doubs

60. Hollywood Brown

61. Jayden Higgins (R)

62. Marvin Mims, Jr.

63. DeAndre Hopkins

64. Wan’Dale Robinson

65. Tre Harris (R)

66. Josh Palmer

67. Michael Wilson

68. Xavier Legette

69. Kyle Williams (R)

70. Jalen McMillan

71. Quentin Johnston

72. Jack Bech (R)

73. Alec Pierce

74. Dontayvion Wicks

75. Darius Slayton

76. Jalen Coker

77. Jaylin Noel (R)

78. Calvin Austin III

79. Tyler Lockett

80. Adonai Mitchell

81. Demario Douglas

82. Keenan Allen

83. Tutu Atwell

Commentary: I decided to cut off my rankings at WR83, because it’s late and I want to go to bed. I could list at least another dozen receivers that have roughly the same chance as most of the guys in this tier of being fantasy-relevant at some point this season. I can almost guarantee this: Someone in this tier will blow up on your bench in Week 1 or 2, causing you to wonder whether to start them the following week. Enjoy that. It’s why we love this game…

Coming next: TE rankings and tiers.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/24/24472307/fantasy-football-25-wr-rankings-and-tiers

 

[New York Giants]

Christian Wilkins to the Giants? Should New York consider pairing him with Dexter Lawrence?

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

That depends on whether Lawrence, released by Las Vegas in a dispute over treatment of his injured foot, is actually able to play

Should New York Giants GM Joe Schoen already be on the phone with Christian Wilkins’ representatives trying to find out if it is feasible to bring the just-released defensive tackle to New Jersey to join his bestie, Dexter Lawrence, on the Giants defensive front?

It’s complicated.

The Las Vegas Raiders are releasing the talented Wilkins, a 2019 first-round pick by the Miami Dolphins who was entering the second year of a four-year, $110 million contract with $84.75 million guaranteed, in an apparent dispute over the treatment of a Jones fracture Wilkins suffered in his foot last season. The injury limited him to five games.

Per ESPN, it appears the team believed Wilkins, who had not practiced with the Raiders this year, needed a second surgery to repair the damage to his foot. Wilkins had refused. Las Vegas voided $35.2 million in guaranteed money due to “failure to maintain his physical condition to play.”

Here is the statement from the Raiders:

“We have decided that it is in the best interests of the organization to move on from Christian Wilkins and he has been informed of his release from the team,” the Raiders said in a statement. “This franchise has a commitment of excellence on and off the field. With no clear path or plan for future return to play from Christian, this transaction is necessary for the entire organization to move forward and prepare for a new season.”

The Players Association has filed a grievance on Wilkins’ behalf.

Now, back to whether or not signing Wilkins would be a good idea for the Giants.

First, Giants fans likely remember this from Director of Pro Scouting Chris Rossetti during ‘Hard Knocks’ in 2024:

Here’s #NYGiants Director of Pro Scouting Chris Rossetti from last night’s Hard Knocks saying he doesn’t think Christian Wilkins is a difference-maker on third down. #Raiders pic.twitter.com/3EOEkNd4kT

— Levi Damien (@LeviDamien) July 3, 2024​

First and foremost to any consideration of signing the 29-year-old Wilkins is whether or not he is actually healthy enough to play football.

The Raiders did not believe so. And they did not believe Wilkins was taking the necessary steps to get healthy and return to the field. Giants’ doctors would have to thoroughly examine Wilkins and give a “yes” or “no” on whether he is capable of playing without the surgery the Raiders wanted him to undergo.

FootCareMD says “A Jones fracture is the name often used for a fracture at the base of the fifth metatarsal, the bone on the outer side of your foot.”

Here is more detail on the back-and-forth between the Raiders and Wilkins from The Athletic:

The typical timeline for recovery from a Jones fracture is three to four months, but Wilkins still wasn’t able to practice when the Raiders began OTAs in May. That was a clear sign something had gone awry in his recovery process. And when the Raiders placed him on the physically unable to perform list last week, it confirmed he still wasn’t ready to go for the start of training camp. He missed the Raiders’ training camp practices Wednesday and Thursday before getting released.

Before OTAs began, the Raiders informed Wilkins that he needed a second surgery on his foot, according to a league source. Wilkins disagreed and didn’t get the procedure, a league source said. That sparked a back-and-forth over the last few months that led to the Raiders ultimately deciding to move on from Wilkins.

Imagine a healthy, productive Wilkins with the Giants, though. As Chris Pflum reminded me, Wilkins would be the fifth first-round pick on the Giants’ front seven. He would join Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and No. 3 overall pick Abdul Carter. Rookie defensive tackle Darius Alexander is a highly-touted third round pick, and inside linebacker Bobby Okereke was also a third-round pick.

That’s quite the collection of highly-drafted talent.

Just something to think about. If, and it is a BIG if, Wilkins is actually healthy enough to play.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/...ork-consider-pairing-him-with-dexter-lawrence

 

[New York Giants]

Giants training camp: Brian Burns, Wan’Dale Robinson collision gives Day 3 injury scare

Brian Burns | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

What else did we see and learn?

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants had their first injury camp of training camp on Friday when wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson and edge defender Brian Burns left practice after a scary-looking collision.

No word as of yet on either player. Robinson walked off the field with assistance from the Giants training staff. Burns walked slowly off with trainers, but under his own power.

The play occurred with tight end Greg Dulcich running upfield after catching a Russell Wilson pass. Burns, headed in one direction, tried to strip the ball from Dulcich and hurtled by off balance. Robinson, headed in the other direction, collided with Burns and the two landed in a heap on the Quest Diagnostics Training Center practice field.

Both are critical players for the Giants. Robinson, the team’s slot receiver, caught 93 passes in 2024. Burns had 8.5 sacks in Year 1 of his five-year, $141.5 million contract with the Giants after being acquired from the Carolina Panthers in a trade.

Brian Burns and Wan'Dale Robinson walked off the field after a collision during practice pic.twitter.com/yneItTjvBT

— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) July 25, 2025​

Here is more of what we saw and learned on Friday.

An Andrew Thomas sighting​

• The star left tackle remains on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, but was on a side field at the beginning of practice doing agility work with trainers. That was the first time during training camp that we have seen Thomas outside.
• Wide receiver Jalin Hyatt was held out of practice. Daboll said that Hyatt “cramped up” when he left practice early on Thursday. The speed wide receiver also suffered a hamstring injury during mandatory minicamp.

Your daily Dart​

The rookie quarterback did not throw anything that came close to being an interception on Friday, an improvement over the first two days of camp.

I have Dart unofficially at 5 of 7 on the day as he continued to alternate between second- and third-team reps with Jameis Winston.

His highlight came on the final play of practice, as he hit rookie running back Cam Skattebo in the right corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Skattebo had beaten linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles.

Cornerback Nic Jones has become Dart’s personal tormentor. He sacked Dart on a blitz Friday, the second straight day he has done that. On Wednesday, Jones had a pick six on a Dart pass.

As an aside from the Dart conversation, Skattebo’s usefulness as a receiver in the screen game and on short routes vs. linebackers has become apparent. He had a number of receptions on Friday.

Play of the day​

One play after the Robinson-Burns collision, which safety Jevon Holland compared to a car wreck, Russell Wilson and Malik Nabers connected for this play:

Moonball to Leek. Easy. pic.twitter.com/Dnx4zuNAr7

— New York Giants (@Giants) July 25, 2025​

That is how you get everyone’s minds back on the task at hand.

It’s not a snap​

Thank goodness this was a training camp practice and not a regular-season game. There were at least three shotgun snap snafus between quarterback Russell Wilson and center John Michael Schmitz on Friday.

Once, it appeared Wilson simply mishandled a snap that was slightly to his right. Once, Schmitz apparently snapped the ball early as it hit Wilson in the facemask, and once Schmitz sailed a snap over the quarterback’s head.

Stretching things out​

The Giants were in shells on Friday after two practices in shorts and t-shirts. The Giants did their work in the red zone and what Daboll calls the “high red zone” between the 15 and 20-yard line the first two days.

They stretched things out on Friday, as shown by the Wilson to Nabers connection, using much more of the field.

Alignment notes​

Friday was more of what we had seen the first two days:

• Tae Banks and Cor’Dale Flott alternating at cornerback. This time, Banks got most of the first-team reps.
• Evan Neal working at both guard spots, and getting a smattering of first-team reps at left guard.

Quote of the day​

Justin Pugh retired as a Giant on Friday:

It’s been a hell of a ride. Life, like football, isn’t about the wins or the losses. It’s about the journey, the people, and the memories we create along the way. So thank you to football.

Remaining open practices​

The Giants have their first off day of training camp on Saturday.

Gates will open at 8:30 a.m. ET
All practices will begin at approx. 10 a.m. ET*

Sunday, July 27 (Back Together Weekend)
Monday, July 28
Tuesday, July 29
Thursday, July 31
Friday, Aug. 1
Saturday, Aug. 2
Monday, Aug. 4
Wednesday, Aug. 13 (Jets Joint Practice)

*Scheduled times subject to change. In the event of inclement weather, practice will be moved indoors and there will be no public viewing. For the most up-to-date information on training camp, visit Giants.com, @Giants on Twitter, the Giants App, or call the Training Camp Hotline at 201.935.8111 ext. 1070.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/...e-robinson-collision-gives-day-3-injury-scare

 

[New York Giants]

Giants’ Abdul Carter is passing his science test with flying colors

Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Carter off to dominant start in early part of training camp

New York Giants rookie edge defender Abdul Carter appreciates the Micah Parson comparisons, but he isn’t trying to be Parsons.

“I’m my own player, I’m going to be Abdul Carter,” he said on Sunday.

So far, that’s been pretty darn good.

A few days ago, Carter dominated rookie right tackle Marcus Mbow on three straight reps. Sunday, he gave veteran starting right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor — a good NFL player — fit.

Abdul Carter is going to be good. #Giants pic.twitter.com/LnxddItgan

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) July 27, 2025​

Abdul Carter is making this look way too easy.. pic.twitter.com/ft8H0c3QzF

— Football Digest (@FoootballDigest) July 27, 2025​

Veteran defensive line coach Andre Patterson told media last month that Carter has a unique ability he has only seen in one other player at the beginning of his career.

“A lot of guys blow the rush when they get to the top of the rush,” Patterson said. “A lot of guys are quick. A lot of guys are explosive. A lot of guys can go edge to edge. But when they get to the top of the rush, they become mechanical. And as a coach, it takes guys two, three, four years to figure that out.

“Well, he was born with that. That’s the thing that he was born with, that just naturally when he gets to the top of the rush, he has a feel of where to go. And I think that’s the thing that makes him unique.”

In four days of training camp, Carter has shown speed to bend the edge, power to punish blockers (just ask John Michael Schmitz) and a sweet spin move.

“I feel like pass rush is a science,” Carter said. “It’s like you’re playing basketball, dribbling the ball, just setting your moves up, setting up your counter. I just try to think about it like that. It’s really just a science for me.

“I have a lot of moves.”

The comparisons to Parsons, the star edge for the Dallas Cowboys, are natural. Both came from Penn State and were drafted in Round 1 for their ability to terrorize quarterbacks. Parsons is a two-time first-team All-Pro and has made the Pro Bowl in each of his four seasons.

The Giants have aligned Carter in a number of ways. He has been used as a standup edge defender, a defensive end in a three-point stance, a defensive tackle and standing over center as a pass rush threat.

Carter said he “definitely” prefers pass rushing from a three-point stance, but can handle whatever role he is placed in.

“Anything my coaches need me to do, I’m going to go out there and do it to the best of my ability, so whatever they ask me, I’m going to get in there, I’m going to do it,” Carter said. “I’ve been doing this since my freshman year of college, so I’m pretty much used to it.”

The Giants knew the versatility Carter showed at Penn State, and hoped it would translate to the NFL. So far it has, even though padded practices do not begin until Monday.

“You were able to go back the year before too and see him play another position off the ball and see the impact he had there, running through gaps and chasing people down. And that’s part of it when you’re evaluating a player is the vision you have for the player when they’re coming into your team,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “But until they get here, kind of see them move around and ultimately see how they handle it mentally. Can they pick it up? Do they have the instincts to do it? Which he certainly has, I’d say. very, very good instincts as a football player.

“Some players do exactly what’s on the paper, the line, and I run 12 yards, I stop, I turn. And then you have other players that are very instinctive players. If I run to 12 yards and turn here, I’m going to be covered, or if I do this, it’s not. He’s a little bit of a see ball, get ball kind of guy. And again, he’s done a nice job with what we’ve asked him to do and we’ll see how it grows.”

At each practice, Carter sticks close by veteran edge defenders Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns. He said they have given him “a lot” of advice.

“Shoot, honestly, I’m just quiet,” Carter said. “I like to learn from them, watch them, just try to steal little things they do in terms of their routine, how they practice and just how they handle their business. Just try to pick up little pieces, one moment at a time.”

Carter is aware of the hype surrounding him, but is doing his best to tune it out.

“I try not to listen to it too much and I just want to keep working, keep getting better,” Carter said. “I feel like I’m still just getting started. It’s my second year of being on the edge. I feel like I just keep getting better, keep finding little ways to get better.”

From what we have seen thus far, that is a scary thought for opposing offensive linemen and quarterbacks.

Source: https://www.bigblueview.com/2025/7/...s-passing-his-science-test-with-flying-colors