New York Giants 2019 Season Preview
Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 7/8/2019.
New York Giants Free Agency Recap
New York signed Golden Tate to a contract after trading Odell Beckham Jr. to Cleveland along with Olivier Vernon. New York also received right guard Kevin Zeitler from the Cleveland Browns in that trade. Jabrill Peppers and Antoine Bethea are the new safeties on the New York Giants after losing Landon Collins to Free Agency. Jon Halapio at center and Mike Remmers at right tackle will help Saquon Barkley, but will not help Eli Manning in pass protection. It feels like the Giants want to build the offense around Barkley knowing he's the most lethal chess piece the New York Giants have after drafting the best player in the 2018 NFL Draft second overall.
New York Giants Draft Recap
The Giants had three first round picks in Daniel Jones, Dexter Lawrence, and DeAndre Baker. The 6-5 340 lb nose tackle out of Clemson is the only immediate starter in the 2019 NFL Draft. New York needed a second receiver to pair with Odell Beckham and downgraded at that position to make sure they have quality quarterback play after Eli Manning's contract runs out. Despite landing one starter in Lawrence, this draft for the New York Giants will be defined by how Duke's quarterback pans out in the NFL.
New York Giants Quarterback Summary: Eli Manning continues to play at a high level. The backup quarterback and quarterback of the future is Duke quarterback Daniel Jones who also played under David Cutcliffe who coached Eli Manning when he was at Ole Miss.
New York may be one of three teams without a quarterbacks coach. They have Pat Shurmur as a head coach and they also have Mike Shula as an offensive coordinator. They should be fine in this area with or without a quarterback coach since both the HC and OC specialize in developing quarterbacks. New York had their biggest turnaround in team history with a 123 point increase.
New York Giants Running Back Summary: The Giants drafted Saquon Barkley second overall in the 2018 NFL Draft. I think he's capable of having 1,000 rushing yards right out of the gate. He will be a key part in the New York Giants offense moving forward. Wayne Gallman is a nice backup.
Running backs coach Craig Johnson has experience developing both quarterbacks and running backs. Johnson specializes in developing players at those two positions and has been the Giants running back coach since 2014. Saquon Barkley will continue to maximize his skill set with a second season working with Coach Johnson while being Eli Manning's biggest asset now that Odell Beckham Jr. is gone.
New York Giants Wide Receiver Summary: Eli Manning has Golden Tate who is more of a number two target at this point in his career after being a number one receiver during his early to mid twenties with the Seattle Seahawks and the Detroit Lions. Tate compliments Sterling Shepard now, but New York needed a number two target next to Odell Beckham Jr. New York downgraded at wide receiver because they replaced a number one target with a number two target that is 30-years-old while making their slot receiver a top two wide receiver.
Tyke Tolbert did well last year as the wide receivers coach. Tolbert will have his hands full in year two with the New York Giants.
New York Giants Tight End Summary: Evan Engram and Rhett Ellison both can be effective tight ends. New York finally started Engram which is why I feel confident about both tight ends doing well next season. Lunda Wells did well enough to retain his job after helping Evan Engram and Rhett Ellison improve as blockers in 2018. New York has 7 players who can block for running back Saquon Barkley if you count both tight ends. Also Engram is probably Eli's best target after Saquon Barkley which is kind of sad considering how dire New York's situation at wide receiver is.
New York Giants Offensive Line Summary: Right now the Giants have Nate Solder at left tackle, Will Hernandez at left guard, Jon Halapio at center, Kevin Zeitler at right guard, and Mike Remmers at right tackle. I think New York has a very good run blocking unit with five reliable run blockers for Saquon Barkley. Solder, Hernandez, and Zeitler are the only reliable pass protectors Eli Manning has.
Hal Hunter somehow maintained his job. He was 1-31 with the Cleveland Browns as the offensive line coach before joining the Giants this year. Hunter did well enough to keep his job so Eli Manning will not have time in the pocket like he did when he was younger. New York had guys like David Diehl, Kareem McKenzie, and Chris Snee when Eli was younger before those offensive linemen declined. I think the NFC East will be able to exploit New York's abysmal offensive line with ease due to the fact that Dallas, Philadelphia, and Washington all have lethal pass rushing units.
The Giants could be a top 5 team in rushing yards. On the other hand this team may struggle to pass the ball without Odell Beckham Jr. since the offense seems more focused on building the offense around Barkley rather then Eli Manning. Eli is basically a game-manager at this point until Daniel Jones is ready to take a snap as the quarterback of the future.
New York Giants Defensive Line Summary: New York ran a hybrid defense in 2018. Now they will transition to a 3-4 defense full time in 2019. Dalvin Tomlinson should have no trouble transitioning from 4-3 defensive tackle to 3-4 right end after playing in both the 4-3 and 3-4 at Alabama. Nose tackle Dexter Lawrence is a rookie out of Clemson who played in a 4-3 defense, yet has the body of a 3-4 nose tackle. B.J. Hill is going to be the x-factor. The 2018 third round pick out of North Carolina State won a starting job as a defensive tackle next to Tomlinson. Hill is moving to a 3-4 left end role so he should be the weak link of a very young and strong defensive line.
Gary Emmanuel did well helping New York's defensive line operate a hybrid defense. Now they will make the full-time transition to the 3-4 defense. Emmanuel has some good defensive linemen to work with as this group can penetrate any interior offensive line in the NFL when healthy.
New York Giants Linebacker Summary: New York replaced Olivier Vernon with Markus Golden which feels like a downgrade. Lorenzo Carter at 3-4 left outside linebacker is now the best pass rusher on the New York Giants. New York also has ALec Ogltree and B.J. Goodson as their 3-4 middle linebackers. New York is a team that could possess a formidable run defense. However, I'd argue that losing a big piece like Vernon makes this pass rush a liability as well unless Carter breaks out like Justin Houston did with the Kansas City Chiefs after his rookie season.
Defensive coordinator James Bettcher and Bill McGovern enters his third season as a linebackers coach with the Giants. Both coaches prepared these guys for the transition to the 3-4 defense last year. There will be a learning curve, however, I don't think it will be as steep as people realize. At the same time, if this pass rush struggles it is solely due to the departure of Olivier Vernon.
New York Giants Defensive Backs Summary: The Giants have Janoris Jenkins as the field cornerback with Sam Beal as the boundary cornerback while Grant Haley is the plays at nickel cornerback. You also got guys like DeAndre Baker as a quarter cornerback and Julian Love as a dime cornerback that you can develop for the future. New York also drafted Corey Ballentine for competition on special teams. New York's abundance of depth at cornerback is going to be the backbone for this defense since the New York Giants are just as deep at cornerback anyone in the NFC East Division. Jabrill Peppers and Antoine Bethea take over at safety and while Peppers is a downgrade over Landon Collins in terms of coverage he knows how to blitz effectively and can be used as an extra pass rusher or run stopper.
Everett Withers was the head coach at Texas State and now he is transitioning to defensive backs coach in the NFL with a much stronger group of players to work with. Withers has to get the defensive backs to respond to him. If he can do that then New York will have some sort of strength on defense. Otherwise the absence of Vernon will most likely make the New York Giants a bottom-feeder once again.
New York kept all of their coaching staff except their defensive backs coach. Despite this, New York could have a middle of the pack run defense and pass defense.
New York Giants Special Teams Summary: Aldrick Rosas returns at kicker. Riley Dixon is now the punter for the New York Giants. Corey Coleman is the kick returner while Jabrill Peppers is the punt returner. Thomas McGaughey is the New York Giants new special teams coordinator. Tom Quinn the Giants' previous special teams coordinator got demoted to assistant special teams coach.
New York Giants Worst Case Scenario: The New York Giants go 2-14 and gets the first pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Then they can use the pick on the best non quarterback or trade the pick to a team that wants to move up for a quarterback. Despite having Barkley, and their quarterback of the future, this team lacks pass blockers at certain positions on the offensive line as well as a quality edge player.
New York Giants Best Case Scenario: New York goes 5-11. As much as Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force doesn't want to hear this, I believe the New York Giants will finish in last place. Then again I said the same thing about the Chicago Bears last Summer before they won the NFC North Division a year ago before the Bears got Khalil Mack.
New York Giants 2019 NFL Schedule
Week |
Date |
Opponent |
Time |
Cable Network |
Result |
Week 1 |
September 8 |
AT  |
4:25 PM EST |
FOX |
L |
Week 2 |
September 15 |
VS  |
1 PM EST |
NBC |
L |
Week 3 |
September 22 |
AT  |
4:05 PM EST |
FOX |
L |
Week 4 |
September 29 |
VS  |
4:25 PM EST |
CBS |
W |
Week 5 |
October 6 |
VS  |
1 PM EST |
CBS |
W |
Week 6 |
October 10 |
AT  |
8:20 PM EST |
FOX |
L |
Week 7 |
October 20 |
AT  |
1 PM EST |
ESPN |
L |
Week 8 |
October 27 |
AT  |
1 PM EST |
FOX |
L |
Week 9 |
November 4 |
VS |
8:15 PM EST |
ESPN |
W |
Week 10 |
November 12 |
AT  |
8:15 PM EST |
ESPN |
L |
Week 11 |
|
Bye Week |
|
|
|
Week 12 |
November 24 |
AT  |
1 PM EST |
FOX |
L |
Week 13 |
December 1 |
VS  |
1 PM EST |
FOX |
W |
Week 14 |
December 9 |
AT  |
8:15 PM EST |
ESPN |
L |
Week 15 |
December 15 |
VS  |
1 PM EST |
CBS |
W |
Week 16 |
December 22 |
AT |
1 PM EST |
FOX |
L |
Week 17 |
December 29 |
VS |
1 PM EST |
FOX |
L |
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