The New York Giants’ offseason program starts on April 15 and there is no shortage of interesting stories to keep an eye on.
General manager Dave Gettleman made multiple splashes this offseason, with the trade of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns and allowing safety Landon Collins to walk in free agency to name a few.
As a result, the Giants have been under the microscope like never before, and not just from their own fans, but from the national media as well.
Let’s take a look at what to watch for as the Giants begin their march to the 2019 NFL campaign.
The embattled quarterback
Despite winning two Super Bowls against incredible odds and having to run for his life behind an embarrassing offensive line the past few years, quarterback Eli Manning may have never faced more adversity than what he will see in 2019.
A contingent of Giants fans want him gone. The national media has been calling for his head for a few years now. Both of these groups of Manning detractors claim he is washed up and the Giants need to move on, which flies in the face of his actual production on the field.
This is what Manning is up against. Short of shoving a third Super Bowl trophy down their throat, the haters aren’t going away. Manning will handle the constant scrutiny like a professional as he always does and instead will let his play on the field do the talking.
Who’s at right tackle?
As it stands now, the Giants are set to have Chad Wheeler starting at right tackle. While Wheeler did show some improvement as the year went on in 2018, having him as the starter on the right side is a risky proposition at best.
With the cupboard bare on the free-agent market at this point in the offseason, the answer at right tackle may not come until after the offseason program begins. That’s because in all likelihood the Giants will address their need at right tackle in the 2019 NFL Draft starting on April 25.
It’s unlikely the G-Men will take an offensive lineman with the No. 6 overall pick, but the No. 17 pick is certainly a possibility. Not to mention, with all the draft capital the Giants have, Big Blue can be aggressive in the first round and move up from No. 17 to get their man.
The return of Sam Beal
At the end of last month we learned that cornerback Sam Beal is on track to return for the start of the Giants’ offseason program. That’s great news for a team that is in desperate need of help at the position.
The Giants have no idea what they’ll get from Janoris Jenkins and he’s their best corner right now. Beyond Jenkins, who is a question mark himself, there is plenty of uncertainty at the position for Big Blue and Beal is no different.
With the Giants not finding significant cornerback help in free agency, the only other option for an upgrade is through the draft. The Giants will either need to strike gold in the draft or the team is looking at relying heavily on Beal.
If that’s the case, the Giants will need Beal to stay healthy and step up if this secondary is to improve upon what was a horrendous 2018 showing.
How’s the locker room in the post-Beckham era?
While Beckham was seemingly loved by his more vocal teammates, the receiver’s sometimes questionable attitude had to have weighed heavily on the team and its players to at least some extent. After all, it’s hard to be a team when one guy is louder and more about his own antics than the team.
The departure of Beckham opened the door for wide receiver Golden Tate, who will be a leader in this team’s locker room from day one. The recent re-signing of Sterling Shepard should also help other players feel more secure in knowing that the purge of players is now over.
The bottom line is that Beckham’s departure creates an environment more familiar to this organization and that should go a long way to making the Giants a more together, successful team.
What’s the situation at center?
After center Jon Halapio went down with a season-ending injury in 2018, Spencer Pulley was tasked with taking over at the position once the John Greco experiment failed. With that opportunity Pulley performed well and has put himself in a position to at least compete for the starting job this offseason.
Once the Giants signed Pulley to a three-year extension, it was clear that he is part of the team’s long-term plans. It also muddied the waters on who exactly will be starting at center, making this a competition leading up to the 2019 season.
What is clear is that Gettleman loves Halapio and it’s safe to assume that this is his job to lose considering he was the intended starter last season and played well before going down to injury. Pulley would have to do a lot to take it from Halapio, but stranger things have happened.
Lorenzo Carter’s development
It’s no secret the Giants need a huge boost with an effective pass-rush and that need will be addressed in the upcoming draft. However, it must be noted that linebacker Lorenzo Carter could be a huge piece to the puzzle for Big Blue.
In 15 games (two starts) last season, Carter was impressive and notched four sacks, 43 combined tackles (seven for loss) and 10 QB Hits. More importantly, his play was enough to suggest that the Giants might have something in Carter moving forward and he is worthy of keeping an eye on.
Carter’s numbers won’t go up on their own, though. He’ll need to continue to develop during the offseason and earn more playing time. The Giants will do their best to load up on options at pass-rusher and Carter will have to wade through a sea of them in order to see the field more often.
Who gives Saquon Barkley a breather?
This just in: running back Saquon Barkley is human.
That’s right, as much of a focal point of this offense as he is, Barkley will still need a breather here and there. What the Giants will have to figure out is who is the best candidate to do so while not taking a huge loss in talent while Barkley isn’t out there.
Sure, no backup running back can match Barkley’s talent, but that doesn’t erase the fact that the G-Men need a competent backup behind their former No. 2 overall pick in those rare instances that the Penn State product isn’t on the field.
Wayne Gallman is the favorite having been a backup for this team the past two seasons. Regardless of Gallman’s standing with the team, he will have competition in Paul Perkins and Robert Martin. Gallman hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire during his tenure in New York despite his hard running, so the backup running back job is still very much up in the air.
Saquon the leader?
With Beckham on the roster, there was at least something to debate as far as who the best player on the team was between he and Barkley. Now that Beckham is gone, that title is undisputedly in the hands of the Giants’ superstar running back.
Not only is he talented, but Barkley says and does all the right things and has proven to be a smart, humble and overall impressive young man. The same could not be said for Beckham in most cases, as he proved he was anything but a leader with the Giants.
Ready or not, Barkley won’t have a choice and has been thrust into a leadership role because of his standing on the team. Based on what we know about him already, Barkley has all the makings of a great locker room guy and a strong leader. The Giants will hope that he can fulfill the role that Beckham never could.
Who doesn’t show up?
The Giants dodged a bullet in not bringing Collins back. Not only did he sign a massive deal with the Washington Redskins that many consider far beyond his actual value, Collins also revealed that he would have held out if the G-Men signed him to the franchise tag.
That would have brought a headache that likely would have lasted for most, if not all of the offseason. Now that the Giants have avoided that rain cloud hanging over the organization, there doesn’t appear to be any obvious instances of where a Giants player would be a holdout at the start of the offseason program.
A no-show that nobody saw coming could happen, we just don’t expect it to given the current makeup of this roster and the deals the Giants have handed out this offseason.
A full offseason for R.J. McIntosh
A fifth-round pick of the Giants in 2018, defensive tackle R.J. McIntosh was unable to see the field last season. McIntosh missed all of the offseason and preseason while dealing with a medical condition and wasn’t ready in time to take the field for his rookie campaign.
McIntosh is back and healthy in 2019 and will have an opportunity to compete for a spot on the roster. Thanks to what is shaping up to be a full offseason for McIntosh, the Giants will finally be able to see what they have in the 22-year-old Miami product.
It’ll be an uphill climb for McIntosh to start given his lack of experience and how well Dalvin Tomlinson played at times last season, but that shouldn’t matter to McIntosh. What’s important is that he gets his reps and gets some playing time when the season begins.
How will new arrivals integrate?
The free agency headlines may center around what the Giants lost, but there was plenty they gained as well. The question now becomes, how will they integrate?
We’ve already mentioned the type of locker-room leader Golden Tate is, but what can be expected from guard Kevin Zeitler, safeties Jabrill Peppers and Antoine Bethea, edge rusher Markus Golden and some of the other new arrivals?
Golden, Bethea and others are already familiar with defensive coordinator James Bettcher, so that should help smooth over the transition. However, Zeitler, Peppers and a small handful of other free agents are coming in blind.
Part of Dave Gettleman’s offseason plan was to eliminate distraction players and bring in team-first guys, and by all accounts, that’s exactly what they did. Still, their adjustment period will be worth watching.
