After winning just six games in 2023, the Giants have plenty of room for improvement. With a few bad breaks, though, New York could be in for more of the same in 2024.
With the regular season just over a week away, here's how the Giants' ceiling and floor look heading into their Week 1 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.
Ceiling: 9-8
Nine wins would give the Giants their third winning season since 2013 and first since 2022. That year— his only full season in Brian Daboll’s offense — quarterback Daniel Jones finished as the NFL’s 15th-leading passer throwing mostly to Darius Slayton, who led the team with 725 yards and two touchdowns.
Malik Nabers — the team’s first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft — could have 725 yards by Thanksgiving if things go well this year. During his final collegiate season with LSU last fall, Nabers ranked second in the FBS with 1,569 receiving yards and tied for third with 14 touchdowns. He saw limited action in the preseason but gave Giants fans a taste of what’s to come by making catches like this:
Defensively, the team should be much better after trading for Brian Burns. The 26-year-old defensive end had 246 tackles and 46 sacks in 80 games (five seasons) with the Panthers and should improve New York’s 28th-ranked pass-rush alongside Kayvon Thibodeaux, who led the Giants with 11.5 sacks last season.
Both will try to take down Minnesota’s Sam Darnold in Week 1, as only three of the Giants’ first 10 matchups feature teams that made the playoffs in 2023.
Floor: 5-12
Of course, defense won’t matter if the team’s quarterback keeps giving the other team the ball. Jones had six interceptions in six games played last year with only two touchdowns. He also had a pair of interceptions on 18 attempts against the Texans in his only preseason game this month.
Thanks to an ACL tear, Jones only took 30 of the league-high 85 sacks allowed by what Pro Football Focus dubbed the NFL’s “weakest” offensive line last season. The team signed free agents Jon Runyan Jr. and Jermaine Eluemunor, but neither will block for running back Saquon Barkley who signed with the Philadelphia Eagles this spring.
Barkley, who led the team with 1,242 total yards and 10 touchdowns in 2023, will be replaced by Devin Singletary, who rushed for a career-high 898 yards with the Texans last year but offers little as a pass-catcher and has spent most of his career as part of a committee backfield.
Even with Barkley, the Giants’ ground game ranked 17th in the NFL with 110.2 yards per game last season. Unless the team can find significant contributions from second-year running back Eric Gray or rookies like Dante Miller and Tyrone Tracy Jr., New York could struggle to move the ball in 2024.
