By: Jeff Knapp and Bill Murphy
The 2021 season for the NY Giants is over and with a 4-13 record under Joe Judge and Judge’s tenure is finally over.
The team ranked 31st in total passing yards and receiving yards, 24th (almost 25th) in total rushing yards, dead last in total TDs with 24. The offensive game calling was horrendous and that is giving horrendous a bad name. One amazing example was the called QB sneak from their OWN 4 yard line on 3rd and 9.
The O-Line was ranked 28th (slightly improvement from last they were ranked 31st)at 54% with pass block win rating, but oddly enough ranked 14th in run black winning percentage at 71% even though you would never guess that being ranked 24th in total rushing yards.
Defensively, the Giants ranked 30th in pass rush win rate at 34% and ranked 24th at 29% in run stop win rate. They ranked 17th in total sacks, 29th in total tackles, 24th in forced fumbles and 12th in INTs. Last Year they ranked dead last at 32nd with 31% Pass rush win rate , they ranked 13th with 30%. run stop win rate, ranked 12th in total sacks, last year with 30 sacks .
DC Patrick Graham seemed to play a lot of loose coverage and allowed way to many of the easy underneath passes.
When thinking about which players come to mind when thinking of underperforming I quickly think of many players but a few come to mind.
On offense Daniel Jones had another regressive season. He threw for 2,428 yards(2,943 yards in 2020 ) with 10 TDs(11 tds in 2020) and 7 INTs(10ints 2020). He was 26th (19th in 2020 ) in the league in passer rating and his 10 TDs over 11 games ranked him 30th and was sacked 22 times. To put his season in perspective, Trevor Siemian on the Saints only started 6 games and had 11TDs. Joe Burrow was sacked 51 times and still had 4600 yards passing with 34 TDs. His Offensive line had a pass block win percentage of 54% while the Bengals o-line had a win percentage of 49%.
Top dollar WR Kenny Golladay who signed a 4 year $72 million had a less than subpar year for averaged 2.3 catches a game 0 TDs averaged 37 yards per game had 37 receptions over 76 targets ranking him 69th in the league for targets. Out of the 30 players ranked 70 to 100 in targets 28 of them had more receptions.
Evan Engram was targeted 73 times with only 46 receptions. 5 drops. Point of reference, Stefon Diggs had 5 drops too, but he was targeted 164 times.
Saquon Barkley was injured and missed 4 games. Had 60 less attempts than in 2019 both with 13 games
The Entire O-Line minus Andrew Thomas
On defense Dexter Lawrence had 2.5 sacks, free agent signing Adoree Jackson had only 1 INT and 8 PD. The defense as a whole in 2020 were ranked 9th in the league and in 2021 ranked 23rd. They pressured the QB 25.5% in 2020 and 20.1% in 2021 and they also gave up more yards, TDs and points in 2021 than in 2020 and had less sacks than in 2020.
I’m not saying that the Giant players were all completely inept and underachieved because there were some bright spots on the team. On Defense LB Tae Crowder led the team with 130 total tackles and also had 2 INTs. Rookie LB Azeez Ojulari led the team with 8 sacks, 2nd year Safety Xavier McKinney led the team with 5 INTs and was also 3rd on the team in solo tackles and finally LB/DE Quincy Roche might have had only 2.5 sacks and 38 tackles but he didn’t play the entire season but was originally a 6th round pick by the Steelers and was released and the Giants were lucky enough to pick him up. That gives the Giants a low money value with a high upside rookie.
Over on the offensive side of the ball LT Andrew Thomas, who was really under the gun in 2020 but stepped up in 2021 by only allowing 1 sack in 608 snaps. Free agent signing RB Devonte Booker might have had only 593 yards and 2 TDs, but his 4.1 ypc were up there with Joe Mixon, Elliott and Henry and better than Antonio Gibson, Josh Jacobs, Najee Harris, Alvin Kamara and his own teammate Saquon Barkley. Finally, K Graham Gano was perfect on extra points. 29 for 33 in field goals and only missed 1 from less than 49 yards.
With so many holes to fill and not enough cap space to buy a bag of M&Ms, the Giants will have to release a few players and possibly get some budget players going into the 2022 season. Currently the Giants have roughly $13,000 in cap space and entering 2022 they will be about $12 million in the hole. I’m thinking they will cut about $20 million to get to where they need to be.
As GM there would be a handful of FAs that I would keep on the team going into 2022. Let’s take a look at the FAs that the Giants wouldn’t want to or could resign. TE Evan Engram, who had 5 drops over 73 targets, and if you compare that to Stefon Diggs who also had 5 drops, but with 164 targets would have to go. He would be looking at possibly 7 million a year for a man who has all the gifts in the world but just can’t get it done when he is needed the most. As a Michigan fan, I’d love to keep Safety Jabrill Peppers, but I’m sure he’d want something in the range of about 12 to 13 million a year and that won’t cut it for the season he had last year. If you have followed Giants football for more than 1 minute, you know all the reasons why Nate Solder will not and can not come back. Mike Glennon would under no circumstance set foot in Metlife stadium in any capacity other than hotdog vendor.
The top FAs that the Giants should and would keep with me would be DT Austin Jackson who had his best year as a pro in 2021. He is young and showed good promise to be with the team for years to come. The next player I would resign is DE/LB Lorenzo Carter, who came off an injury plagued season a year ago and put up his best season and had 5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. I know earlier I said I wouldn’t keep TE Evan Engram, but if the Giants could sign him to a prove it 1-year contract for no more than $2.7 million, then I’d give him a chance.
Being that the Giants will be about $12 million in the hole next season and will need to clear out some cap space, the following men will have a high chance of being on the chopping block. The one big issue will be all the dead money going into 2022 that the Giants will have to eat, which is just for one season, but will count against them in the cap.
P – Riley Dixon will save the team around $3 million and only $320K in dead money. TE, Kyle Rudolph will end up going especially if the Giants keep Engram at a bargain price. Cutting Kyle will save the Giants $5 million but will count as $2.5 million in dead money. Next would be WR Sterling Shepard, who would get cut after June 1st to save the Giants more money. By doing that the Giants would save $8.5 million and will count as 3.9 million in dead money in 2022 & 2023. I love what Blake Martinez has done for the Giants, but if he isn’t going to be healthy enough to compete for an entire season next year, it’s time to move on. Blake would save the Giants $8.4 million but will count as $5.5 in dead money. Lastly, James Bradberry who would be $9.7 in dead money, will save the Giants $13.1 million in cap space.
That would be a saving of $29.4 million but count as $22 in dead money for next year.
With these savings the Giants can look to lower cost FAs in 2022. A few that come to mind would be:
QB Mitchell Trubisky as a low cost to compete with Jones. Trubisky worked with Dabbol in Buffalo they have a relationship.
QB AJ McCarron
QB Marcus Mariota
QB Jimmy Garoppolo 301 comp/ 441 attempts 68.3% 20 td 12 int
32-14 as a quarterback ,took the 49ers to the super bowl
QB Teddy Bridgewater 66.9% 3052 yards 18 td 7 int
Most of these guys can at least compete with Daniel Jones.
G Lucas Patrick from Green Bay
G James Daniels from Chicago Bears 1 tackles Pff Pass blocking grade of 69.3 , was a top offensive line in Iowa .Daniels is a young guy that has become one of the best guards in the NFL.
CB PJ Williams from New Orleans 42 tackles, 2 sacks and 3 INTs
Hassan Reddick Car OLB 68 tackles 11 sacks. Has the fifth most sacks in over two years The Giants have had an eye on him in the past
TE Ricky Seals-Jones from Washington 30 recs on 49 targets and 2 TDs
TE Mo Alie-Cox from Indy 24 recs on 45 targets, 4 TDs and 13.2 YPR
DE Charles Harris from Detroit 65 tackles, 7.5 sacks and 2 FF
DE Rasheen Green from Seattle 48 tackles and 6.5 sacks
LB Kyzir White from LA Chargers 144 tackles, 1 sack, 2 FF and 2 INTs
Dante Fowler ATL 36 tackle 4.5 sacks.He’s still young and can help the defensive line become more dynamic.
Hayden Hurst TE ATL: 26 reception 221 yards 3 touchdowns there is a connection with Giants Tight ends Coach who use to be tight ends coach for the Ravens
OL Laken Thompson SF
Lastly that leaves the Giants at the 2022 Draft, where the Giants have two 1st round picks at #5 and #7, a 2nd round pick (#38) and two picks in the 3rd Round (67 &81), giving them 5 picks in the top 100. The Giants have so many holes to fill, so now the question is do they take two O-linemen like Evan Neal, Charles Cross or Tyler Linderbaum with those 2 picks or do they get the best player available if they happen to fall to #5 or 7 like DE Kayvon Thibodeaux, S Kyle Hamilton , CB Derek Stingley Jr. or LB David Ojabo ? The other option is to get one OL and one from Defense.
I would go O-Line if the 2 best available are O-linemen. A great line will help the Giants stay consistently good if and when we get a good QB or even if the QB is just average, just like the Titans. If the Giants decide to abandon Daniel Jones and go to a quarterback they should think about Sam Howell .Now, if a disruptive DE like Thibodeaux is available at 5, then you get him.
This should get the Giants on a path to making a run for the wildcard or at least be in the hunt going into the last week or two of the season. There will be a rookie head coach and a starting QB with a lot of pressure on his plate. This will be the make or break year for Jones. If they fix the O-line and he still doesn’t perform, then 2023 there will be a new QB under center in NY.
With these additions, the lines on both offense and defense should be a bit more solid and these FAs are for the most part are ages 28 and younger. This is possibly the best path the 2022 NY Giants can take to build a contender moving forward in 2022 and beyond.
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