2020 New York Giants Get Little Credit In CBS Power Rankings

New York Giants, Nate Solder, Jon Halapio, Mike Remmers
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - NOVEMBER 04: Jon Halapio #75, Will Hernandez #71, and Nate Solder #76 of the New York Giants look on during second half of the game against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium on November 04, 2019 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

It’s hard to say how good or not the New York Giants will be during the 2020 season – the past two or three years have had optimistic expectations during the offseason, but the general trend is for the stated improvements and the coach speak to not matter that much when the season really gets going… Over the past couple of seasons, the Giants have quickly been out the playoff race early in the year, with only the most optimistic of fans holding enthusiasm until the point later in the year when the team is officially out of the running.

That track record over the past few years of optimism and failing to produce results once the regular season rolls around may be a large part of the reason why CBS Sports isn’t high on the Giants in their 2020 power rankings following the Super Bowl. However, they’ve put the Giants even lower than other outlets, opting to rank the team 30th in the league. It only puts them above the Lions and Bengals, both of which are teams that select before the Giants in the draft as things stand.

Based on what CBS said about the Giants, it looks like some of the skepticism comes from the team’s new head coach, Joe Judge, who enters the league without experience in a similar role and takes over a team in one of the most demanding markets.

They have a new coach in Joe Judge, who inherits a team with a lot of young talent. Can Daniel Jones take the next step?

As the rankings state, however, Judge does come in with some young talent including Daniel Jones, as well as Saquon Barkley and Darius Slayton. It seems like the worst years should be behind the Giants, whether there’s an immediate turnaround or not, and that should at least be enough to put the Giants above some of the other bottom dwellers on the list such as the Redskins, Browns, and Jaguars.

Are the Giants going to make it into the playoffs in their next rebuilding year? Probably not. 30th in the league, however, seems like a needlessly bleak projection based simply on having an inexperienced head coach – one who, despite that inexperience, has learned under the top minds in the game.

The Giants do however have a notable track record in recent years of disappointing based on preseason expectations, and if they want that to change, they’ll have to go out there and do better than the rankings predict in 2020.