The New York Giants are heading into the 2020 season with an unpredictable defense. After spending a bevy of draft capital on new players in 2019, the defense ranked 30th in the NFL. This off-season, they turned over even more of the defense, replacing Antoine Bethea at free safety, Alec Ogletree at linebacker, and signing several more free agents. General manager Dave Gettleman brought in James Bradberry to replace Janoris Jenkins, Blake Martinez, Kyler Fackrell and drafted Xavier McKinney to slide in at free safety.
There’s a lot of unproven talent at a majority of positions on defense, which is reason for concern as the Giants head into the third year of a full roster overhaul.
Let’s take a look at each defensive unit for the New York Giants and how they stack up against each other:
Ranked from best to worst
1.) Interior defensive line
The Giants placed the franchise tag on Leonard Williams this off-season, locking him in at about $16 million for the 2020 campaign. Williams is a reason for debate among Giants fans, as Gettleman spent a third-round pick on him in a trade from the Jets in 2019.
The last time Williams produced in the sack category was back in 2016 when he recorded 7.0. Last year with Big Blue, Leonard earned 0.5 sacks, 26 combined tackles, and 11 quarterback hits. The Giants seem to think he is a staple in the interior of the defense and can perform at a high level.
We know Willaims is capable of performing well, he just hasn’t been able to do it consistently on bad teams. Hopefully, with chemistry around Dexter Lawrence and Dalvin Tomlinson, the trio can dominate. They are an elite run-stopping group with pass-rush potential; they just need more support from their secondary and outside linebackers.