New York Giants: The 3 most important defenders for 2020 and beyond

The New York Giants no longer have room for failure, as the past three years have been disappointing and resulted in a revolving door of head coaches. Since hiring Joe Judge, the team seems to be on a better path, but only the regular season will give us legitimate answers.

This off-season has already been different, as the NFL draft seemed influenced by Judge. He also utilized the rare free agent tender to retain Markus Golden potentially. These small but robust moves can be the difference between success and failure in specific units.

However, the defense still requires plenty of attention and refinement. Judge will be more of a walk around head coach monitoring every unit, leaving his coordinators to do their jobs. New defensive coordinator Patrick Graham will have a lot on his plate in year one. Installing a new defense with many different sets and tendencies can be problematic.

Nonetheless, the defense has several talented players that will hopefully develop an identity moving forward.

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Let’s take a look at the three most important New York Giants defenders:

1.) Dexter Lawrence

Lawrence earns the number one spot simply based on his youth and potential. During his rookie season, the former Clemson stand-out posted 38 combined tackles, nine quarterback hits, and 2.5 sacks over 16 games. His numbers were more efficient than Leonard Williams’, who is currently asking for $18-20 million per season.

Considering Dexter is still on his rookie contract, he represents additional value in the monetary category. His production and statistical efficiency should see an improvement with one year of experience under his belt. He is a building block and staple on defense and will be utilized as such for the foreseeable future.

Several weeks ago, an anonymous general manager and AFC scout told Matt Lombardo of NJ.com that Dexter ranks atop the players on the Giants’ defense.

“It has to be Dexter Lawrence or James Bradberry at this point. Lawrence is a legitimate run-stuffer up the middle, and Bradberry is a dominant cornerback with good size and ball-skills,” the GM said.

“I believe it will eventually be Andrew Thomas, but I can’t give him that title just yet. My choice is Dexter Lawrence. He’s just such a factor in the running game and now has been showing emerging pass-rush ability,” he said.

2.) Xavier McKinney

When the Giants drafted at Xavier McKinney in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft, most were unsure if he was worth the pick. It only took several minutes for fans to figure out how talented McKinney was and the type of player the Giants landed. As a projected first-round talent, McKinney offers a solidified force in the deep half of the secondary and as a pass rusher from the safety position.

Having already performed on an NFL-style defense with Alabama, McKinney is making an easier transition than most. At 6-foot and 201 pounds, McKinney posted 95 total tackles, 5.5 for a loss, 3.0 sacks, five passes defended, 4 forced fumbles, and three interceptions. His turnover ratio is incredible, and he brings fundamental tackling technique to a Giants’ secondary that has been void of talent at free safety for the past few years.

The most exciting part about Xavier is his versatility. He can play multiple positions, including slot corner, strong safety, and free safety.

The last time the Giants had solid free safety was Stevie Brown many years ago. He recorded seven interceptions in one season. However, that was a one-hit-wonder, and he quickly fell off before the Giants started their revolving door at the position.

The utilization of Antoine Bethea and Curtis Riley the past three seasons has been tumultuous, to say the least. McKinney brings youth and extraordinary talent to the Giants. He has some of the best game speed film of all players entering the NFL this year and hopefully can maximize his potential in blue.

3.) James Bradberry

While reports indicated the Giants would be heavily invested in Cowboys corner Byron Jones, they sneakily landed James Bradberry as an alternative. The former Carolina Panther has experience with general manager Dave Gettleman, and he certainly did not expect him to make an offer.

Bradberry is going into his fifth season in the NFL and posted encouraging numbers in 2019. At 26 years old, he played in 15 games last year, posting 65 combined tackles, 12 passes defended, three interceptions, a 59.8 completion rate, one touchdown allowed, and a 12.2% missed tackle rate.

A few statistical things we can derive from his production last year was that he missed significantly more tackles compared to 2018. He missed just 5.4% in 2018 and 12.2% last year, showing a deficiency in the category. His completion rate against increased by more than 15%. However, he allowed just one touchdown compared to six, two years ago.

Overall, it seems Bradberry focused more on containing receivers then stopping them aggressively. This improved his touchdowns allowed, but hurt his completion percentage against.

Nonetheless, he will find the NFC East far more simple in the NFC South. He faced off against Julio Jones, Michael Thomas, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin twice per year with the Panthers. While the Cowboys feature Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb, the receivers he will face against Washington and Philadelphia are far less superior.

On a three-year contract, he will be relied on to lock down opposing number one wide receivers, which requires him to play at a high-level for the Giants.