Anthony Rivardo
The NY Giants are not being subtle about what they want the offense to become under John Harbaugh.
This is not just a coordinator change or a few depth-chart tweaks. The Giants have spent the offseason adding size, power, and familiar Harbaugh pieces to an offense that now looks built to run through heavier personnel and a more physical identity.
Isaiah Likely, Patrick Ricard, Greg Roman, Francis Mauigoa, Cam Skattebo, and Jaxson Dart all point toward the same idea: the Giants want to become harder to play against up front.
Harbaugh brought Baltimore’s fingerprints with him
The Ravens influence is obvious. The Giants signed Likely, signed Ricard, and added Roman to the staff after years of Roman building run-heavy offenses around mobile quarterbacks and multiple tight ends.
Ricard is the clearest symbol of the shift. At 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds, he is not a decorative fullback. He is a moving wall who spent nine seasons with Harbaugh in Baltimore and gives the Giants a real way to live in heavier looks.
Ricard is a six-time Pro Bowler and was selected first-team All-Pro in 2025. That is not a small role-player addition. It is a philosophical tell.
Likely is another part of it. He is 6-foot-4 and 241 pounds, while Theo Johnson is listed at 6-foot-6 and 264 pounds. That gives the Giants two tight ends who can be on the field together without making the offense feel small or predictable.
The weight tells part of the story
Using OurLads’ current Giants depth chart, the projected 11-personnel starters add up to roughly 2,863 pounds. That group includes Malik Nabers, Darius Slayton, Darnell Mooney, Andrew Thomas, Jon Runyan Jr., John Michael Schmitz, Mauigoa, Jermaine Eluemunor, Likely, Dart, and Skattebo.
Using the OurLads 2025 opening archive, last year’s starting offense checked in around 2,838 pounds with Russell Wilson, Tyrone Tracy Jr., Wan’Dale Robinson, Theo Johnson, Greg Van Roten, and the rest of the listed starters.
That is only a 25-pound difference in base 11 personnel.
The real change is what the Giants can become when they substitute. Swap Mooney out for Johnson in 12 personnel, and the group jumps to about 2,950 pounds. Put Johnson and Ricard on the field together in a true heavy package, and the offense gets to roughly 3,052 pounds.
That is where the identity starts to show up.
Roman gives the run game a real architect
Roman’s track record makes the plan even clearer. The Giants hired him as a senior offensive assistant to pair up with new offensive coordinator Matt Nagy. Roman has spent his career orchestrating some of the NFL’s best rushing attacks in recent history.
Roman was the offensive coordinator for the 49ers from 2011 through 2014, the Bills in 2015 and 2016, the Ravens from 2019 through 2022, and the Chargers in 2024 and 2025. Before the Chargers chapter, his offenses were almost automatic rushing producers.
The 49ers ranked eighth, fourth, third, and fourth in rushing yards during Roman’s four seasons as offensive coordinator, according to Pro Football Reference’s team rankings. His 2015 Bills led the league with 2,432 rushing yards, then the 2016 Bills repeated as the NFL’s top rushing team with 2,630 yards.
In Baltimore, Roman’s 2019 offense produced an NFL-record 3,296 rushing yards. The Ravens led the league again in 2020, then remained near the top in 2021 and 2022.
There is some caution in the Chargers years. Los Angeles ranked 17th in rushing yards in 2024 with 1,882 yards, then finished 2025 with 2,067 rushing yards. Roman is not magic by himself.
But when the personnel matches the intent, his offenses have historically found ways to run the ball.
The Giants finally have the bodies for it
Mauigoa was drafted No. 10 overall and is already projected to kick inside to guard, giving the Giants a 6-foot-5, 329-pound mauler on the interior. PFF credited him with an 83.6 overall grade and 87.0 pass-blocking grade in 2025 at Miami, while NFL.com’s draft tracker had his Next Gen Stats profile at 329 pounds with a 71 production score and 74 athleticism score. That is not just about protecting Dart. It is about creating displacement in the run game and changing the math at the point of attack.
Skattebo brings the same kind of personality to the backfield. He is a runner with aggression, contact balance, and a physical style. That fits what the Giants are trying to build.
Dart also changes the equation. His legs give Roman and Matt Nagy another stress point to build around, whether through designed runs, keepers, boots, or simple backside punishment when defenses overcommit. Dart set a Giants single-season franchise record last year with nine rushing touchdowns.
The Giants still need the offensive line to come together. They still need Nabers healthy. They still need Dart to develop quickly enough to keep defenses from crowding the box.
But the shape of the offense is obvious now. Harbaugh is building a bigger, heavier, more physical unit with enough multiplicity to move between spread looks and smash-mouth packages without changing the entire roster grouping.
That is the potential here. The Giants are not just trying to improve the offense. They are trying to give it a real identity for the first time in years.
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