The New York Giants have struck gold with their two top free agent signings

While the offense has been lackluster for the New York Giants, their defense has impressed through two weeks. Facing off against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears, neither are considered elite offenses nor weren’t to start the season shaking off the rust. However, the Giants stepped up and performed well in both matchups. Specifically, against the Bears in week two, they held their opposition to 17 points and blanked them in the second half of the game.

The in-game adjustments made by defensive coordinator Patrick Graham were excellent, but key players also stepped up and created turnovers/made plays.

Big Blue made excessive adjustments to their roster this off-season, replacing multiple starters on both sides of the ball and drafting a number of players to bolster the team. Defensively, they added Blake Martinez, James Bradberry, Kyler Fackrell, and drafted a bevy of talented players including Xavier McKinney, who is currently out with a fractured foot.

So far, the Giants’ free-agent signings have performed extremely well, with Fackrell improving his performance against the Bears after a tough week one matchup. Nonetheless, both Bradberry and Martinez excelled in week two, justifying their contracts and showing positive momentum.

Two free agents who have overhauled the New York Giants’ defense:

Blake Martinez:

Through two weeks, Martinez has 21 combined tackles, two tackles for a loss, one sack, and has missed zero tackles. In coverage, he has allowed three completions over four targets, which is such a small sample size it’s not even worth considering in the grand scheme.

According to PFF, Martinez was one of the highest-rated Giants in week two, finishing with an 87.4 overall grade. The former Green Bay Packer currently exists in the elite category for players at his position, but of course, through two weeks the sample size is too small to make a solid judgment. Nonetheless, he has looked phenomenal, flying around the field to make tackles in the run game. Against the Pittsburgh Steelers, every tackle he made was within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, which gives you an idea of how active he is in mitigating big plays and getting to the ball carrier quickly.

With Martinez on a three-year, $30 million deal, the Giants can finally have some sense of establishment at linebacker. While they are currently hosting Devante Downs as their weakside linebacker, the Giants are still in the middle of a rebuild and need more time to find the answers at multiple spots. In the short term, Downs might just be a filler, but the defense is undoubtedly trending in the right direction.

James Bradberry:

Bradberry has been the star of the defense since being signed this off-season — he was the highest-ranked Giant in week two and created two turnovers. Tipping a pass against Allen Robinson in the first half, the ball fell into the hands of safety Julian Love, which put the Giants in a fantastic position to score.

Later on in the game, Bradberry snagged an interception from an insane angle off Robinson again. He completely dominated one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, limiting him to just three catches for 33 yards. Bradberry currently hosts a 42.9% completion rate against, which is phenomenal and indicative of his fantastic performance is up to this point.

Replacing Janoris Jenkins was always a big challenge for the Giants, and they have done so with an upgrade in Bradberry, so far. He was named PFF’s week two Defensive Player of the Week, earning the best single-game grade of his career with a 91.6.

Bradberry had the best game of his five-year NFL career on Sunday against the Bears en route to a 93.1 coverage grade. On his 33 coverage snaps, Bradberry saw six targets come his way and allowed just one catch for 14 yards while intercepting one and breaking up another three. He shadowed Chicago’s WR1 Allen Robinson II and effectively shut him down (all of the production above came against Robinson). I wouldn’t really bank on Bradberry sustaining this lockdown play, as he has had one game similar to this one in each season of his career, but it’s still an impressive performance and the easy winner of the Week 2 PFF Defensive MVP.

Over six targets, he only allowed one catch for 14 yards. The Giants are currently giving themselves a pat on the back for this signing.