NY Giants 2026 NFL Draft: NOW, are the 2026 Giants more talented than the 2025 Giants?

Interior defensive line

I didn’t know how good I had it back in March when I said that there had been no change in an interior defensive line that was one of the league’s worst against the run in 2025. The Giants did make a minor addition in Sam Roberts. Then earthquake #1 struck when Dexter Lawrence was traded to Cincinnati. No problem, the draft was coming up and surely the Giants would prioritize defensive tackle, no later than Day 2. The first bad sign was Caleb Banks coming off the board in Round 1. No problem. I got excited as pick No. 37 approached and man-mountain Kayden McDonald was still on the board. Then earthquake No. 2 struck: Houston jumped over the Giants and took him. No problem, they can just take Christen Miller. Wrong. The Giants did not take an IDL until Round 5, when they drafted 328-pound nose tackle Bobby Jamison-Travis in Round 6. I know nothing about him, but PFF ranked him as their seventh-best IDL in run defense this past season:

Interior offensive line

The other positions on the Giants are presumably mostly set at this point except for some additions/subtractions at the back end, so let’s assume that WYSIWYG given the current roster. I originally said the offensive line was worse than last year because Greg Van Roten had not been re-signed, leaving Joshua Ezeudu and Evan Neal as the incumbents at right guard, and Austin Schlottman had left for Tennessee. Then the Giants used the No. 10 pick on Sisi Mauigoa. Mauigoa has played almost exclusively at right tackle, though he did take 10 snaps at right guard last season. Mauigoa gave up only two sacks last season, none of them in his fiinal 12 games, despite competing against some of the best teams in the nation late in the season. He was also above average in the run game. Assuming he makes the transition from riight tackle to right guard smoothly, that’s a big step up for the offensive line, and free agent signing Daniel Faalele as a depth piece is fine. Lucas Patrick was signed to replace Schlottman as the backup at center; he’s not as good, but he’s capable. **EDGE: 2026 interior offensive line**

Cornerback

The Giants lost Cor’Dale Flott, who had become their best cornerback, in free agency, and I was not thrilled by the additions the Giants made to replace him. Specifically, Paulson Adebo, who was underwhelming in his first season as a Giant, and newcomer Greg Newsome II, who has played poorly after very good rookie and sophomore seasons, were the starters on the depth chart, with Deonte Banks as the prime backup. I rated the cornerback room as worse this year than last year’s. That all changed with the Giants drafting Colton Hood at the top of Round 2. Hood may become CB2 by the end of training camp, and if not, it may be because Newsome has regained his rookie form. Either way, the situation should be better than it seemed to be a month ago. It’s hard to say that it will be better than last year, because Flott had become a very solid corner. But the Giants now have a viable option for CB2, and there is also the chance that Adebo will bounce back after a rough first season as a Giant. For now, I’ll be conservative and say: **EDGE: None**

Receivers

A month ago I said: Deeper? Yes. Better? TBD. One thing has changed since then – the trade-up that allowed the Giants to select wide receiver Malachi Fields. It’s hard to project how good Fields will be as a pro, but he gives the Giants something that has been in short supply in recent years: A big target to keep drives alive. The Giants’ offense was pretty good last year before the injuries began mounting, but a lot of it was due to Jaxson Dart keeping the chains moving either by buying time with scrambles or running for the first down himself. Ideally what Fields will provide is a target that Dart can play pitch-and-catch with when it’s third down instead of running himself. We’ll see how well Fields can perform against NFL-caliber cornerbacks, but I’ll tentatively say: **EDGE: 2026 wide receivers**

Linebacker

Last month I graded this group better but not complete, because the addition of Tremaine Edmunds improved the run defense at the second level while not giving them much in pass coverage. I, like everyone else, assumed Arvell Reese would be off the board by the time the Giants were on the clock, so I never thought much about him in blue. Furthermore, it is TBD how defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson is going to deploy him. It sounds as if to start, Reese will primarily be an off-ball linebacker, and between Edmunds and Reese, run support at the second level should be miles ahead of what it was last season. Reese’s pass coverage was at best only adequate last year, though, so it remains to be seen whether the Giants have even one LB who can defend the pass well. Still, Edmunds + Reese is a huge upgrade over Okereke + Muasau, the starters most of last season. Furthermore, with Micah McFadden returning from injury and possibly getting a decent number of snaps as Reese is sometimes utilized to rush the passer, the Giants for the first time in years have a deep linebacker room. The Giants also added Jack Kelly in Round 6 and they still have Darius Muasau for depth. So: **EDGE: 2026 off-ball linebackers**

Final thoughts

So is the *talent* on the 2026 Giants roster greater than it was on the 2025 roster? Overall I think we can now say that the answer is yes. After 4 p.m. Monday I hope we’ll be able to change that to a resounding yes. The days of the Giants’ defense getting pressure up the middle just by having an uber-talented behemoth bowling over centers and guards are over. In its place, though, we should expect to see better run defense at the first and second levels, better pass coverage in the secondary, and even more pressure on opposing quarterbacks as the rush comes from anywhere and everywhere, just not so much from the interior defensive line itself. (And even there, we’ll see whether Darius Alexander takes the next step in his development.) This is only about the talent level. The biggest expectation for the Giants is that the defense takes a big step forward simply because they now have a more aggressive defensive coordinator in Dennard Wilson. When we see the Giants start to hold onto fourth quarter leads instead of blowing them, we’ll know.