With New York Giants training camp beginning in late July, BigBlueInteractive.com (BBI) breaks down each of the team’s positional groups until the players report at Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
FIND A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL BREAKDOWNS HERE
POSITIONAL BREAKDOWN: Defensive Line
2024 YEAR IN REVIEW: It’s increasingly difficult to analyze and even identify defensive fronts in today’s NFL. Gone are the easy-to-decipher, traditional 3-4 and 4-3 fronts. The amorphous “edge” player has replaced both outside linebackers and defensive ends. Under two different defensive coordinators, since 2022, while the New York Giants have officially employed a 3-4 defense, this has often really taken the form of a 2-4-5 defense with the outside linebackers really serving as undersized defensive ends. Sometimes under both Wink Martindale and Shane Bowen, the team would employ three legitimate defensive linemen. All of this begs the question: are the team’s run defense woes at least partially due to scheme?
Yup, once again the New York Giants were bad in run defense, finishing 27th overall. The team allowed 4.6 yards per rushing attempt. To be clear, as Defensive Line Coach Andre Patterson mentioned a couple of times during the season, not all of this is on the defensive line. Good run defense is an 11-man job, requiring sound technique responsibility, physicality, and good tackling from linebackers and defensive backs too. In other words, many of the breakdowns were not up front but at the next levels of the defense.
On the other hand, for a team that rarely had the lead and where the opponent rarely had to be offensively aggressive due to Giants’ pathetic point production, New York was surprisingly productive rushing the passer. This was true despite injuries to pass-rushing threats Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, and Kayvon Thibodeaux (we’ll get into the details more in the linebacker preview).
One problem was the Giants really did not adequately replace Leonard Williams (traded to Seattle in 2023) or A’Shawn Robinson (departed in free agency in March 2024). Rakeem Nunez-Roches, a popular player with a big personality, got his wish and started at the 3-technique spot next to nose tackle Dexter Lawrence. However, he did not make many plays as run defender or pass rusher. Nunez-Roches also missed two games in December with neck/shoulder injuries. Receiving 63 percent of defensive snaps, he was credited with 52 tackles, 2 tackles for losses, and 2 sacks.
The Giants lost Dexter Lawrence in early December with a dislocated elbow. Up until that point, he was having a stellar season, having started all 12 games he played in and accruing a career-high nine sacks and eight tackles for losses. He was also credited with 44 tackles, 16 quarterback hits, and one forced fumble. Lawrence was voted to his third consecutive Pro Bowl. Scheme questions arose when the Giants run defense actually improved after Lawrence was out of the lineup.
The back-ups were adequate, but not inspiring. The Giants placed D.J. Davidson on Injured Reserve in December with a shoulder injury. He ended up playing in 12 games with two starts, accruing 23 tackles, two sacks, two tackles for losses, and two fumble recoveries. Davidson played in 35 percent of defensive snaps in those 12 games. Jordon Riley played in 13 regular-season games with five starts, playing 30 percent of all defensive snaps in those contests. He was credited with 12 tackles and 3 tackles for losses. Both Davidson and Riley are better run defenders than pass rushers.
The Giants signed Armon Watts to the Practice Squad and then the 53-man roster in October. The team placed him on Injured Reserve in late November with a shoulder injury. He was activated off of IR in late December, played in one more game, and ended up back on IR with a knee injury that required surgery. Watts played in five games with no starts for the Giants, accruing seven tackles and two tackles for losses. The Giants signed Cory Durden to the 53-man roster from the Practice Squad of the Los Angeles Rams in early December. He played in four games for the Giants with no starts, receiving 32 percent of the defensive snaps in those games. Durden was credited with three tackles.
Two pleasant surprises were Elijah Chatman and Elijah Garcia. The Giants signed Chatman as an undrafted rookie free agent after he impressed as a tryout player during the May rookie mini-camp. Chatman not only surprisingly made the team, but he played in all 17 games with three starts, playing 39 percent of all defensive snaps. He was credited with 21 tackles, two tackles for losses, one fumble recovery, and one sack. Chatman played better down the stretch when his playing time noticeably increased. The Giants signed Garcia to the Practice Squad in August after he was waived by the Denver Broncos and signed him to the 53-man roster in December. Garcia played in five games with three starts with 42 percent of the defensive snaps in those contests. He was credited with 14 tackles, two tackles for losses, and one fumble recovery. In his limited playing time, Garcia flashed power and some quickness.
ADDITIONS/SUBTRACTIONS: Everyone returns except for Armon Watts, who remains unsigned. The Giants were also very active in bringing in new players. They signed Roy Robertson-Harris after he was cut by the Seattle Seahawks and signed Jeremiah Ledbetter as an unrestricted free agent from the Jacksonville Jaguars. More significantly, the team also signed DL/OLB hybrid Chauncey Golston to a 3-year, $18 million contract. In addition, the team drafted Darius Alexander at the top of the 3rd round.
TRAINING CAMP STORY LINES: Everyone is talking about the amazing potential of the New York Giants pass rush. However, unless the team is able to stop the run, much of that excitement will be moot. The pass rush won’t matter if opposing teams are constantly in 2nd-and-4 and 3rd-and-1 situations. And if I’m an opponent, I’d rather run on the Giants until they prove they can stop it. Again, this is not solely a defensive line issue. It’s scheme, and it’s the other players behind the defensive line. But how good this defense can become will largely depend on the team’s ability to get better in run defense.
The other main story line is who will be the primary 3-technique starting next to Dexter Lawrence? And who will be the main back-ups when the starters need a spell? There are a lot options and the competition will be fierce.
ON THE BUBBLE: There are currently 10 defensive lineman on the roster, 11 if you count Chauncey Golston. The team will likely carry 5-7 players up front. Goltson’s hybrid status also somewhat clouds the picture. He’s not a traditional outside linebacker. The only real givens are Dexter Lawrence, Golston, and Darius Alexander.
FROM THE COACHES: Defensive Coordinator Shane Bowen on the defensive line: “We’ve got really good depth… Really encouraged about the group. I think there is a lot of versatility within the group.”
Defensive Line Coach Andre Patterson on Darius Alexander: “He’s done a great job in the classroom. His age helps him. He’s mature. He’s smart. The times I did have him on the field during my individual periods, you can see that he is long, explosive. He’s quick, he’s a smooth athlete. Now I have to see that once we get him on the field, can he take what he has learned and apply it on the field?”
FINAL THOUGHTS: While the Giants have a lot of new bodies, the foundational piece remains Dexter Lawrence, the best nose tackle in the NFL. If he can stay healthy, Lawrence should benefit from the presence of Abdul Carter, Chauncey Golston, and hopefully better talent on the defensive line. When asked, all of the players have been coy about where they will play up front. Most have responded that it will be variable (nose, 3-technique, 5-technique). Take Golston. While he may be listed as a linebacker, he will likely play a ton of 4/5-technique and 3-technique on this front. Roy Robertson-Harris is a huge man and perhaps a very underrated signing. Jeremiah Ledbetter can play anywhere up front. And getting the also-versatile Darius Alexander in the 3rd round was a coup. Many thought he was a top-50 selection.
It’s also interesting to note that in post-draft interviews, Joe Schoen has said that the Giants did not need to come out of the draft with a defensive lineman. That’s how good he feels about the free agent additions.
In my opinion, the best-case scenario is for D.J. Davidson or Jordon Riley to continue to develop and one of them prove to be a quality back-up behind Dexter Lawrence at nose tackle. Both have teased, but the team needs one of these players to make big step forward to allow Lawrence to get a breather from time to time. Also note that both Lawrence (dislocated elbow) and Davidson (shoulder) were still rehabbing their respective injuries in the spring.
The 3-technique spot next to Lawrence is more convoluted. Ideally, Darius Alexander becomes a steal and simply takes it. But he’s a rookie and sat out most of the spring with an undisclosed injury. Roy Robertson-Harris, Jeremiah Ledbetter, and Elijah Chatman can also stake a claim. Chatman is a real wild card. The incredibly undersized rookie’s stats may not look great, but he had an unexpectedly high win rate against opponents. His true upside remains to be determined.
I would also still not write off Rakeem Nunez-Roches as the fallback position, though I think it will be bad sign if plays as much as he did last season. It’s also possible that Nunez-Roches makes the team as the primary back-up nose tackle, which would be a bad sign for Davidson and Riley. If Nunez-Roches is cut or traded, that would probably signal greater progress has been made. Nunez-Roches was still starting during the spring practices.
Clouding all of this the presence of Golston. The Giants obviously signed him with a vision in mind, and all parties have openly talked about him moving all around the defensive front, including 3-technique in obvious pass-rush situations. This is what the Dallas Cowboys did too. I very much want to see Abdul Carter, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Chauncey Golston, and Dexter Lawrence chasing the quarterback. But to do so with the greatest impact, the New York Giants need to stop the run first.
FINAL DEPTH CHART: Dexter Lawrence, D.J. Davidson, Chauncey Golston, Rakeem Nunez-Roches, Roy Robertson-Harris, Darius Alexander, Elijah Chatman
