With the season at 1-6 and the trade deadline approaching it is time to take a look at what the Giant’s core team could be for next season. To do so I used the Approximate Value parameter at proFootballReference.com . I took the average AV for the Giants players over their career. The cutoff value I used was an average AV of 5.0. This approach ruled out rookies this year as they do not compute AV for this season at this time. Looking at the 2019 Giants team they a have 69 players listed with an AV ranging from nine to zero. The five AV cutoff for that team was at 19 players or 27.5% of the team. Keep in mind I used career AV for this exercise.
Here is a picture of the team worth keeping as the core based on this approach. The positions lacking have the position abbreviations listed.
The positions that stand out for lack of resources are the safety, offensive line and outside linebacker. However as I said rookies this year did not factor into the equation. So we have OT Andrew Thomas and S Xavier McKinney for next year. We need an edge rushing outside linebacker.
Absent from the list is tight end Evan Engram. The rumor is that while the Giants are not shopping Engram they would be open to a trade for a third round pick or better. Maybe even a high forth round. That all sounds good and if they can get that they should take it. Another potential trade player is Jabrill Peppers. Peppers has not played up to expectations. Engram appears to be on a downturn. Those are the big players that may bring something on the market. However if they can get a fourth rounder or better for Logan Ryan or Dion Lewis that would be good. They are older players and not what a young team needs to be developing.
They did not rate high enough for the core team but B.J. Hill and Lorenzo Carter are young and have shown promise. Lorenzo Carter and B.J. Hill made PFF top five rookies at their positions in 2018. Carter’s career has stats that are comparable to first round pick Bradley Chubb. They should be given another year or two to develop. Another player that did not make the core cut but is performing well is Wayne Gallman. His 7 first downs on 25 rush attempts is tie for 15th in 1st down % among backs with 25+ attempts.
Here is a blurb on each core team player
Daniel Jones is number one in rushing yards per attempt among quarterbacks with 2700+ career passing yards since 1950.
Darius Slayton was 8th in receiving TDs in 2019. This season he is 5th in yards before the catch per reception.
Blake Martinez is second in the league this season in solo and total tackles.
James Bradberry leads the league in passes defended. Quarterbacks have a passer rating of only 65 when he is targeted this year.
Leonard Williams leads the team in quarterback hits and is tie for eighth in the league among defensive tackles.
Kevin Zeitler was the 7th ranked guard in 2019 by Pro Football Focus.
Dalvin Tomlinson‘s 72 pass-rush grade from Pro Football Focus led the Giants through the first 6 games of the season.
Dexter Lawrence made the 2019 NFL All Rookie Team. Incidentally the Giants are one of only nine teams to have three players make the NFL All Rookie Team over the last two seasons.
Saquon Barkley, through 31 career games, ranks 13th since 1950 in yards from scrimmage. He did so on the second least touches among the top thirteen. Only Herschel Walker made the top 13 on less touches.
Golden Tate, since joining the Giants in 2019, ranks second on the team in yards per target and receiving touchdowns.
Sure handed Sterling Shepard has the highest QB passer rating when targeted, the lowest drop percentage for two seasons, and the highest catch percentage for two seasons among Giant wide receivers.
Nate Solder, in his 2018 first year on Giants, he was the 9th highest graded left tackle by PFF for Offensive Tackles with 1,000+ snaps.
Will Hernandez, according to ESPN, has the seventh best run-block win rate in the NFL for a guard.
This team has talent and is heading in the right direction. The Giants are tie for second in games this season ending within a single score difference with five games. Go Giants!
