Giants' Free Agency Haul Earn Favorable Grade from CBS Sports
The New York Giants had many areas of focus as they headed into the offseason. In addition to fixing their offensive line and wide receiver unit, the Giants undoubtedly needed to upgrade other areas of their roster. Within the first few days of the new league year, General Manager Joe Schoen addressed multiple areas of need for the team.
So how did they do? In the opinion of Garrett Podell of CBS Sports, New York scored a B for their major moves, which include trading for Brian Burns, signing offensive linemen Jermaine Eluemunor and Jon Runyan Jr, and running back Devin Singletary.
The Burns move, in particular, scored high praise.
The Giants had a mixed bag to begin free agency. On the plus side, they acquired and locked down one of football's most dynamic pass rushers. Burns is one of 10 players in the NFL to have 45 or more sacks, ten or more passes defended, and five or more forced fumbles since he entered the NFL in 2019.
Having him alongside Kayvon Thibodeaux and All-Pro Dexter Lawrence gives New York one of the best defensive fronts in the entire league. Losing Barkley is unfortunate, but the Giants were better off not paying an RB big money.
Among the moves--or more specifically, non-moves--that drew criticism was the decision not to retain safety Xavier McKinney. The Giants reportedly didn't even make an offer to retain the 24-year-old safety, who signed a four-year, $67 million deal with the Green Bay Packers, which comes to about $16.75 million per year.
The loss of Xavier McKinney is a big deal. He is the best safety in coverage in the entire NFL, and he is still just 24. It was surprising that the Giants did not fight harder to keep him.
It's not as surprising as Podell believes. The Giants entered free agency intent on building up the trenches, an area where they've consistently lost battles for years. Overall, they added four offensive linemen—Eluemunor, Runyan, Aaron Stinnie, and Austin Schlottmann—to a unit that last year was arguably the weakest link on the team.
Furthermore, it should have been abundantly clear that the Giants didn't think investing in McKinney long term, be it on the $17.123 million franchise tag or the $13.815 million transition tag, was worth it given the other more pressing needs the team identified.
Giants Country will be posting its grades on the Giants major moves made so far this off-season in the next few days.
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