5 Things We Learned About the Giants Through 4 Weeks

The de facto first quarter of the season has been quite revealing for the New York Giants.

East Rutherford, NJ -- August 1, 2024 -- Safety, Tyler Nubin and safety, Jason Pinnock dancing during practice today at training camp for the New York Giants. / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

All in all, it could've been worse.

The first quarter of the New York Giants' 2024-25 seasons is over, concluding with a Thursday night thud with a 20-15 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. 

It's perhaps scary to see where this renders the Giants in this day and age. Still, things have strayed away from the ridiculous nature many saw this path going, especially after an opening weekend no-show against the Minnesota Vikings (who have their other opponents looking equally silly, all things considered).

Through four weeks, the Giants have developed several intriguing truths about their past, present, and future ... provided they somewhat resemble this rambling current pace, of course ...

Saquon Wasn't Fixing This

So as long as Saquon Barkley's cleats touch an NFL field–and even after that–his following among Giants fans will no doubt continue to bemoan his departure to Philadelphia. 

In their defense, it's hard not to blame them: between five touchdowns and a two-point conversion, Barkley has visited the end zone as often as the Giants (six touchdowns) have as a whole.

It's hard to imagine the Giants progressing any further, even if this green version of Barkley had kept his talents back to the tri-state area. For one thing, the run blocking has struggled to find any semblance of traction, and several anticipated projects of both the homegrown (Darius Slayton) or acquired (Brian Burns) variety have not panned out in the early going.

Just imagine if they also had the burden of a huge Barkley contract to worry about.

It's clear from these first four games that the Giants are quite well-removed from being a Barkley away from contending. Paying running backs big bucks nowadays is a privilege, and the Giants' poor play has denied them several major luxuries (selecting the best player available at the draft would be another). 

Even the best teams hardly find such a strategy justifiable: no Super Bowl champion, for example, has had a 1,000-yard rusher on its roster since 2016 (LeGarrette Blount, New England).

The Giants have enough to worry about. Writing Barkley's big check is a burden better left an Eagles group further weighed down by "win now" expectations.

Sep 26, 2024; East Rutherford, NJ, US; New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers (1) celebrates after catching a pass for a first down at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Julian Guadalupe-NorthJersey.com / Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Exceptional Nabers 

To further drive home the point about Barkley: the Giants are 1-3 and destined to watch the playoffs from home, with receiver Malik Nabers making his mark among freshmen and veteran receivers alike.

Nabers has lived up to the hype and then some in his debut quartet, leading the league in receptions at 35 and ranking second to only Houston's Nico Collins in yardage (386). Since the football powers are seemingly determined to remove anything nice from the lives of Giants fans, Nabers was forced to leave a close game against Dallas in concussion protocol, though there's hope for him to partake in the Week 5 showdown in Seattle.

So many receivers have often been done in by poor quarterback play, but Nabers is tossing excuses aside. 

While working with beleaguered quarterback Daniel Jones (who, admittedly, has recovered well from a slow start, posting a 95.8 passer rating in the last three games), Nabers has already established himself as one of the game's premier playmakers.  

Tight End's a Dead End

Even with Nabers's emergence, the Giants cannot deny weaponry from wherever they can get it. One would think they've been burned by the area enough–Brent Celek and Jason Witten have given way to Dallas Goedert and Jake Ferguson within the division alone, for example–but, in terms of statistical prowess, tight end has become a dead-end of production.

Giant tight ends have been targeted on only ten occasions this season, eight alone going to fourth-round rookie Theo Johnson. He and Daniel Bellinger have united for a mere 57 yards. To put that in perspective, Goedert alone leads NFL tight ends with 263.

There's certainly nothing wrong with employing blocking tight ends; that's one of the reasons the Giants were attracted to Johnson, and Bellinger was seemingly settled in such a role until the Darren Waller gambit went so haywire. 

But with the lack of big-play potential, other big names mired in a slow start (Jaylin Hyatt has nary a reception to his name on three targets), and the blocking unable to generate any outside room for the rushers, the Giants may need to re-assess what they're doing in the area.

Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants safety Tyler Nubin (31) warms up before a game against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. / John Jones-Imagn Images

Safety First

For all the focus on general manager Joe Schoen's supposed misfires (he'll no doubt face heat for letting Xavier McKinney walk away to Green Bay), he deserves plenty of credit for what's transpired in the secondary, where Jason Pinnock has made an impact at MetLife Stadium, albeit perhaps, not in the way he originally thought.

Picked up as a training camp castaway in the summer of 2022, Pinnock has become an established member of the Giants' defense. Not only has Pinnock handled coverage well in the middle of the field (quarterbacks are at an 81.2 passer rating when targeting his responsibilities), but he's also displaying a Jamal Adams-like propensity to invade the backfield.

Pinnock is tied for the Giants' sack lead through four games, with Dexter Lawrence at three apiece. The 11 yards Pinnock has allowed after the catch is also the fewest among blue defenders targeted at least ten times.

Currently playing at less than $1 million, Pinnock is a free agent after this season. He's shooting his way up the Giants' priority board with the zeros he's adding to his checks.

Tyler's Time

Speaking of diamonds in the rough, it'd be wrong to exclude safety Tyler Nubin for the proceedings, as the ex-Gopher appears set to be one of the Giants' most consistent silver linings over the next 13 weeks.

When a rookie chosen beyond the draft's opening night is thrust into a starting role, that often speaks greater volumes of his employers than the player himself.

But Nubin, a second-round choice out of Minnesota, has justified his hype and has hinted that Schoen has a plan that simply can't come to fruition yet because of the currently underdeveloped personnel: perhaps wary of his ballhawk tendencies, Nubin has been thrown at ten times through four starts. Half have been completed, and he has allowed only 22 yards after the catch while amassing 21 tackles.

The jury may still be out on some others (cornerback Dru Phillips has dealt with injuries while inside linebacker Darius Muasau has the team's only interception to date). Still, Schoen's latest draft class is strengthening his case to stay for a fourth year– but only time will tell if further justification awaits.

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