Giants Get No Love in New NFL Post-draft Power Rankings

Despite sweeping changes to their roster in advance of John Harbaugh's first year as head coach, the Giants still can't shake off some doubters.

Nov 16, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; A New York Giants helmet rests on the field before the game between the Giants and the Green Bay Packers at MetLife Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The New York Giants have long been known as a proud NFL franchise with four Super Bowl championships in their trophy case, but that same luster has been hard to come by over the past decade and a half since their last run to the pinnacle.

So has been the challenge of just breaking out of the doldrums of the league order they’ve been in for several seasons, including their abysmal 4-13 record in 2025 that kept them buried at the bottom of the NFC East.

Multiple head coaches and failed roster resets later, the Giants are looking for John Harbaugh to be the leader who helps buck the negative trend within the organization and set up a group of 53 men capable of competing for more wins next fall and beyond.

Harbaugh and GM Joe Schoen have been doing that diligently over the past few months of the offseason—clearing out stale contracts and bringing in veteran free agents and draft selections alike that will fill in holes and make the roster better for the new “old school” era of Giants football—but even to their credit, not everyone has seen enough.

The Athletic’s senior writer Josh Kendall, is one of them who isn’t totally ready to show love to Big Blue on the heels of their latest additions via the NFL Draft.

In his new league power rankings poll following the event’s conclusion in Pittsburgh, Kendall didn’t move the Giants a smidge from their previous place at No. 28 in the league order as the focus turns towards OTAs and minicamp.

The Giants were one of just three teams whose slot in the ranking didn’t move in either direction, indicating the work the franchise’s brass did on draft weekend did very little to skew opinions like Kendall’s heading into the 2026 season.

Did the Giants Leave Anything on the Table in the Draft? 

Apr 24, 2026; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants draft pick Arvell Reese, Head Coach John Harbaugh (left) and General Manager Joe Schoen (right) pose for a photo during the introductory press conference at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Tom Horak-Imagn Images | Tom Horak-Imagn Images

The lone ounce of positivity that Kendall gave towards the Giants came from their shocking first-round pick, linebacker Arvell Reese, who Kendall believes will have the best season of all their incoming rookies this season.

“The first-round edge rusher joins a pass-rushing group that includes Brian Burns, Abdul Carter and, at least for now, Kayvon Thibodeaux,” Kendall said.

“Tackle Francis Mauigoa may have a bigger impact on wins and losses, but Reese should put up eye-popping stats.”

What’s more is that Kendall’s colleague, NFL writer Dane Brugler, was very high on the Giants’ newest core of first-round players, slotting them as the second-best group among the other 31 classes in his own rankings across the NFL.

With Reese, the Giants believe they finally have a competent pairing of off-ball linebackers between him and Tremaine Edmunds to shore up the middle of the defense and hunker down on the run stop issues that have plagued the unit in the recent stretch.

Mauigoa, who is looking to work towards a transition to playing at right guard as a starter from day one, would put the Giants one step closer to having their entire initial five cemented for the long haul if he can successfully make the change while bringing the same power and toughness as he showed at Miami.

Add to those new strengths their incumbent achievers like Jaxson Dart at quarterback, a strong trio of Tyrone Tracy, Cam Skattebo, and fullback Patrick Richard in the backfield, and a bigger perimeter receiving threat in Malachi Fields, and one is left to wonder what Kendall has left to critique on the Giants' roster?

One clear area of concern after the draft was the interior defensive line that had a mammoth-sized hole opened up by the trade of Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals for the No. 10 pick. The Giants didn’t find a true replacement for him, but added Bobby Jamison-Travis in the sixth round and just signed Shelby Harris and Leki Fotu for extra veteran support:

The defensive secondary was also a position that many thought Harbaugh and GM Joe Schoen could address with one of their two top 10 selections, notably with Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, who was still waiting to be taken at both of New York’s picks.

Colton Hood was the team’s high upside catch in the second round that could pay off if he is able to win a starting job in training camp and carry over his battle-tested ball skills developed in SEC play, but the rest of the secondary remains an area to follow as the season goes on.

There isn’t likely to be much more personnel moves made from the outside in advance of camp, so the Harbaugh and the Giants might have to simply buy into his culture and system, get it to work on the gridiron, and then start rounding up more believers in the direction they are going with the former Lombardi-winning coach in their corner.

Typically, that is what matters the most in the NFL: it’s a production business where offseason additions are only as good as the results that come after them.

Until we see how it all comes together come September, the prior cycle of change in East Rutherford is what seems to be weighing the organization down the most, even after a solid first draft class of the Harbaugh era that is going to be powerful and explosive football back to the Giants.

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