The New York Giants have spent the better part of the past two weeks in free agency watching several key players walk away. This group included former second-overall pick Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney, as both are headed off to other NFC rival squads.
However, in the same period, the Giants have made several key improvements to their roster and also further fuelled potential ideas of a quarterback competition in East Rutherford come July training camp. This will especially be true if the Giants are to draft a quarterback with their sixth-overall pick in next month’s draft.
With that said, let’s re-analyze the signings of the past two weeks and take a look into what the future may hold for these new New York Giants in the 2024 NFL Season.
Grading the 2024 New York Giants Free Agency Haul
The New York Giants Big Win: Trading for Brian Burns
On day one of 2024 Free Agency, the long-awaited trade for Brian Burns finally happened. But it was not for a pair of firsts like the Los Angeles Rams attempted to trade for to get Burns in 2022. Instead, the Panthers finally offloaded Burns for a second and a fifth-round pick to the New York Giants, who promptly made Burns the league’s second-highest-paid player at his position.
Burns will join Kayvon Thibodeaux and Dexter Lawrence on what is sure to become an elite front four for new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. Bowen, in three years with the Titans, guided defenses that finished in the league’s top half of scoring and excelled in being able to stop the run. In 2023, the Giants could not stop the run whatsoever, ranking near the bottom in nearly every category.
If Burns can find his footing quickly and build chemistry with his fellow standouts in Lawrence and the still-younger Thibodeaux, look for Burns to return to the Pro Bowl for a third time.
Jon Runyan and Jermaine Eluemunor Bolster Struggling Offensive Line
Early in the offseason, the New York Giants hired offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo away from the Las Vegas Raiders to remain in the same position with the Giants. Two months later, they also brought along one of his former Raiders talents in Elumunor.
In 2023, the Raiders fielded the league’s 10th-best offensive line with Elumunor holding down the fort as the starting right tackle. As a collective group, the Raiders also finished with the sixth-highest pass-blocking efficiency, something the Giants sorely lacked especially when it came to protecting Daniel Jones and later Tommy DeVito.
Runyan joins the Giants as a former Packer and another solid starter on Green Bay’s offensive line. Both Runyan and Elumunor will likely slide in immediately as day-one starters for the New York Giants. Time will tell who will start for the Giants in Week 1, but whoever it is will have an improved front-line blocking for him.
Does Drew Lock Signing Imply Quarterback Competition?
To keep it short, likely not, as the New York Giants would prefer to keep Jones as day one starter regardless of their next move this offseason. However, starting Week 1 is no guarantee that the quarterback will survive the next seventeen weeks and see out the end of a season especially if he has faced struggles.
But for a Giants club in need of a quick 2024 turnaround, anything remains possible, especially if Jones ends up not being ready for Week 1. Lock, a perennial backup, may just find his time to shine should Jones be unable to start for at least parts of training camp and into the early portion of the 2024 NFL Season for the New York Giants.
New York Giants Overall Free Agency Grade: B