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The New York Giants are at the midway point of the 2021 regular season — nine weeks in with nine weeks remaining. They sport a 3-6 record but have gone 2-1 over the previous three weeks and have some momentum on their side.
The sudden success has come on the shoulders of the defense, which seems to have turned a corner and reverted back to the dominant force they were in 2020.
Leading the way is defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who sports the team’s highest Pro Football Focus grade (78.3) at the half-way mark. He edges out safety Xavier McKinney (72.6) and cornerback Adoree’ Jackson (72.5) on that side of the ball.
The lowest-graded Giant on defense is linebacker Tae Crowder, who has amassed a grade of just 28.7 while filling in for Blake Martinez.
Offensively, quarterback Daniel Jones leads the way with a 73.3 overall grade. Wide receiver Kenny Golladay actually has a higher grade (76.7), but has taken nearly 300 fewer snaps.
Just behind Jones are wide receiver Kadarius Toney (72.9) and left tackle Andrew Thomas (70.3) but they, too, have taken fewer than 300 offensive snaps.
Assuming a 350-snap minimum, the second-highest graded player on offense is guard Will Hernandez (55.9). Even if you dropped that minimum to 300 snaps, the next in line would be offensive tackle Matt Peart (65.5).
Meanwhile, the lowest-graded Giant on offense is center Billy Price (54.9). And if you lower the minimum snap count to 300, guard Matt Skura bottoms out with a grade of 47.6.
Those grades (and the snap counts) prove the uphill battle Jones has been facing. And it makes his 73.3 grade all the more impressive.
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