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Who are the foundational building blocks of the New York Giants? Is it quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley? Defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence and safety Xavier McKinney? How about wide receiver Darius Slayton and left tackle Andrew Thomas?
Nope. It’s none of the above. At least not according to Pro Football Focus.
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PFF recently broke down a list of three building blocks for all 32 NFL teams and when it came to the Giants, the names were unexpected but not necessarily surprising.
CB James Bradberry
DI Leonard Williams
WR Kenny GolladayIn an ideal world, Andrew Thomas’ rookie season would have resembled Tristan Wirfs’ year, making him an easy inclusion here. There were promising things to take away from how Thomas closed the year, but his 62.4 grade was underwhelming. Bradberry’s and Williams’ performances in their first full season on the defense were not. They both ranked fourth at their respective positions in PFF’s Wins Above Replacement metric during the 2020 season.
The Giants will be hoping Golladay entices quarterback Daniel Jones to take more downfield shots. Golladay recently ranked as the league’s third-best deep threat, regularly winning in contested-catch situations downfield. Golladay’s 53 contested catches overall over the past three seasons are second to only Allen Robinson II at the position, even despite all his missed time in 2020.
The only real issue with PFF’s selections are that Bradberry and Golladay will each turn 28 in the coming months, while Williams turned 27 in July.
None of the three are “old” by any stretch of the imagination, but they have fewer football years left in them than many of their younger counterparts. That means the Giants’ foundation would age at an accelerated rate however strong it may be for now.
The good news is that the Giants do have a ton of young talent on their roster than can learn and grow around Bradberry, Williams and Golladay.
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