New York Giants Expectations 2020 By: Dom Moscatello
The 2020 NFL season will be like no season we have seen before. All fans are hoping to see a full 16 game season and a successful playoff, with all players, coaches, and staff on all 32 teams making it through the year safely. Giants fans specifically are looking for something different from what they have seen the last few years. With a more muscular sophomore QB, a star running back heading into his third season, and multiple defensive upgrades, what can Giants fans expect to see from the G-Men in 2020?
To begin, lets take a look at the offense. It starts at the most important position in not only football but all of sports, the QB. After a decent rookie season, Giants fans are praying Daniel Jones takes the next step this upcoming season. Touchdowns and completing passes was not the issue with Jones in 2019, throwing for 24 touchdowns and maintaining a completion percentage of 62%. The main concern for number 8 was holding onto the football. Jones fumbled the ball 18 times last season and lost 11 of them. Sources say that he has added 9 pounds of muscle during the off-season and that the coaching staff has made it a key objective in practice to make sure he doesn't lose the ball. If Daniel Jones can focus on not fumbling and still take a leap this year I think the Giants can be successful. He has the potential to be a top 10 NFL QB this year and maybe even better now that all of his weapons are healthy and on the field at the same time.
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| (via giants.com) |
Speaking of weapons, lets talk about the ultimate football weapon and our next highlighted player, the face of the franchise, running back Saquon Barkley. Saquon had an off year in 2019 and you can blame that on the ankle injury that he got in week 3 in Tampa Bay, this kept him off the field for a few weeks and affected his production for the rest of the season. Even with the injury Saquon was still a thousand yard rusher and ran for 6 touchdowns and catching 2 more. I expect even more from Saquon this year, I believe he will go crazy for well over 1,000 rushing yards and perhaps surpassing 1,000 yards receiving as well. I would not be surprised if he is even in the MVP conversation in 2020. As for the wide-outs I think the Giants have some of the best weapons an offense can have. NFL Veteran Golden Tate, rising star Darius Slayton, and 5th year Giant Sterling Shepard, make up a pretty solid wide receiver core in New York. I see Slayton having a big year and being the deep-threat he was last year but even better. Shepard and Tate both could be solid wide receivers and catch short passing and make big plays for touchdowns. If and only if they both stay healthy and play to the level that they can. Now we move to tight end Evan Engram, another player that needs to stay healthy this season. Engram can be a top 5 tight end in this league and has shown flashes in the past, but I believe this is a big put up or shut up season for him. I could see the Giants getting ride of him next off-season if he doesn't produce this year. Or he could easily be a 1,000 yard receiver and a Pro-Bowl caliber tight end if he plays the way Giants fans know he can. With all these assets on the field at the same time, the weapons we have are a tier below that of Kansas City and Cleveland and can make a big splash in 2020.
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| (via gmenhq.com) |
Perhaps the biggest what-if of this team is the offensive line. In previous years this teams O-line has been absolutely atrocious. With new faces like Andrew Thomas and Matt Peart from the draft and guys already on the team like Nick Gates, this line needs to be better and they need to do it now. A good offensive line this year could be the difference between being a playoff team or not. If they are able to give Saquon bigger holes (that he doesn't even need) and give DJ more time in the pocket, then the sky is the limit for this offense.
On the other hand, the defense of the Giants looks to be much improved in 2020. This defense was God awful in 2019 allowing 28 point per game on average. I am hopeful the secondary is much improved this season with Peppers in his second year with the team as well as CB/S Julian Love. A bright spot of Giants camp was CB Darnay Holmes from UCLA, I am excited to see him play and according to reports he will see the field a lot this year. I am most excited to see the defensive back selected in the second round of the draft, out of Alabama, Xavier McKinney. Right now he is sidelined with an injury and is expected to be back in 6-8 weeks and is eligible to return week four in LA against the Rams. He could be a leader and difference maker on this defense upon his return and I am a huge fan of this pick. As for edge rushers the Giants made a few picks late in the draft with players like Carter Coughlin, Cam Brown, and last pick of the draft, Tae Crowder. These linebackers have been excelling in camp and from what I have seen in college highlights they stood out above the rest. They outplayed other linebackers fighting to make the team like Ryan Connelly, and ended up on the 53-man roster. The Giants also added two former Packers to the linebacking squad in Kyler Fackrell and Blake Martinez. These two can be absolute monsters on defense and should be team leaders when it comes to tackles. But New York also decided to keep some bigger names around for 2020 like Leonard Williams and Markus Golden. All these guys in addition to interior lineman like Dexter Lawrence and Dalvin Tomlinson should improve the defenses play at least a little and they should not be in the bottom half of the league.
With a defense that should be improved and an offense that can be one of the best in football, you would expect the Giants to be a playoff team this year, right? Maybe not. The Giants have a tough schedule in 2020 playing 4 playoff teams (Philadelphia twice) and a few clubs that are much improved and nearly missed the playoffs in 2019 like Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Arizona, and our anual home and home with Dallas. With such a difficult schedule I could see a lot of different scenarios happen.
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| (via giants.com) |
Ceiling- Danny Dimes is a top 10 QB in the league, he throws for 32 touchdowns and runs 5 in himself , Saquon is an MVP candidate and breaks the NFL rushing yard record and has over 2 thousand yards from scrimmage, the o-line is much improved and Andrew Thomas shows he is the real deal, our young secondary is very impressive with an abundance of picks, the D-Line is a top 10 unit in football, Leonard Williams has 12 sacks and the defense is back to Big Blue Wrecking Crew type of football. They lose to the elites in the league like the Ravens and 49ers, but are able to steal one from the Seahawks, beat the Cowboys and Eagles once each, and blow out teams like Washington and the Bengals. They finish 11-5, make the playoffs and lose in the divisional round to the Saints or 49ers.
Realistic- Daniel Jones takes the next step, he still has a bit of a turnover issue but he is still getting better, Saquon is Saquon again and lights up the league like he should, the offensive line isn't great but it gets the job done by keeping Jones healthy and makes enough holes for Barkley, the defense is better yet still not great but the offense puts up more points than the defense allows. They lose in Baltimore, in Seattle, and against San Fran, but they manage to beat pretty decent competition in the Rams, split with the Cowboys and squeak out a win on opening night vs the Steelers. They finish 8-8, maybe accidentally making the playoffs with the new 3-team wild card rule, or they miss out on the playoffs but give a new found hope to New York fans for 2021 and the near future.
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