New York Giants: Grading the defense and special teams – Spring 2019

They say defense wins championships. Unfortunately for the New York Giants and their fans, this defense doesn’t have enough talent.

The New York Giants have made several moves during this offseason and for better or worse the team has made progress, in a few positions. However, the Giants will also show a strong regression in multiple spots on the football field.

The Draft provided a brief look into the mind of general manager Dave Gettleman and the tenacity that he brings to his job. He’s stubborn to a fault but demonstrates time and time again that he believes his way is the best way, right or wrong. It’s his ship and the only person/persons he truly has to answer to is New York Giants ownership.

Big Blue’s defense did nothing last year to impress anyone, in any way, being near the bottom of most stats that mattered. The Giants couldn’t get any pressure on opposing offenses and often left their already weak secondary exposed and hung out to dry.

Their deficiencies changed the way defensive coordinator James Bettcher normally coaches, almost handcuffing the number of exotic blitz pressures he likes to bring. The DC was forced more often to stay in his base defense and play the bend don’t break game instead of dominating the pace of the game as he did in Arizona.

So as Big Blue fans prepare for a long spring season of OTAs. They keep their hopes alive by hearing how bad or good a player does while in shorts, jersey and a helmet. In that spirit, we’ll take a deeper look into each position and what we can expect going into camp and the season. Yesterday we graded the offense. Today we continue with position grades for the defense and special teams.