The New York Giants’ offseason roster-building phase is officially over, and all that’s left is to see how the roster shapes up through the end of training camp in advance of the 2025 season.
After a season limited by a ton of inexperience in the depth chart, among other reasons, the Giants’ front office wanted to move towards adding veteran talent to balance things out and boost the development of certain young players who held big roles last year.
However, they’ve also established a situation where a few rookies in their latest class could challenge incumbents for key roles across the organization. The team’s draft choices, like Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart, could be pieces that immediately impact both sides of the ball this season, which could spell an end to some players who have made their home in East Rutherford.
From discerning new starters to morphing out the rest of the backups at each position, the summer ahead is shaping up to be one where the Giants have to make some hard decisions regarding which players will give them the best chance of winning more football games and, ultimately, saving the regime for more than just one year.
Perhaps the answers are hidden within the skillsets of the incoming rookies more than the previous resumes of the veterans welcoming them to New York. Either way, these three Giants players are among a few who need to be followed throughout camp to see if they remain a part of the franchise for the upcoming season.
DT Rakeem Nunez-Roches
Throughout the 2025 season, one of the most significant weaknesses indicated on the Giants roster was a lack of a true No. 2 gap stuffer to work alongside All-Pro Dexter Lawrence II. His teammate, Rakeem Nuñez-Roches, was the closest attempt the team made to find that person in their ranks.
Unfortunately, Nuñez-Roches didn’t live up to the part effectively enough. The 10-year veteran finished first among the defensive line positions in total tackles with 52, but he was barely impactful in creating havoc in the backfield with just two tackles for loss and two sacks.
Nuñez-Roches’s efforts in slowing down the run weren’t much mightier, as he finished fourth on the roster with an overall run grade of 50.2 despite playing in the most run snaps for the Giants (302). He couldn’t finish many tackles on his own (38 assists) and has posted a missed tackle rate above 7.3% in three of his last four seasons with under 20 stops.
Without Lawrence’s presence for the season’s final quarter, the Giants realized they were missing solid depth pieces to back him up. The unit ranked 24th or worse in several rushing metrics. That must change if the Giants want to be more competitive and not get stuck in long drives.
That starts with finding a better No. 2 option than Nuñez-Roches, who will likely compete with rookie defensive and third-round pick Darius Alexander in camp in August. The Giants are very excited about the young Toledo prospect who fell into their laps at No. 65 and believe he has what it takes to jump into a starting role right away.
Alexander flashes a raw blend of size and strength off the snap and uses both to quickly shed blockers and get into the running lanes to clog up space and swallow the ball carrier. He was among the top 5 defensive tackles in college in key run defense metrics, and his value should have never fallen as far down as it did to the top of the third round.
If Nuñez-Roches doesn’t step up this summer and prove he can still dominate the interior like he did in the early years of his career, it might spell a drop into the No. 3 role, or even worse, a potential roster cut before the roster is finalized.
RB Devin Singletary
While it was easy to say that the Giants got a steal regarding their 2024 fifth-round pick, running back Tyrone Tracy Jr, the same praise couldn’t be granted to his veteran rushing mate in Devin Singletary in his first season in blue.
The Giants are bringing in rookie Arizona State product Cam Skattebo after they poached him out of the fourth round of April’s draft. Skattebo is creating instant excitement within the Giants fanbase, who want to see him earn many handoffs after an impressive final college season with the Sun Devils.
Skattebo was electric as a small but hard-nosed downfield runner who powered Arizona State to a spot in the College Football Playoff. He posted the second-highest rushing line of 1,711 yards (5.8 average) and 21 touchdowns while netting over 4.0 yards after contact to barrel his way through defenders.
Meanwhile, Singletary was nearly irrelevant in the Giants’ rushing attack with only 437 yards and four touchdowns on 113 carries in 15 games. That effort wasn’t what Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll bargained for when they signed the veteran they knew from their Buffalo days to replace the massive void left by Saquon Barkley leaving for Philadelphia in free agency.
It’s likely that Skattebo and Singletary will battle in training camp to earn the right to work alongside Tracy, who is looking for another breakout campaign after a 1,000+ scrimmage yard debut that finished in the top three among rookies last season.
Suppose Skattebo impresses the coaching staff during that period. In that case, he is bound to form one half of a “Thunder and Lightning” tandem with Tracy, where Skattebo does the heavy work in the trenches and Tracy takes control of the outside zone runs and passing plays using his better speed and shiftiness in open space.
Even so, Skattebo is confident he can contribute in any area asked of him, and that will motivate him to win the position battle with anyone who stands in his way, Singletary included. Singletary must match the energy and dedication he brings to training camp if he wants to remain in the running back mix.
If the Giants choose Skattebo to be the top guy, it’s possible Singletary could be kept around for depth purposes and certain short-yardage situations where his skill set holds better value. The Giants don’t seem sold on Eric Gray, who has struggled in his limited reps, and Dante “Turbo” Miller is still incredibly raw for an undrafted player.
The Giants are deploying a committee of backs on the ground, but the ones that will take them out of the league’s basement will get the bulk of the snaps. Singletary, who posted over 775 yards in each of his first five pro seasons, needs to see if he can up the ante from a lackluster debut in New York.
OT Evan Neal
The story with Giants’ tackle-turned-guard Evan Neal has been rehashed plenty throughout the offseason. Still, he is arguably the No. 1 incumbent player whose future is on the ropes as the team prepares for the 2025 season.
Neal, the Giants’ No. 7 pick back in 2022, is facing a crossroads if he wants to convince the franchise to retain him beyond the 2025 season after declining his fifth-year option. He must embrace a shift to the guard position and learn it well enough to land a backup role on the offensive line.
Neal’s benefit is his history of playing guard during college at Alabama, but it’s not always as easy a transition once you get to the professional level. Neal finally found his niche in the run-blocking game late in the season, scoring a career-high 80.6 grade, but he has still allowed 98 total pressures and been penalized 18 times in three seasons.
If Neal isn’t as welcoming of the change in his position or doesn’t show promise this summer, the Giants have another rookie in Marcus Mbow waiting in the wings to earn his opportunity. Mbow, a versatile lineman at Purdue, can play both guard and tackle and was pretty proficient at both despite his lack of sheer size and length.
As the saying goes, hard work and, in Mbow’s case, confidence beat talent, and the Giants found a great value in their fifth-round pick to let him compete with the veterans in camp. He eventually wants to contribute to any position along the front lines, and that characteristic will bode well for him if he can master it.
Either way, Neal has been unimpressive for a former first-round prospect the Giants thought would become one of the league’s up-and-coming protectors.
After a 49.6 graded pass blocking year with a 96.7% blocking efficiency in under 500 snaps, Neal is staring into the barrel of his tenure on the Giants’ offensive line and needs to take whatever opportunity he has to salvage it.
The Giants should hope that he does, as they know they could use all the reinforcements for one of their most injury-prone position groups in recent seasons.