How Giants’ free agency sets them up for the draft

The 2023 NFL Draft is less than a month away, and the New York Giants can still significantly improve their roster. During free agency, general manager Joe Schoen honed in on the two biggest liabilities of the 2022 team: creating explosive plays on offense and stopping the run on defense.

The acquisition of tight end Darren Waller and signing wide receiver Parris Campbell gives Daniel Jones more weapons to push the football downfield. Big Blue will still explore the wide receiver market somewhere in the draft, as they should.

A glaring need was obvious at linebacker heading into the 2022 season, and it plagued the Giants throughout the year as New York rotated through linebackers like they were speed dating. The addition of Bobby Okereke gives the Giants the linebacker they so desperately need. Defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches was also added to bolster the Giants’ defensive front and BASE personnel package.

Schoen retained several key contributors from the 2022 team and did well to find cheap veteran options to plug holes, but there are still plenty of issues with this roster. The Giants' center position is dubious, the long-term WR situation is questionable, and who is starting opposite Adoree’ Jackson, who is on the last non-voidable year of his contract?

Those are just some of the many questions that remain after a solid free-agent period, but the old adage rings true - one can glean a team’s draft intentions by their free-agent moves. I don’t believe Schoen is done rectifying those two specific liabilities that bedeviled the 2022 Giants, but the additions of players like Waller, Campbell, Nacho, and Okereke are a great start.

Here are the Giants’ free-agent moves, and the impact they could have on their drafting philosophy: