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<\/a><\/p>\nCourtesy of Pro Football Focus<\/p>\n
Newsome has seen alarming increases in missed tackle rate, catch rates, TDs, and passer rating against, and decreases in pass breakups. The alternative to Newsome is of course Tae Banks, who has gone through a similar devolution since his rookie year. In principle, both first round players should be upgrades over the third round Flott. In practice, they haven\u2019t been. The Giants unfortunately missed out on free agent Jamel Dean. I doubt we\u2019ll see the Giants sign another free agent cornerback. That puts new defensive backs coach Addison Lynch on the hot seat to make at least one of those two players starter-caliber, as they were in their rookie years. If not\u2026<\/p>\n
Will Mansoor Delane be in play for the Giants\u2019 No. 5 pick?<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t include safety in this discussion. As the old saying goes, there\u2019s safety in numbers. The Giants instead have opted for numbers in safeties. In addition to Jevon Holland and Tyler Nubin, the Giants have compensated for the loss of Dane Belton to the Jets by adding free agents Ar\u2019Darius Washington and old friend Jason Pinnock (plus Elijah Campbell, for completeness). Are there two good safeties in that group? Maybe. Is Caleb Downs still in play at No. 5? Maybe – none of those signings rules that out.<\/p>\n
2026 vs. 2025: Deeper, yes. Better? TBD<\/strong><\/p>\n Many Giants fans have been surprisingly sanguine about the loss of Wan\u2019Dale Robinson to\u2026who else, Tennessee. I get it after Wan\u2019Dale\u2019s first three years. While you were sleeping, though, Wan\u2019Dale had a 1,014 yard season with 11.0 yards per catch. That\u2019s more than \u201cjust a slot receiver\u201d (and by the way he lined up outside a career high 31.1% of snaps in 2025).<\/p>\n You don\u2019t replace that easily, and the Giants haven\u2019t, at least not with any one player. Instead they\u2019ve decided to throw numbers at it. The first attempt was (nominal) tight end Isaiah Likely. Likely is obviously the anti-Wan\u2019Dale at 6-foot-4 and 241 pounds, and it follows that we can expect to see lots more 21 and 22 personnel and much less 11 personnel in 2026. Other than his size, though, he\u2019s not very much like what we think of as a tight end – he\u2019s more a big slot receiver. Here\u2019s how Likely and Robinson compared in 2025, per PFF:<\/p>\n Robinson: Slot 67.9%, wide 31.1%, in-line 0.0%, ADOT 9.0 yards<\/p>\n Likely: Slot 73.2%, wide 11.2%, in-line 14.5%, ADOT 7.9 yards<\/p>\n So Likely, if used the way he was last year in Baltimore, will be mostly a \u201cbig slot,\u201d replacing Robinson\u2019s WR3 usage with a bigger target for Jaxson Dart but not giving much in the way of what Robinson provided as in effect the Giants\u2019 WR2 a decent part of the time. Likely had 603 receiving yards in 2024 and has not broken 500 yards in any of his other seasons. What he has done, though, is to improve his hands, going from 10.0% and 10.5% drop rates his first two years to 2.0% and 3.6% the past two years.<\/p>\n The Giants instead have opted for WR2-by-committee. Darius Slayton of course is still around. He is the fans\u2019 favorite whipping boy because of his drops, but in the absence of Malik Nabers most of the season, he was their primary deep threat (83.5% of snaps lined up wide, 14.5 yds\/reception). Slayton had only 538 yards last season, but he has had previous seasons with 740, 751, 816, and 770 yards.<\/p>\n To that the Giants first added Calvin Austin III on a bargain $3M one-year contract. Austin split his time almost evenly between the slot and wideout as a Steeler. He only had 330 receiving yards, though, and has never reached 500. Next the Giants signed Darnell Mooney, most recently an Atlanta Falcon. Mooney spent his time about 2-to-1 lining up wide vs. in the slot last season, though that ratio has been reversed in a couple of his other seasons. He has had seasons with 1,055 and 992 receiving yards, though in 2025 he had only 443 despite only missing two games.<\/p>\n Mooney would seem to be the nominal WR2 heading into camp, with Slayton dropping in the pecking order. There\u2019s just one problem. Mooney had 6 drops, the same number as Slayton, in 2025 in 70 vs. 60 targets. If Mooney does become WR2, the potential is there for him to become the new focus of the MetLife boo birds. Here are the primary receiving targets for the Giants, Steelers, and Falcons last year, ranked by drop rate:<\/p>\n