Since 2016, when the tip of the Tom Coughlin period started, the New York Giants have had six completely different head coaches (together with interims), 4 main quarterbacks, every kind of various coordinators, and no overriding philosophy past President/CEO/Proprietor John Mara insisting on the finish of each season that issues must be higher within the upcoming yr.
Which hasn’t occurred typically sufficient. The post-Coughlin Giants have had two successful seasons — 2016 and 2022 — and total within the final decade, their 55-109-1 report and .336 successful share is the NFL’s second-worst, forward of solely the New York Jets.
Gotham soccer, everyone!
In any occasion, the Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll final November after a 2-8 begin to an eventual 4-13 end, and interim head coach Mike Kafka was put aside in favor of longtime Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. Jim’s older brother put up a 180-113 regular-season report in 18 years with the Ravens, with a 13-11 postseason report and a victory in Tremendous Bowl XLVII over Jim’s San Francisco 49ers. On this regard, Harbaugh would appear to convey extra stability than any Giants head coach in a very long time, as a result of the Ravens have been one of many NFL’s bastions of continued success on this millennium.
Harbaugh is aware of that he’s in for a little bit of a rebuild, however he’s additionally been conditioned to count on a sure degree of success and enchancment over time.
“It’s a profound honor to be entrusted with the responsibility of coaching the New York Football Giants — one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports,” Harbaugh mentioned in his introductory presser. “I wanted this job to be on the biggest stage in the biggest sport. I know the challenges. I understand the expectations. I know the fans are hungry for a winner. We are here with one mission — to become, to earn the right, to be called the world champions in New York, and that’s what we plan to do.”
If that’s to occur, Harbaugh will want greater than the anticipated performances from the Giants’ star gamers — he’ll additionally want main bumps from these gamers whose potential stays underneath the radar.
Listed below are your Hidden Gems for the 2026 New York Giants — one underrated veteran, one underrated free agent acquisition, and one underrated draft choose.
Underrated veteran: DB Dru Phillips
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – DECEMBER 1: Dru Phillips #22 of the New York Giants appears on in the course of the nationwide anthem previous to an NFL soccer sport in opposition to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on December 01, 2025 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Picture by Michael Owens/Getty Pictures) Getty Pictures
“We’re going to be playing nasty. We’re going to play physical. We’re going to play violent. We’re going to live on the edge, play on the edge, but we’re not going to hurt the team. We’re going to be suffocating to the point we impose our wills on people. The players are going to buy into that mindset. It all starts from a mindset. We’re going to play the New York brand of football, and that’s violent defense.”
That’s what new Giants defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson mentioned again in April, when requested what sort of protection he would placed on the sector.
Philosophically, this may symbolize a severe enchancment over the Giants’ 2025 defensive unit. That group ranked twenty sixth in DVOA, twenty sixth in factors allowed, twenty seventh in yards per play allowed, lifeless final in dashing yards per play allowed… properly, you get the concept. It was Not At All Good, and going into a brand new season with out Dexter Lawrence signifies that others might want to step up.
A type of who might use a bump in efficiency is third-year defensive again Dru Phillips, chosen with the seventieth total choose within the third spherical of the 2024 draft out of Kentucky. 2024 was the primary season underneath defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who had changed Wink Martindale, and that didn’t actually work out, although Phillips had a good first NFL season. Taking part in primarily within the slot, he allowed 41 catches on 50 targets for 373 yards, 297 yards after the catch, one landing, one interception, no go breakups, and an opponent passer ranking of 96.1.
However earlier than the 2025 season started, Phillips expressed frustration as to how his rookie season had gone.
“Last year, I was part of the problem in communication,” Phillips mentioned in August. “I was so young. I didn’t feel like I was that confident in it. So we’ve all grown, but then when you bring [safety Jevon Holland and cornerback Paulson Adebo in free agency] in, it’s just like the level of knowledge in the room feels like it’s way more than we had in the past. These guys, they play ball at a high level, they know ball also at a really high level. It’s already people that know it, so communication makes it easier.”
In some methods, Philips did his best possible to make Massive Blue’s protection higher. You gained’t discover a whole lot of DBs totaling 12 go breakups and 9 tackles for loss in a single season with out garnering some nationwide consideration, however he in some way managed to perform all of this in 2025.
Dennard Wilson has a historical past of wanting his defensive backs to play aggressively, which would appear to match Phillips’ taking part in character to a “T.” Sure, he’ll have to proceed to steadiness his personal aggression with consistency, however the Yr 2 tape may very well be the preface to a a lot better story.
Underrated free agent: TE Isaiah Seemingly
Dec 15, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Baltimore Ravens tight finish Isaiah Seemingly (80) makes a catch in the course of the first half in opposition to the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Obligatory Credit score: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Pictures Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Pictures
Harbaugh didn’t take rather a lot with him from Baltimore, however the Giants did signal former Ravens tight finish Isaiah Prone to a three-year, $40 million contract with $27 million assured. Seemingly brings his skills to a gaggle of targets for Jaxson Dart that may very well be formidable if everyone (principally Malik Nabers) is wholesome, and his addition to the Theo Johnson/Chris Manhertz tight finish group may very well be verrrrrrrry attention-grabbing.
Harbaugh comes from a Ravens franchise that clearly is aware of find out how to make the most of a number of tight ends, and the 2025 Giants had been surprisingly adept on this regard. They jumped from a 17.40% 12 personnel charge (one again, two tight ends, two receivers) in 2024 to 32.81% final season, and Giants quarterbacks (Dart, Jameis Winston, and Russell Wilson) accomplished 91 of 140 passes in 12 personnel for 1,245 yards, 693 air yards, seven touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer ranking of 106.3 — ninth-best within the league.
Now, Seemingly comes on board after a 2025 season wherein he caught 27 passes on 34 targets for 307 yards and a landing. That was a downturn from 2024, when he caught 49 passes on 68 targets for 603 yards and 7 touchdowns, however Baltimore’s passing sport wasn’t fairly as much as its personal degree final season. Seemingly additionally handled a foot damage all season lengthy, and missed three video games late within the season.
If there are any lingering points (and Harbaugh would know), the pinnacle coach doesn’t appear too involved.
“He’s a playmaking football player,” Harbaugh mentioned after the deal was struck. “I think Jaxson is going to really like him running the routes and being in his line of vision. He’s got a big catch radius. He can make plays after he makes the catch.
“He can get upfield. He can make people miss. He can run people over. He’s a very good perimeter blocker. You’ll see that. That’ll be good for our run game. All those things he brings to the table.”
Any port in a storm for an offense that ranked twenty sixth in DVOA final season — if Seemingly permits the Giants to grab the brand new multi-tight finish development, all the higher.
Underrated draft choose: WR Malachi Fields
PITTSBURGH, PA – NOVEMBER 15: Notre Dame Combating Irish Large Receiver Malachi Fields (0) scores a landing after making a catch in the course of the second half of the Faculty Soccer sport between the Notre Dame Combating Irish and the Pittsburgh Panthers on November 15, 2025, at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA. (Picture by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures) Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures
As for the receivers, there’s a wholesome Malik Nabers as the plain WR1. There’s Darius Slayton because the prohibitive WR2 favourite, and there’s additionally an entire lot of free agent acquisitions — Calvin Austin, Darnell Mooney, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Braxton Berrios, and Odell Beckham Jr., for goodness’ sake. Who will change Wan’dale Robinson’s manufacturing is one other matter, as Robinson is now in Tennessee.
What the Giants didn’t have on the place was a giant, bodily, contested coverage-beater who might simply impose his will on enemy cornerbacks, which is the place Malachi Fields is available in. Final season for the Notre Dame Combating Irish, the 6’ 4½“, 218-pound Fields caught 36 passes on 62 targets for 630 yards and 5 touchdowns, and the Giants had been comfortable to take him with the 74th total choose within the third spherical.
By way of his time at Virginia and Notre Dame, Fields has by no means had a spectacular catch charge (58.1% final season, and 59.4% in his faculty profession), however he had only one dropped go in 2025. With Fields, it’s extra that once you’re requested time and again to defy the legal guidelines of physics along with your catch radius, and each goal is an eventual battle royale, these catches don’t come simple.
Groups ask Fields to be a daredevil, and he’s good at it.
There are reliable questions concerning the offense’s ceiling with new OC Matt Nagy, but when every thing performs out health-wise, the 2026 Giants might have a surprisingly deep and nuanced group of targets for Dart in his second NFL season. Fields, each as a receiver and as a plus blocker, provides a hybrid WR/TE talent set that might put that group excessive.
