2023 NFL Power Rankings: New York Giants

Biggest offseason contract to watch: S Xavier McKinney

The easy pick here would've been Saquon Barkley. But equally important is that McKinney is set to become a free agent. McKinney, who has played every defensive snap this season, wants to return to the Giants. The problem is that general manager Joe Schoen decided before the season to put his contract on the back burner. The two sides did not talk about an extension during the current campaign. If the Giants want to bring him back, it's not going to be cheap. -- Jordan Raanan

The Giants sure are fascinating. There are ample reasons why this team is slated to pick in the top five of the draft this spring, and some of them have been known since their 40-0 Week 1 blowout loss to Dallas. Other flaws have taken longer to manifest themselves, cropping up over a few wild months that included a three-game winning streak and a three-game losing streak. The encouraging part is that the Giants beat the Packers in Week 14 and had a chance to win against the playoff-bound Eagles in Week 16 and Rams on Sunday. Ultimately, too many self-inflicted mistakes prevented those feel-good upsets from taking place, but at least Brian Daboll has the Giants playing with some kind of purpose down the stretch. Bigger issues will be addressed in the weeks to come, but the effort question is a nice one to put to bed after this disappointing season.

Tyrod Taylor did some good things against the Rams, and Brian Daboll's team is still fighting. The good news is they played close with the Rams and still lost for draft pick slotting.

You'd like to see a more well-rounded game from OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux, but he's nearly tripled his rookie sack total (4) to 11½ as a sophomore.

The lesson: Don't pay big money for average QB play

Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito both have a better EPA per attempt than Daniel Jones' minus-.12 this season, according to TruMedia. Jones' number ranks 44th among quarterbacks who had more than 100 pass attempts this season. Not many people thought it was a good idea for the Giants to give Jones a four-year, $160 million contract in the offseason. New York proved all those people right by playing just as well using players it picked up for next to nothing.

Perennially underrated, Tyrod Taylor continues to show up and give his team a chance to win — when he's healthy. I'm not sure what that means for the Giants, but Taylor deserves a mention at least.

Darius Slayton is having a strong finish to the season. The past two weeks, he has 196 receiving yards and two touchdowns. He's 26 and has just a $2.5 million base salary next season. He might not be a true No. 1 receiver, but he'll be a good piece for the 2024 Giants.

The Giants have often been good but boring. They're currently not good but fun.

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