Training Camp is slowly approaching for all 32 teams. One of those teams that are headed towards Training camp with hopes of having a successful 2017 season happens to be the New York Giants. They are coming off 2016 in which they went 11-5 and ended up in second place.
As the offseason began, the New York Giants had a few positions that they needed to address in either the draft or in free agency. They decided to address many of their problems within free agency. They brought in guys like Geno Smith, Brandon Marshall, and were able to resign Jason Pierre-Paul to help the defense. However, while they were able to bring in some names that will help they also lost several names. In my opinion, the two biggest ones that they lost were Victor Cruz and Rashad Jennings.
Now with all of that being said, here are three questions that the Giants do need to answer during training camp:
1- Who takes over as the starting running back?
In 2016, Rashad Jennings ended up taking the most snaps at running back. Towards the end of the season, Paul Perkins ended up taking some of the load off of Jennings. Now that Jennings is not back for the 2017 season, the Giants have a big hole. The two most likely ones to take this are Sean Vereen or Paul Perkins. Unfortunately, due to the fact that Sean Vereen is coming off an injury-plagued 2016, I could honestly see the Giants go with Perkins to start the season. In 2016, Perkins had 456 yards and had no touchdowns. The other reason why I see the Giants going with either Perkins or Vereen is also that they are the only two people that are returning to the running back area for the Giants.
2- How do you fix up the Offensive Line?
While the Giants seem to do good in every aspect, there is still one aspect of their team that seems to not do well at all. I am talking about the offensive line, the ones who are there to protect Eli Manning. I have watched a lot of Giants football over the years and it seems that the offensive line for the Giants is their kryptonite. For whatever reason, it seems that Eli Manning is forced to throw the ball when he isn’t ready to avoid getting sacked. I am not sure if it means trying out new things during the season like changing players around or something. Plain and simple, if the Giants want to make a run to give Eli Manning his third Super Bowl, then you need to work on the Offensive line.
3- Can the addition of Brandon Marshall help mature Odell Beckhem Jr?
It seems that OBJ has not matured since he was drafted by the Giants a few years ago. He is getting to the point in his career where he needs to start maturing. During his time with the Giants, he hasn’t really had a mentor to put him in his place. He had Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks, but they tried and got nowhere with him. However, Brandon Marshall is different. In Marshall’s early days in Denver and Chicago, he was a bit of a hot head. There may be hope that Marshall can put Beckham in his place and maybe he can mature in 2017.
Here are just a few questions that the New York Giants need to address during training camp.