NFC East 2026 free agency grades: New York Giants edition

Now that we're almost two weeks into NFL free agency and the list of decent available players has been picked clean, let's grade what each of the NFC East teams did. We started with the Dallas Cowboys on Friday. Today we'll review what the New York Giants did.

Notable players gained

• TE Isaiah Likely: Likely played for John Harbaugh in Baltimore, of course. He signed for three years, $40 million. Likely is a good receiver but his numbers aren't super impressive because he played on a Ravens team with a boatload of good tight ends. The Giants need more weapons on offense, and securing Likely at a little over $13 million per year was a decent bargain, in my opinion.

• LB Tremaine Edmunds: Edmunds played for five seasons in Buffalo and then the last three in Chicago. He signed for three years, $36 million. He has had 100 or more tackles in all eight seasons of his career. Professional linebacker, 4 INTs last year. Another reasonable signing.

• WR Calvin Austin III: Austin had a nice 2024 season, when he had 36 catches for 538 yards (15.2 YPC) and 4 TDs as a slot role player in the Steelers offense. His numbers in 2025 (31-372-3) were down a bit in the Steelers' slog of an offense under Aaron Rodgers. Austin has some big-play potential, and adds value as a returner. His one-year deal worth $4.5 million feels like a good buy.

• WR Darnell Mooney: A couple years ago the Falcons signed Mooney to an idiotic three-year deal worth $39 million. They released him after two seasons. The Giants signed him to a one-year deal worth $3 million. With the Giants he'll be a WR3 or WR4 behind Malik Nabors, Darius Slayton, and maybe Calvin Austin. Mooney is a competent vet who will give them good depth. I like this signing, too.

• CB Greg Newsome: Newsome was a Browns first-round pick in 2021 who had an up-and-down four-plus years in Cleveland before he got traded to the Jaguars during the 2025 season. The Giants signed Newsome to a one-year deal worth $8 million. I like the Likely, Edmunds, Austin, and Mooney signings, but $8 million for Newsome is a bit of an overpay, and the result of whiffing on Deonte Banks in the draft.

• K Jason Sanders: Sanders had an outstanding season with the Dolphins in 2024, when he made 37 of 41 field goal attempts, including 12 of 14 from beyond 50 yards. He did not kick in 2025 because of a hip injury. On the one hand, the Giants' former kicker, Graham Gano, constantly battled injuries and the Giants were often forced to replace him on the fly, so bringing in a kicker who missed the 2025 season is a risk. On the other hand, Sanders is one of the best kickers in the league when healthy, so perhaps the risk is worth it. We'll see.

• P Jordan Stout: Of course Harbaugh had to bring his punter over from Baltimore. Three years, a little over $12 million. Fine, whatever.

• FB Patrick Ricard: Another Ravens guy. Ricard is a 300-pound fullback who can also play some DT in a pinch. Again, fine, whatever.

• S Ar’Darius Washington: The Giants' starters at safety are Jevon Holland and Tyler Nubin, so Washington will be a depth guy.

• S Jason Pinnock: Pinnock played for three seasons with the Giants, and he's back after one year with the 49ers. Another depth safety.

Notable players retained

For the sake of brevity, we'll just list the most noteworthy guys the Giants re-signed, with brief commentary thereafter:

RT Jermaine Eluemunor
OL Joshua Ezeudu
LB Micah McFadden
RB Devin Singletary (pay cut)
TE Chris Manhertz
WR/RS Gunner Olszewski
WR Isaiah Hodgins
OL Evan Neal

• Eluemunor is just a guy, which honestly for the Giants' purposes is better than usual along the O-line. He re-signed for three years, $39 million to remain their starting RT.

• One of the more stunning re-signings league-wide was Neal returning to the Giants. They selected him with the seventh overall pick in the 2022 draft, and he became an epic bust. I actually think that it's not the craziest idea to bring him back and see if he can click with a new OL coach.

Notable players lost

• WR Wan’Dale Robinson: The Titans signed Robinson to an asinine four-year contract worth $70 million. Robinson had 92 catches for 1,014 yards and 4 TDs for the Giants, and I'm sure they would have liked to have kept him, but holy crap.

• CB Cor’Dale Flott: Flott also went to the Titans, for three years, $45 million. That was another wild overpay for a guy with 3 INTs and 3 forced fumbles in four NFL seasons.

• TE Daniel Bellinger: Bellinger signed with the Titans for three years, $24 million (lol!). He's averaging 22 catches for 234 yards per season.

• C Austin Schlottmann: Schlottman signed for two years, up to $9 million with, oh hey, again, the Titans!

• S Dane Belton: Someone other than the Titans signed a Giants player, The Jets signed Belton for one year, $4 million.

Analysis/Grade

To begin, the 2026 free agency class was one of the worst ever, in my opinion, and there were a bunch of teams who paid a lot of ordinary players extraordinary money. One of those teams was the Commanders, for example, who we'll get to soon enough.

However, this year I thought the Giants did a really nice job of picking some spots where they could improve their roster — notably at tight end, linebacker, and on special teams — and not have to wildly overpay to do so. They also did a good job of not overpaying some of their own players who left to go play for former head coach Brian Daboll in Tennessee.

I have not agreed with much of what the Giants have done in free agency, the draft, or otherwise during the Joe Schoen era. But they had a good free agency period this offseason, given what was available. Maybe Schoen wasn't in charge, and John Harbaugh was instead? That would perhaps help explain their rare moment of competency.

Grade: B+

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