Can the Giants exceed their projected win total?
Vaughn Dalzell and Jay Croucher analyze the New York Giants' projected 7.5 win total for the 2026 NFL season and whether they are capable of surpassing expectations.
Video Transcript
The New York Giants open their season with two straight primetime games against the Cowboys and the Rams.
That's a fairly manageable schedule going into the bye week, Jay.
Win total seven and a half for this team.
I think them going over really depends on them taking advantage of their schedule in weeks three through seven.
What's your outlook on the G-Men this year?
Yeah, I think they're a super high variance team, Vaughn.
I think that's embodied by their quarterback, Jackson Dart.
Yeah.
Who I think has a pretty huge ceiling because the one thing that separates, the great quarterbacks from the average ones is their ability to create outside of structure.
At least that's- Mm-hmm one big element.
And Jackson Dart, he can clearly do that.
If the play breaks down, he can run around and do his Jackson Dart stuff, and create when everything breaks down.
In system, that is where it's really going to be interesting this year, is how much can he operate inside a structure, how much can he protect himself.
And if he can take strides, and he showed flashes last year, then I think the ceiling for this team is pretty high, where you have- Malik Nabers obviously coming back and looking good in training camp videos.
It looks like he's gonna be good to go for week one.
And so just having Dart and Nabers, as the foundation of this offense, an improving offensive line, still not necessarily a good one.
We'll see what happens at running back.
I think that is secondary though to just the health, and improvement of Dart, as well as the health of Nabers.
Defensively is where I think it gets really interesting because this is a defensive line that was, you know, much heralded last season and didn't really live up to expectations.
Even with Dexter Lawrence gone, there is a boatload of talent, on this defense.
And it is fitting that it is the Giants, shades of Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora and the, uh- Abdul Carters, of the world.
And Carter, I think, is a guy who has immense upside, and his rookie season was a bit disappointing, but he still led the league in quick pressures, pressures under two and a half seconds.
So ceiling is sky high for him.
Secondary not so good.
Ultimately, I think this is just a team that has, huge tails in both directions.
It wouldn't shock me if it all goes wrong, Dart gets hurt, and this team goes 5 and 12.
It wouldn't shock me if Dart takes strides, people stay healthy, Abdul Carter emerges as a top five DPOY candidate, and this team wins 10 games.
So ultimately, I think this is a team to bet on the tails.
If I had to bet either side of seven and a half, I would go slightly over, and take them to go 8 and 9.
But yeah, a ton of variance between the young quarterback, between the regime change, and just the youth across the board.
