Good morning, Giants fans. The early camp chatter around Big Blue is already circling a few familiar names, and the common thread is clear: Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart are the two players drawing the loudest attention as 2026 takes shape.
Carter’s rookie year gave the Giants plenty to build on, even if the sack total didn’t jump off the page. He finished with four sacks, but the pressure numbers told a much louder story.
He led the Giants with 72 QB pressures, which ranked seventh in the league according to NGS, and posted a 15.4 percent QB pressure rate. He also closed strong, piling up 3.5 of those four sacks over the final five weeks.
The expectation now is that the production catches up to the disruption. With a strong get-off and another year of seasoning, Carter is being viewed as a player who should turn more of those pressures into sacks in 2026.
The Giants also improved the pieces around new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson, which should give Carter more chances to wreck plays more consistently than he did during last season’s stretches of up and down production.
That same buzz has carried into preseason breakout talk. Carter was listed among Yahoo Sports’ 10 preseason breakout players, with the note that his rookie season was unusual for a third overall pick who arrived with huge expectations.
The sacks were modest, but the pressure profile was excellent, and the piece pointed out that he had the most quick pressures of any player in the NFL last season. The read there is straightforward: if Carter starts converting those pressures into finishes, the numbers could look very different this year.
A strong preseason would only add to that momentum, especially with new Giants head coach John Harbaugh watching.
Dart is getting his own share of second-year attention, and for good reason. Giants.com framed the 23-year-old’s next step as a major factor in how far the team can go this season.
He’s now learning his second NFL offense in as many seasons, but he handled last year’s system quickly, and the hope is that he does the same again under a new coaching staff. Year 2 is where quarterbacks either take off or get dragged backward by the dreaded sophomore slump, and that’s the question hanging over Dart right now.
There’s also growing optimism around what the Giants could be offensively if Dart keeps moving forward. Bleacher Report listed New York over 7.5 wins with moderate confidence and said it was “extremely high on the 2026 Giants.”
The piece pointed to Dart’s 2025 rookie line of 24 combined passing/rushing touchdowns to five interceptions and described him as being on track to take over as the franchise quarterback. It also noted the arrival of John Harbaugh and Matt Nagy, the addition of top pick Francis Mauigoa to help the offensive line, veteran Isaiah Likely as a safety valve, and the return of Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo from injury.
The argument was that, if that core comes together, the Giants have enough elite defensive talent to keep the momentum going after finishing 2025 with 68 points in back-to-back wins.
Off the field, there was encouraging news involving co-owner and CEO John Mara. USA Today reported an optimistic health update from longtime NFL reporter Gary Myers after Mara publicly revealed his cancer diagnosis in September 2025. Mara said at the time that he felt strong and optimistic while following a recommended treatment plan, and he stayed involved with the organization, even adjusting his chemotherapy schedule to take part in the coaching search that ended with John Harbaugh’s hiring.
“I can tell you that John looked great when I saw him three or four weeks ago. He really looked great.
I hope that’s an indication that things are going well for him health-wise,” Myers said on the Bleav in Giants podcast. “The only other time I’ve seen him publicly was at Harbaugh’s press conference in January.
And, to my eyes at least, he looked much better - to the point that if you didn’t know what he was battling, you wouldn’t know. That’s how good he looked.”
In Other News...
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For a team that has spent too much time searching for a spark in the return game, Deonte Banks gave the Giants a real one in 2025. He averaged 32.7 yards per kick return, finished second in the NFL, and punctuated the year with a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown in Week 17, the kind of play that can flip field position and change how opponents kick to you.
Calvin Austin III adds a different kind of value, giving New York a proven punt-return presence to pair with Banks and potentially reshape the bottom of the roster. Banks coverage work was shaky enough that the Giants declined his fifth-year option, so special teams may be his clearest path to sticking around, while Austins arrival gives the club a chance to keep two return threats in roles that actually fit them. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Finally Have Options And Deonte Banks Feels The Pressure
For a defense that has spent too much recent time patching together the cornerback spot, training camp suddenly looks a lot different. The Giants have brought in Paulson Adebo, Greg Newsome II and Colton Hood, giving the room real depth and turning what used to feel like an emergency project into a position group with actual choices.
Deonte Banks is right in the middle of that shift, and the pressure is obvious. The first-round pick has to show he can be dependable in coverage and finish plays on the ball, because the Giants now have multiple corners competing for the same snaps and a staff that can afford to keep rotating until somebody separates. [Read more 🡒]