The New York Giants have spent this offseason building around a young core, but the offense won’t be carried by rookies alone in 2026. Jaxson Dart and Malik Nabers may be the headliners of the youth movement, yet the Giants have also added a batch of veterans who could end up shaping how far this unit goes.
Among the new faces, three stand out as the kind of additions that can change the feel of an offense. They bring different skills, but they all fit the same larger plan: give Big Blue more juice, more flexibility and more answers.
Patrick Ricard is the kind of player who changes the tone of a run game the moment he steps on the field. At 6-foot-2 and 300 pounds, the fullback is built to carve out space, and that’s exactly what the Giants are asking him to do.
He played under John Harbaugh with the Baltimore Ravens, and Matt Citak said Ricard can “add brute strength to the run game.” For a team looking to improve rushing efficiency, that’s not a small thing.
Ricard’s presence also points to the direction the Giants want to lean, with the Ravens serving as the model for a more run-heavy approach.
Darnell Mooney gives the offense another layer. His best NFL season came in 2021 with the Chicago Bears under current Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, and that connection matters here.
The 28-year-old can line up outside or work from the slot, which gives the Giants options whether he’s starting or coming off the bench. He’ll battle for a spot in the starting lineup during training camp, but even if he ends up as a reserve, he brings real depth to the receiver room.
Isaiah Likely is the most intriguing of the bunch because of how he could alter the passing game. Like Ricard, he comes over from Baltimore, where he earned enough trust to become one of John Harbaugh’s offseason targets.
After spending his first four seasons behind Mark Andrews, Likely now gets a chance to step into a No. 1 tight end role. He’s listed as a tight end, but the Giants are expected to use him heavily from the slot while Theo Johnson handles more of the in-line work.
That setup should give Dart a quick, dangerous target over the middle and make the passing attack more versatile than it was last season.
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