John Harbaugh prefers “big players,” GM Joe Schoen said in January, having coached so long in the AFC North.
That isn’t just a reference to the size and measurables of players the Giants are evaluating for next week’s start of free agency and for April’s NFL Draft.
It is also an allusion to the way Harbaugh wants this team to play: Big, physical, nasty, downhill, aggressive and relentless, with a passion for the game.
“Our focus is simple,” Harbaugh said when he took the job. “It starts with building a team that is physical and tough, that’s capable of overwhelming their opponent from beginning to end, and especially at the end, that understands how to finish, that is smart and disciplined.”
So what does that actually mean for player acquisition, for which players Harbaugh and the Giants plan to sign and draft?
It means, NFL sources say, that Harbaugh believes in having a strong team up the middle of the field especially.
Draw a straight line down the middle of a football field. That is where safeties, inside linebackers, defensive tackles, interior offensive linemen, quarterbacks, fullbacks and running backs live on Sundays.
A lot of those positions aren’t the highest paid in free agency. They don’t score high on the ‘positional value’ chart when it comes time to invest first and second-round picks. But they serve as the spine, the backbone, of an NFL team.
So the Giants this offseason will be a lot like a bodybuilder strengthening their core, their body’s center and foundation, to support and tie together the rest.
“At the end of the day, you gotta put as many good football players that play the way you want to play out there,” Harbaugh said at the NFL Combine. “You don’t want to sacrifice a really good player because it’s not a need or value position. The inside linebacker isn’t always considered a value position, but you can’t stop the run without an inside linebacker making tackles in the middle. Can’t do it. So I think everything’s important.”
A lot of information out of Indianapolis falls into this roster philosophy.
The Giants are in love with both of their running back draft picks, Cam Skattebo (third round) and Tyrone Tracy Jr. (fifth round), for example. But Harbaugh knows they still need a No. 1. And he prioritizes the middle of the field.
So the Seahawks’ Kenneth Walker, Notre Dame’ Jeremiyah Love and other running backs are on the Giants’ radar, as ESPN and SNY have reported, in both free agency and the draft.
Harbaugh stressed the need to stop the run on defense several times in Indianapolis. His Baltimore Ravens always invested big-time assets in inside linebackers, most recently acquiring Roquan Smith from the Chicago Bears in Oct. 2022 for a second-round pick, fifth-round pick and a player. And The Athletic is reporting that the Giants are expected to cut Bobby Okereke to save $9 million against the cap.
So Sonny Styles’ increasing ties to the team with the No. 5 overall pick isn’t just about the Ohio State product’s impressive NFL Combine. It’s about Harbaugh’s roster philosophy and emphasis potentially matching with a dynamic player at that position.
Schoen even admitted he has “evolved” in his thinking of positional value, a possible allusion to the consideration of players like Love, Styles and Ohio State safety Caleb Downs at No. 5.
“Have I evolved? Yes. Do I like it? No,” Schoen said. “When you think about what Malik [Nabers] would get on the open market or even Jaxson [Dart] or Abdul [Carter], you get a surplus value from taking those players where you took them. And there’s some positions where you don’t get the benefit of that. But does that mean I won’t take a player because of that? No. I’ll take the best player available.”
Elsewhere up the middle of the field, Harbaugh has stressed his affinity for Jaxson Dart at quarterback and Dexter Lawrence at defensive tackle. The Giants also have a lot of money invested in Jevon Holland for one more year.
But the defensive tackle spots alongside Lawrence, the interior O-line at guard especially, the other safety position where Tyler Nubin has toiled: All of those positions are areas where the Giants are expected to fortify their backbone in free agency and the draft.
Paying big money for Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum with John Michael Schmitz coming off his best season would be a somewhat surprising use of the Giants’ assets. Linderbaum’s name is being connected to the Giants, though, not just because he played for Harbaugh.
But because the league knows what Harbaugh values: the middle of the field. A big, physical team that imposes its will from the inside out.
That is what he intends to turn the Giants into on his watch. Next Monday’s opening of the free agent negotiating window will begin to show everyone how that plan will take shape.