Change in the Giants defense

[MightyGiants]

 NEW YORK GIANTS
Biggest difference: Four-man rush


Only the Vikings blitzed more often than the New York Giants last season. With Wink Martindale, the Giants were a heavy man coverage and blitz defense. That was part Martindale and part trying to create enough chaos to compensate for the lack of talent around the defense. However, an issue was that the Giants didn't have the secondary to run man coverage 38 percent of the time, the league's second-highest rate.

New defensive coordinator Shane Bowen blitzed at the ninth-lowest rate and used the ninth-highest rate of light boxes at Tennessee. A lot is put on the front four in Bowen's defense, and the Giants made improvements there to strengthen the defense. The Giants already ranked fourth in EPA per play with a four-man rush in 2023, though they were 29th in pressure rate.

Dexter Lawrence has been one of the league's best interior defenders, and no player creates pressure from a nose tackle alignment more often. Lawrence might not line up as a straight nose as frequently, but he can take the attention of multiple offensive linemen and still get to the quarterback no matter where he lines up.

With the addition of Brian Burns, the Giants now have two explosive rushers off the edge as he pairs with Kayvon Thibodeaux. Thibodeaux had 11.5 sacks on just 16 quarterback hits, a 71.9 percent conversion rate that will decrease, but he should get more opportunities to get to the passer with Burns on the other side.

https://www.the33rdteam.com/nfl-defenses-that-could-look-most-different-in-2024/