It is difficult to take a team seriously, as far as envisioning a playoff run, without a dependable defense.
And it is difficult to take a defense seriously if it is unreliable — or worse, reliably bad — at stopping the run.
This clearly weighed on the mind of general manager Joe Schoen as he entered his second offseason with the Giants.
He did not dismiss what he called an “obsession’’ from outside the organization to prioritize adding a top-level wide receiver, but he spoke more often about the lack of depth along the defensive line than he did adding another weapon for newly re-signed Daniel Jones.
There is no doubt that after the first week of free agency, the Giants look to be far more capable as a run defense as they were for most of the 2022 season.
They used their one big-ticket (four years, $40 million) expenditure on inside linebacker Bobby Okereke, signed defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches to a three-year, $12 million contract and on Monday had defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson in for a visit.
Okereke has two career sacks in 64 games. Nunez-Roches has 3.5 sacks in 102 games. Robinson has seven sacks in 93 games.
This thrust was geared to finding players to fit into the system, players capable of using their skills to limit rushing yards allowed.
“Stopping the run is what I do,’’ Nunez-Roches said. “I do that in my sleep.’’
If he helps awaken what has been a slumbering run defense, it will have been money well-spent by the Giants.
They were 27th in the NFL last season, allowing 144.2 rushing yards per game.
In the second half of the season, they gave up 160 rushing yards to the Lions, 169 to the Cowboys, and 165 and 159 in two games with the Commanders.
The last time the Giants were on the field, they were getting thrashed and gashed by the Eagles, who churned for 268 rushing yards.
Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale admitted he was at his wit’s end with how to remedy this.
His two studs up front, Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams, are premier run-stoppers. Williams, though, missed five games with injuries, and the depth behind him was suspect — even more so after Nick Williams went down with a torn biceps.
“It’s like one of those things when you start working on it, you’re plugging the dike,” Martindale said late in the season. “I’m running out of fingers and toes to plug the dike. There’s some right up the middle that we’ve had some issues with.”
Right up the middle is where the Giants are now fortified.
Okereke, 26, is a ball-stopping machine, with 132 and 151 tackles the past two seasons, respectively.
“Bobby is a real pro. He brings a certain knack to the room, a certain swagger, and he’s a student,’’ linebacker E.J. Speed, who started five games alongside Okereke in 2022, said last week after re-signing with the Colts. “Bobby leaving, he will dearly be missed. We lost a real soldier in Bobby, and New York got a soldier.’’
Nunez-Roches, 29, won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers as a rotational piece on a deep defensive line.
He played in 17 games last season (10 starts) and had 33 tackles. He has mostly been a nose tackle in his NFL career, which will allow him to fill in when Lawrence needs a break.
He has also played the 3-technique, lining up between the guard and tackle in more of a pass-rush position. That makes him able to move in when Williams is off the field.
“The biggest thing about me since I’ve been in the league, I’d say my biggest attribute is being a chameleon,’’ said Nunez-Roches, who likes to be called Nacho. “Whatever you need, wherever you need me to fill in at, I’ll become that, and I’ll dominate that position. Whatever my coach requires, I’ll be that.’’
It is not difficult to see why the Giants are investigating the 28-year-old Robinson, as they need to see where his health is after a torn meniscus ended his 2022 season after just 10 games.
The seven-year veteran has been with the Lions and Rams, and at both stops showed an affinity for adding to the run defense.
At 330 pounds, he is a much bigger body in the middle than the 306-pound Nunez-Roches.
He serves a similar purpose, though, when it comes to stopping the run, something the Giants can never have too much of on their roster.