Revisiting the NY Giants’ 2023 draft class
· Yahoo Sports
The New York Giants have had plenty of problems since their last Super Bowl.
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One of their most persistent issues over the last decade and a half has been their player development. Regardless of head coach or general manager, the Giants have largely struggled to turn their draft picks into dependable veterans. Even when draftees flash as rookies, they’ve seldom built upon those promising years and often regress.
Every team says they want to build through the draft, but for all the attention that the executive side gets in player acquisition, the coaching side is equally vital. If fans want to know the “secret sauce” in being consistently competitive at the collegiate or professional level, it’s player development.
That’s one of the most overlooked reasons why teams like the Patriots, Ravens, Steelers, 49ers, and Rams have been able to be consistently competitive in spite of consistently drafting late. And as it so happens, former Ravens’ head coach John Harbaugh is getting ready for his first training camp as the Giants’ head coach.
That makes this a good time to look back at the 2023 draftees’ rookie season and see how (or if) the new regime can develop them.
Cornerback Deonte Banks
The Giants traded up to secure Banks with the 24th pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. At the time, Banks was drafted at the insistence of cornerbacks coach Jerome Henderson to be a “number one” corner in Wink Martindale’s aggressive blitz-happy defense.
This is what was we said about Banks after his rookie season:
The presence of a more developed Deonte Banks remains entrenched as the number one cornerback moving forward.
Banks played 840 defensive snaps for the Giants, recording 56 tackles, two interceptions, six passes defended, and a solid 57.6% reception rate. He did, however, commit 8 penalties, which was 13th-highest of all cornerbacks. He missed the final two games of the season.
Banks ranked 23rd best in reception rate of cornerbacks who played at least 50% of their team’s defensive plays.
Banks has all the necessary athletic traits to thrive in man coverage, and he had a good overall rookie season, by my estimation. He also displayed very good awareness with zone and match principles.
Whoever replaces Martindale as defensive coordinator will approve of having Banks on the roster. With the retention of Jerome Henderson, I expect Banks to continue his development as a number one corner in the league.
GRADE: B+
As we now know, it didn’t quite work out that way. Banks’ development stalled in 2024 when he failed to meaningfully improve in Shane Bowen’s scheme and as the Giants’ No.1 corner. He never appeared as comfortable shadowing top receivers as he did sticking on the right side as a rookie. There were flashes of the player the Giants hoped he’d become, such as when he locked down D.K. Metcalf against the Seahawks and bullied George Pickens out of the endzone to deny the Steelers a touchdown. However he never sustained that level of play.
Unfortunately, those flashes gave way to full-on regression after Jerome Henderson was fired following the 2024 season.
Banks still possesses a legitimately elite athletic profile and his ability to be sticky in man coverage is likewise elite. At the time of Bowen’s firing last year, Banks was allowing the 2nd lowest separation and was targeted at the seventh-lowest rate in the NFL.
Banks looked like a future No.1 cornerback after his rookie year, and has tools with which coaches can work.
Working with those tools will be the job of Addison Lynch. Lynch was with the Denver Broncos last year, and has experience working with big, athletic corners. One of the issues with the previous coaching staff was low accountability from the top and a low attention to detail on the defensive side of things. Lynch seems to be focusing on the details with Banks, to improve his play when the margin for error as smallest.
“We tried to show him that his consistency was his deal,” Lynch said. “He just wasn’t consistent getting lined up fast, wasn’t consistent with his feet. He’s improved his consistency, so now his play is improved, now his confidence is up and he can just roll into the season.
“I love how he’s handling it. Right now, he’s being an absolute pro. He’s doing the extra work, he’s in his book, he’s doing everything we ask him. He’s making plays on the ball and he’s doing a really good job handling himself play in and play out. He’s made major improvements that when he’s tired, he relies on his technique and he’s getting more technical sound, so everything with him is trending in the right direction.”
The question now is if improving Banks’ consistency, positioning, footwork, and technique can allow him to play with more confidence at the catch point. It isn’t always appropriate to turn back to the ball, as that can sacrifice speed allow receivers to get late separation.
However, playing with more confidence can allow Banks to trust himself and more consistently locate the ball when that’s the appropriate technique — and, of course, understand when it’s appropriate to play receivers’ hands or the ball.
Lynch coached one of the best secondaries in the NFL last year, and Dennard Wilson has a great track record of getting the most out of his defensive backs. This might be the best case scenario for Banks to finally become the player he was drafted to be.
Center John Michael Schmitz
The Giants drafted John Michael Schmitz in the second round. He was widely considered to be one of the top two centers in his draft class and one of the top five interior linemen. Schmitz immediately stepped into the starting job for the Giants, but the immediate results weren’t as hoped.
Second-round pick John Michael Schmitz flashed his upside but was inconsistent overall. He allowed five sacks and 30 pressures in his 484 offensive snaps. He surrendered the fifth most sacks and pressures at the position.
Here are Joe Schoen’s comments on John Michael Schmitz’s rookie season:
“John Michael Schmitz is going to be a good center,” Schoen said. “The intangibles are off the charts, he’s got leadership potential. I’d be surprised if he’s not a captain down the road.”
I’m not in the building, but Schoen’s comments about his leadership make sense. Schmitz’s toughness is palpable, and his movement skills, and ability at the second level, were solid through his rookie season. I love the leverage he plays with, and his wrestling background was perceptible on tape.
The interior parts of the line had a turbulent time executing twist pickups. I’m not going to assign full blame to the rookie center for the struggles, but I was pleased to see how effortless it was for Schmitz to open and close his hips.
Overall, Schmitz was adequate along an imperfect offensive line. There’s room for growth, but the foundation is solid.
GRADE: C
“Adequate” is probably the best descriptor for Schmitz since his rookie season. He has improved in each off-season under Carmen Bricillo and is now a perfectly serviceable NFL starter. He might not be a road grader in the run game, but he’s become a reliable pass protector, giving up just one sack and one hit last year.
Schmitz’s biggest hurdle has been playing with consistent hand placement, which in turn ha impacted his leverage consistency. He’s capable of anchoring against bigger nose tackles when he plays with good hand placement, allowing him to keep his hips and pads low.
Schmitz is in the last year of his rookie contract and the task of getting him to the level of earning a lucrative second contract falls to offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren and assistant offensive line coach Grant Newsome. Not only do they need to perfect his hand usage and leverage, but also help him adapt to Greg Roman’s gap-based blocking schemes.
“He’s got some crazy schemes for us up front to be able to be physical but also, catch the defense slipping,” Thomas told Giants Huddle. “They can never predict what we’re going to do.”
Schmitz will likely be used as a pulling center or working off of double teams to the second level. Schmitz blocked well in zone-based schemes, but the question is whether the new staff can get him to play well in a more downhill blocking scheme.
Wide receiver Jalin Hyatt
The Giants’ third-round pick in 2023 has almost completely failed to live up to expectations. His speed has been on display, but he was often used as a “sacrificial receiver”, that is, one tasked with a vertical route to threaten the defense but never in the read progression.
He caught 23 of 40 targets for 373 scoreless yards on 557 offensive snaps. 109 of those yards were against the Patriots in Week 12. He caught 57.5% of his passes with four drops and an average of 16.2 yards per catch on the season.
Although the statistics are modest, Hyatt’s ability to stretch the field adds a dynamic element that was so desperately missed in previous years. The combination of Hyatt and fellow wide receiver Darius Slayton give the Giants two speed-options to maximize their two-man route concepts off play action (Yankee, Mills, etc.).
It’s difficult to not see Hyatt’s explosiveness, and how that can be leveraged with better protection up front and a quarterback who is willing to throw the football down the field. The Giants incorporated simple Air Raid concepts in the preseason that we saw in the later parts of the season (3×1 lone drag route to Hyatt).
The 22-year-old is still growing as a route runner. The nuances of uncovering against zone and being on the same page as the quarterback are two aspects of his game that can improve. His 14.8% drop rate was not ideal, but his ability to track, concentrate, adjust, and secure still popped on tape. It’s not something that concerns me…yet.
Hyatt mostly ran go routes and hitches. His top timed speed was 21.4 miles per hour in 2023, and he had seven explosive plays on the season. Hyatt aligned on the outside 88.3% of the time, 48% of that was on the left side.
He’s not fully refined, but the explosive traits he currently possesses are difficult to find. I expect his role to increase significantly next season.
GRADE: C+
Unfortunately, Hyatt simply hasn’t taken… any steps forward since then. He’s flashed some impressive catches, but has only seen the ball when the Giants’ hands have been forced by injury. His snap load has decreased in each season, from 557 as a rookie to 346 in 2024, to just 171 in 2025, and he has yet to score a touchdown.
Chad Hall was one of the few assistant coaches retained from the previous regime and was promoted to wide receivers coach this year. He’s familiar with Hyatt and likely has a firm understanding of Hyatt’s struggles with the technical aspects of playing receiver. He can locate and track the ball in the air, but his route running and play at the catch point remain problematic. The question here is whether Hall can help Hyatt finally bring those up to an NFL level.
Perhaps the new staff can do enough through route selection and schemed touches to allow Hyatt justify a roster spot. However it’s looking increasingly like he is a true draft bust, and not a player failed by his coaching staff.