{"id":480108,"date":"2026-02-14T19:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/480108\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T19:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:38:13","slug":"2025-nfl-rookie-report-card-new-york-giants-earn-high-marks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/480108\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 NFL rookie report card: New York Giants earn high marks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/new-york-giants\/351\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:New York Giants;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">New York Giants<\/a> had an impactful draft in 2025, one that saved the job of flailing general manager Joe Schoen and ended up attracting a top head coaching talent such as John Harbaugh.<\/p>\n<p>In the recent ranking of every NFL team&#8217;s rookie class, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/nfl-rookie-report-cards-grading-and-ranking-every-team-s-2025-draft-class\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:NFL.com gave the Giants an A- grade;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">NFL.com gave the Giants an A- grade<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Three of the Giants\u2019 first four picks were essentially starting by the end of September. And all three of those players are fun. But they\u2019re also scary.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s right. The Giants&#8217; top two picks, linebacker Abdul Carter and quarterback Jaxson Dart, both showed flashes of inexperience along with flickers of what greatness is to come.<\/p>\n<p>The fun part: The edge blur led the entire league with 48 quick pressures (under 2.5 seconds, per Next Gen Stats).<\/p>\n<p>The scary part: Carter was benched twice for behavior that Dexter Lawrence termed &#8220;hard-headed,&#8221; with the three-time Pro Bowler imploring his young teammate to &#8220;just grow up, really.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Dart did not have the behavioral issues that Carter did, but threw the entire organization for a loop with his reckless play, putting his health in jeopardy all too often.<\/p>\n<p>The fun part: His dual-threat ability and undeniable swagger, both of which were on full display in New York\u2019s shocking prime-time beatdown of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n<p>The scary part: His proud refusal to protect himself, causing frequent trips to the blue tent in Year 1 while raising serious concerns about his long-term viability.<\/p>\n<p>Fourth-round pick Cam Skattebo, a running back whose throwback, smashmouth style captured the imagination of football fans everywhere, saw his season cut short after seven games with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Felice&#8217;s analysis is dead on. When Skattebo was rolling, the Giants looked unstoppable: &#8220;A fearless play style that\u2019s as infectious as his animated personality, with bell-cow ability as a runner and receiver.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But those times didn&#8217;t last very long. After knocking Tyrone Tracy, Jr. from the No. 1 running back role, Skattebo was felled by an injury befitting his volatile style of play:<\/p>\n<p>A gnarly leg injury &#8212; dislocated ankle, fractured fibula and ruptured deltoid ligament &#8212; that ended his rookie campaign before Halloween, only increasing doubts about the NFL shelf life of his gutsy game.<\/p>\n<p>The 2025 draft class also included two possible stalwarts for the trenches in defensive tackle Darius Alexander and offensive lineman Marcus Mbow. Both got a chance to play more as the season wore on.<\/p>\n<p>The Giants could sure use another strong showing at the draft table this spring. With a new coaching staff led by John Harbaugh, things are about to get even more interesting in East Rutherford.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: <a href=\"https:\/\/giantswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/giants\/2026\/02\/14\/2025-nfl-rookie-report-card-new-york-giants-earn-high-marks\/88678346007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:2025 NFL rookie report card: New York Giants earn high marks;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">2025 NFL rookie report card: New York Giants earn high marks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Giants had an impactful draft in 2025, one that saved the job of flailing general&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[5370,64,63,30574,243853,55397,1274,10286,142536,243854,1242,593,5136,85,48148],"class_list":{"0":"post-480108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-abdul-carter","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cam-skattebo","12":"tag-darius-alexander","13":"tag-dexter-lawrence","14":"tag-jaxson-dart","15":"tag-joe-schoen","16":"tag-john-harbaugh","17":"tag-marcus-mbow","18":"tag-new-york-giants","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-philadelphia","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-the-giants"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}