New York Giants improved their injury dilemma in 2024, but more is needed

USA Today

a day ago

The New York Giants seem to be affected by serious injuries almost every year. Last year, Kayvon Thibodeaux missed five games, Dexter Lawrence missed the last six weeks with a dislocated elbow, Andrew Thomas went down early in the season, and other players dealt with lesser injuries.
Not all injuries are created equal, though.
As an example, Thibodeaux missed five weeks, but Azeez Ojulari stepped in and produced well while Thibs was out. The same cannot be said for the losses of Lawrence and Thomas, who are both integral parts of their respective lines.
Despite the big losses in 2024, the Giants ranked 13th in Adjusted Games Lost (AGL). This comes from Aaron Schatz in an analysis for FTN Fantasy.
Schatz looked at the injury data for all 32 NFL teams and ranked them based on how impactful the injuries are.
Just as we did on our old website, I've continued to collect data from the NFL's weekly injury reports (with the help of Zach Binney from Emory University) and transformed it into adjusted games lost. We also have the data going backwards, covering the entire 21st century. Adjusted games lost doesn't just add up total injuries. It accounts for both absent players and those playing at less than 100%, and it specifically measures injuries to expected starters and important situational players rather than little-used backups. As such, AGL estimates the impact of injuries on teams and provides a comparable total that often succinctly explains why teams improved or declined from one year to the next. (AGL was created by Bill Barnwell.)
The Giants' 13th overall ranking breaks down to 13th (28.8) on offense and 17th (41.5) on defense, and is a huge step up from their 26th ranking in 2023.
However, they're still a ways off from being a playoff contender if they can't prevent, or at least compensate for, injured players. Last year, six of the eight playoff teams had the lowest AGL.
To address this problem, the Giants made changes to their strength and conditioning personnel. They added Dr. Matthew Frakes as the director of performance nutrition, promoted Drew Wilson to director of strength and Conditioning, and hired Chris Allen and Mark Naylor as assistant strength and conditioning coaches.
Strength and conditioning, as well as nutritional programs, might look a little different for the Giants in 2025, but the idea is to keep as many players healthy as possible. Not only the starters, specifically the impact players and leaders on both sides of the ball, but the bench players have to be available to provide depth. They also have to be able to step in and produce enough to decrease the blow of losing the starter.
Injuries cannot be 100 percent avoided. Football is a physical game, the players are aggressive, and competition keeps everyone playing at a high level. However, if the players' bodies are in the best nutritional and conditioned health possible, injuries that can't be prevented will have less of an impact. Not just because of depth, but because those injuries won't be as serious with the body in top shape.
There's still work to be done, but it seems Joe Schoen's Giants are poised to have a decent season.