The first four games of the New York Giants' 2026 season have come and gone in a flash, but they've provided a sample size big enough to start evaluating which players on John Harbaugh's roster are making the biggest or smallest impact in their 3-1 start.

Despite many football analysts considering them outsiders in the NFC East race, the Giants have taken the division lead after the first quarter of the season, led by an impressive season-opening win against the pesky Cowboys and two gritty defensive finishes over the Titans and Cardinals.

Not every win has come the same way, but each has come from Harbaugh's players adopting the "1-0" mindset and not letting one play's failure dictate the next.

A select handful of Giants have exemplified that best through one month of action, while a few others have been very disappointing.

Biggest Surprises

CB Deonte Banks

One year ago, Deonte Banks was walking the plank out of the Giants organization in the eyes of the fanbase after his worst NFL season in coverage, when he was picked apart and allowed a career-high 81.3% of his targets to be completed.

Banks entered a "prove it" year after the Giants declined his rookie fifth-year option, needing to show he could fix his poor coverage and penalties to perform at the level of a first-round pick. The answer might be the coaching around him, but it's clear the new defensive system is starting to salvage his career.

Banks made his first statement by winning the starting job opposite Greg Newsome II in training camp, and has since been the team's best-graded cornerback in the deep field, with just seven receptions on 16 targets for 42 yards, three pass deflections and an interception despite having missed two games with a calf injury.

For the second time in 10 months, Banks had his handprints all over a huge scoring play for the Giants with the aforementioned interception on the last play of their Week 4 contest with the Arizona Cardinals, which went back 98 yards for the touchdown and highlighted a commanding day for the defense and the team's win.

Penalties haven't been the same issue either, with Banks (No. 2) flagged just once in four games, helping his case to earn a new contract before he hits free agency.

K Dominic Zvada

The arrival of undrafted rookie Dominic Zvada has ended the Giants' constant kicking carousel that hurt them in recent seasons and left the position a concern heading into game days.

However, signing a novice specialist rarely comes without early growing pains. That hasn't been the case with Zvada, who has not recorded a single stain on his kicking résumé, converting all nine field goals, including three from 50 yards or more, and all five extra-point attempts.

That puts him in the company of seven kickers who have yet to miss a field goal, and another five who have been perfect from 50-plus yards on at least three attempts.

Zvada was a prospect many doubted would succeed at the next level, especially after his efficiency flunked in his senior season at Michigan, when he converted only 68.2% of his field goals and struggled from longer distances.

Special teams coordinator Chris Horton saw something different in the rookie's potential, and so far that hunch has been validated, with Zvada serving as a huge scoring option over the past couple of games.

TE Isaiah Likely

Likely was expected to be a top weapon for quarterback Jaxson Dart upon rejoining Harbaugh in New York. With Malik Nabers returning from his 2025 ACL tear, uncertainty remained about which pass catcher the Ole Miss gunslinger would jibe with first.

Until Dart suffered a season-ending meniscus injury, the answer was undoubtedly Likely, who, according to Pro Football Focus, held the highest expected points added (EPA) per play in the league among all quarterback-receiver pairings after Week 3 (+1.66).

Likely's Giants debut saw him lead the team in targets and receptions while tallying 80 yards and two touchdowns to help New York stun its NFC East rival. Since then, opponents have keyed on him more, but he still sits second on the team in receiving production, behind Nabers, with 22 catches for 190 yards.

As the season continues, the Giants hope to get Likely more involved in the offensive attack.

OLB Abdul Carter

Carter's rookie season picked up steam late in the year, but the other story was the Penn State product's disciplinary run-ins, which stemmed from a lack of maturity and limited his time on the field.

With Harbaugh in command, the No. 3 pick has been performing at a completely different level, matching the potential he showed in college, where he led the nation in sacks in his final season.

Carter has stepped up admirably after the loss of Brian Burns, leading the defense in pass-rush grade (84.7) with 11 pressures, one sack, four hits, and a 28.3% win rate in true pass sets.

Carter dominated in the Giants' latest win over the Arizona Cardinals, recording nine pressures, including eight in under 2.5 seconds, per Next Gen Stats. That's the kind of pass-rushing impact that made the franchise wager a top-three pick on him, and a trend he must continue if he wants to become the next legend.

ILB Arvell Reese

The Giants were stunned when Arvell Reese fell right into their laps at the fifth pick in the draft, and it's obvious why: He's been one of the league's most productive players through his first four games as a pro.

Not only does he lead the NFL in solo tackles (27), but Reese also ranks 14th among linebackers in defensive grade (77.1), with three pressures, one pass deflection, one interception, and 13 run stops with only one missed tackle, all of which rank him third among his draft class.

Rather than try him out as an extra edge rusher, the Giants wanted to see how Reese would fare as the starting inside linebacker opposite Tremaine Edmunds. He has improved with each game leading into his best outing against the Cardinals, where he posted his lowest passer rating allowed when targeted (52.1) and intercepted a Jacoby Brissett pass attempt.

His lone deficiency has been disrupting passes in coverage. Still, if he improves there, he is an absolute bulldozer on the field, and all signs point to Reese being something special for the Giants defense.

CB Greg Newsome II

Greg Newsome has been another free-agent signing that has paid dividends for the Giants, who gave him the third-highest average annual value ($8 million) on defense to bolster the man-coverage strengths of their young secondary.

Newsome has provided that as the team's No. 1 corner, allowing a catch on 56.5% of targets for 151 yards and zero touchdowns. 

While rare zone coverage looks have dragged his grade (61.6) down a bit, he has excelled in press man, limiting opposing receivers to 39 yards after the catch and tying Banks for the team lead in deflected balls (three).

The 26-year-old veteran came up big on Sunday against the Cardinals, intercepting a deep pass intended for Marvin Harrison Jr. as he and Reese converged on the receiver. It was a huge turnover that likely stopped what could have been Arizona's third straight scoring drive to open the game.

Newsome brings feisty energy on and off the field, and that can't go unnoticed as the Giants defense looks to finally find answers for slowing down elite opposing receivers who typically torment the secondary.

Biggest Disappointments

OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux

Amid all the constant trade chatter surrounding him, Thibodeaux has once again gotten off to a very slow start in a contract year.

The former fifth overall pick dealt with injuries over the previous two seasons, but now his biggest issue has been a lack of production in the pass rush. Thibodeaux has the worst pass-rush grade in the front seven (49.4), with just four pressures and one hit in 91 pass-rush snaps.

He hasn't been able to make up for those poor numbers in the trenches either, where he has one solo tackle, one missed tackle, and an average depth of tackle of 5.0 yards, tied for the fifth-worst on the entire defense.

With Brian Burns sidelined for the rest of the season, Thibodeaux is essentially the Giants' No. 2 edge rusher behind Carter, and his numbers don't come close to reflecting that, leaving the franchise to wonder whether it got any value from the pick.

CB Paulson Adebo

The Giants' top 2025 offseason signing, Adebo's tenure has been marred by injuries that have forced him to miss eight combined games, along with mediocre production.

After leading the league in pass deflections over the previous two seasons, the veteran ballhawk recorded just five pass deflections and one interception in 2025. His effectiveness in man coverage slumped as he dealt with lower-body ailments that led to him ultimately losing the starting job to Banks this summer.

Worse, Adebo once again suffered a knee injury in the season opener and has since been on injured reserve, unable to provide his experience to a very fragile secondary that has had to pull through twice in as many weeks to prevent two humiliating losses.

C John Michael Schmitz

Schmitz was the biggest concern in the Giants' initial starting offensive line before losing the job to backup Bryan Hudson in Week 4.

Whether it be injuries or pure fundamentals, the fourth-year pro has struggled to prevent immediate pressure up the middle of the backfield, allowing five pressures and one sack while committing one penalty.

He has also been overpowered in run blocking by bigger, more athletic defensive tackles, forcing the Giants to rely more on outside zone runs.

The Giants switched to Hudson last week, and the former undrafted free agent performed admirably, earning the second-highest overall grade on the team and allowing zero pressures in 37 pass-block snaps.

Schmitz hasn't been permanently demoted just yet, but his reign at the center of the Giants' offensive line is certainly in jeopardy.

S Tyler Nubin

Nubin has had to compete for reps in a more crowded safety room, but he has largely failed to deliver while maintaining the starting strong safety job opposite Jevon Holland.

The Minnesota product has given up seven receptions on 13 targets for 135 yards, with two pass deflections, the second-worst stat line at his position. He came into the NFL as one of the best tacklers in college football, but hasn't gotten his missed-tackle rate below 10% in three years (11.8% in three games this season).

Nubin has been viewed as a force multiplier for the defense with his size and aggression to get after the football. Yet the Giants haven't seen enough impact from him in disrupting passes and creating takeaways to justify his second-round selection.

RB Tyrone Tracy Jr.

When healthy, Tracy has been a serviceable dual-threat weapon coming out of the Giants' backfield, with two seasons of 1,000-plus scrimmage yards. Injuries and poor ball security have started to take their toll on his place in the rushing rotation.

Last fall, Tracy began as the starter before suffering a shoulder injury in Week 3 that sidelined him for three games, and Cam Skattebo had already stolen the role by the time he returned in Week 6. He got it back after Skattebo fractured his ankle two weeks later in Philadelphia.

With Harbaugh taking over, Tracy had a chance to prove he can still be trusted and relied upon heavily in the Giants' rushing attack. Still, after a few muffed handoffs in the preseason and the Week 1 opener against Dallas, it's been clear that the Purdue product has lost some of that trust.

As such, Tracy, the third running back on the depth chart as of this week, is sitting last in the room with four carries for 16 yards.  

The Giants have stuck with a mix of Skattebo, Najee Harris and a sprinkling of Devin Singletary, raising questions about whether Tracy's future with the franchise is long at all.

WR Darnell Mooney

Mooney stepped into the No. 3 receiver role after Calvin Austin went down with an ACL injury during the preseason. The Giants' slot option's output still hasn't jumped off the page in three games.

The former Bears and Falcons receiver holds just six receptions on 10 targets for 95 yards and has yet to record a touchdown with New York. In only one game was he targeted more than twice: Week 3 against the Titans, when he caught two passes for 20 yards in the win.

Mooney joined the Giants with the speed and ability to be a vertical threat for their offense, yet very little of that element has been unleashed. The injury to Dart, whose arm is a lot more consistent than Jameis Winston's, and Nabers finally having a dominant 100-plus-yard showing against the Cardinals might have something to do with it.

The depth in the receiving corps is starting to get tested by injuries, though, so one could wonder whether Mooney's contributions will rise as the Giants try to avoid being a one-person show. Until then, his impact has been too limited for the veteran pass catcher.

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