In what seems to be a recurring theme, the New York Giants have multiple issues to address in the 2026 offseason. The team answered its biggest question by hiring John Harbaugh as its next head coach, but that was only the start of the seven-month-long journey before the next season begins. The Giants now have to resolve the same issue that has plagued them for years and sign a veteran linebacker in free agency to improve their run defense.
New York’s run defense has struggled for years and was once again its primary downfall in 2025. The Giants had multiple issues, but it is difficult to win games when they allowed 145.3 rushing yards per game, the second-most in the NFL, on a league-worst 5.3 yards per carry allowed.
Harbaugh addressed the Giants’ run defense woes by hiring Dennard Wilson as his defensive coordinator instead of bringing Zach Orr with him from Baltimore. Wilson’s defense finished 14th against the run in 2025, despite playing from behind for the majority of the season.
The Giants’ run defense improved slightly once Charlie Bullen took over as interim defensive coordinator in Week 13. Bullen returns to the team in 2026 as the outside linebackers coach and defensive run defense coordinator, a role in which he needs to spearhead an improved unit.
Giants’ run defense was their biggest flaw in 2025
Eric Canha-Imagn Images
The porous run defense was the No. 1 contributing factor to the Giants’ 4-13 record in 2025. Their other numbers were not elite, but New York was otherwise a league-average team.
The issues boil down to the linebacker positions, where the Giants ranked near the bottom of the league. The team’s top three linebackers — Bobby Okereke, Micah McFadden and Darius Muasau — each ranked near the bottom of the league on Pro Football Focus. Their numbers were even worse against the run, in which McFadden was the only one of the trio with a league-average 58.2 run defense grade.
Luckily for New York, few coaches have been better at developing linebackers over the last two decades than Harbaugh. The 63-year-old coached seven Pro Bowl linebackers with the Baltimore Ravens, including four in the last eight years.
The Giants need to hit the linebacker market harder in free agency than any other team in the league. While they will have their assortment of options, New York needs to sign Alex Singleton to address its run defense woes.
Giants need to sign linebacker Alex Singleton in 2026 offseason
Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
Signing Alex Singleton comes with risk, as the veteran linebacker is still just three months removed from undergoing surgery to remove a testicular cancer tumor. But the surgery cost Singleton just one game, and he looked largely unbothered over the final two months of the season.
The 32-year-old Singleton has not lost a step since his 2020 breakout season, recording at least 120 tackles in five of the last six years. Singleton is also one of the best run defenders in the league — his 88.5 PFF run defense grade ranked eighth among linebackers in 2025.
The Denver Broncos will do everything possible to retain Singleton, but the situation might be beyond their control. Denver is just one year removed from signing Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga to lucrative deals and is about to potentially extend John Franklin-Myers, Ja’Quan McMillian, Dondrea Tillman and J.K. Dobbins.
The Giants have less cap space than the Broncos, but they can create nearly $30 million just by making a few no-brainer cap-clearing moves. Joe Schoen would then have the flexibility to make a single big offer, which would need to be extended to Singleton.
Singleton is not the only prominent run-stopper available in the 2026 free agency class, with Demario Davis, Lavonte David, Devin Bush and Bobby Wagner also hitting the open market. But with Davis, Wagner and David all well past their physical primes, Singleton is the best to improve the Giants’ defense the moment he steps onto the field.
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