inside the giants What to watch after Giants’ roster reveal: Darius Slayton’s role, running back pecking order, John Harbaugh’s big bet By Paul Schwartz Published Sep. 2, 2026, 6:20 a.m. ET Arvell Reese is expected to start in the middle of the Giants' defense after he was drafted No. 5 overall. Getty Images The initial 53-man roster the Giants unveiled earlier this week did not contain a bevy of surprises.
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Anyone paying attention to what transpired during training camp in West Virginia and back in New Jersey and how new head coach John Harbaugh deployed his personnel in the three preseason games could anticipate many of the decisions that went into all the cuts and factored into which players survived the roster purge.
But there are always a few twists and turns with roster machinations that fall into the “mild surprise” or even “quite a surprise” category.
Here are a few to consider, with the understanding that the roster is a fluid entity and nothing should be declared or considered the final product just yet:
