So, just how good are the New York Giants going to be this season?

Although it's impossible to know what their final record will be, it's become clear to those throughout the league and within the building that this year's roster deserves much more respect than it has garnered in recent years.

We know this because the club was able to trade two guards for draft picks over the past week, and in light of the difficulty head coach John Harbaugh and the front office will have in making calls on the team's makeup ahead of Sunday's 53-man roster deadline.

"You want to have those hard conversations," assistant GM Brandon Brown said before Friday's preseason finale against the New York Jets. "You want those cutdowns for those, call it, the last five spots. You want it to be a constant tug and struggle because that means you have the possibility of a player that can help you, potentially leaving the building.

"So, you want to figure out the best combination of, and that's where the creativity comes in, and [GM] Joe's [Schoen] been really great at figuring out and understanding, okay, how are we going to go to the game? Which guy is going to help us with multi-role?

“If he's a depth player, what's his role on special teams? If he's a depth position player with a limited special teams value, can he get us out of the game at more than one spot?"

Brown also indicated the market for offensive linemen helped initiate the trading of guards Joshua Ezeudu to Kansas City and Daniel Faalele to Jacksonville.

Do you really need any more proof that the arrow is pointed upward than two teams trading for the Giants' offensive line depth, considering this unit has been a sore spot for the better part of the past decade? And, still, this room remains a squeeze after those exits.

However, an improved roster also comes with difficult consternation about which bubble players ought to be kept.

"We're certainly not certain about what we want to do yet, yet I wouldn't say it's all up in the air, either," Harbaugh said.

"There's probably some key points, some clutch areas where we just have to make decisions still, with three, four, five decisions that have to be made."

To this point, most of the starting lineup has taken shape, although there are strong options in any remaining battles, such as cornerback.

The depth chart is another issue, where a player such as receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has surged into the equation, running back Najee Harris has excited as a late arrival, and the defensive line room remains clouded.

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