Dan Graziano, senior NFL national reporter 9y

Personnel questions for Giants on defense

We can go around and around about the New York Giants' decision to bring back Steve Spagnuolo as their defensive coordinator. But the fact at the bottom of the discussion is that the coordinator is only going to be as good as his players. And now that Spagnuolo is back in the fold, the Giants have to answer a lot of questions about their personnel on his side of the ball. Let's take a quick look at those questions by category:

Pass rush

This is Spagnuolo's supposed bread-and-butter -- a defense built around the idea of the front four getting pressure on the quarterback and allowing him to drop seven into coverage. It's possible that what Tom Coughlin said in Thursday's news release about Spagnuolo evolving as a coach and learning how to defend spread offenses changes the focus, but the pass rush is going to be paramount regardless.

Pending free agent Jason Pierre-Paul is the key to the whole thing. I don't personally think I would give Pierre-Paul a long-term deal at this point, but the Giants seem willing to at least consider designating him their franchise player (for what could be close to $15 million) and keeping him in the fold for another year. If they do, they could conceivably get by with Pierre-Paul, Robert Ayers (assuming a return to full health), Damontre Moore and Kerry Wynn at defensive end. But with Moore and Wynn still major question marks, I think they would at least try to find some kind of  veteran upgrade there. Mathias Kiwanuka looks like the most likely cap cut on the team. If Pierre-Paul doesn't come back, then they need to go after the defensive end position hard in free agency and/or the draft.

Run defense

Obviously there is overlap here with the first category, but if we keep this focused on defensive tackle, Johnathan Hankins and 2014 third-rounder Jay Bromley are the only surefire keepers. They could bring back Cullen Jenkins, Mike Patterson and Markus Kuhn if they liked, but they can also find upgrades relatively cheaply for any and all of them. They'd save $2.25 million against the cap if they cut Jenkins, and doing that in a continued effort to get younger on the interior of the defensive line isn't out of the question.

Linebacker

Jon Beason's contract doesn't seem sustainable to me. They like him and would bring him back, but his $7.36 million cap number is out of line with his performance (especially given his injury history and the fact that he barely played in 2014). If they really are happy with the way Jameel McClain played in his place, they could cut Beason. Only $900,000 of Beason's 2015 salary is guaranteed, and they'd save about $3.5 million if they released him. Interesting decision looming there. Elsewhere, McClain is reasonable at $1.175 million in salary this year, and second-year man Devon Kennard is a good-looking and versatile piece. Jacquian Williams, Mark Herzlich and Spencer Paysinger are all unrestricted free agents. Williams is a question mark because concussions ended his season, but if he's healthy, they will look to bring him back. Herzlich is a favorite of a lot of people there, a helper on special teams and also likely to be back in a reserve role.

Cornerback

They should look to extend Prince Amukamara's contract now. They exercised his $7 million fifth-year option last offseason, but that doesn't become guaranteed for anything but injury until September. Make it part of the guarantee in a new multiyear deal and they should be good to go into the future with Amukamara and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie as starters. The free-agent question here is Walter Thurmond, who signed a one-year deal last year and went down early with a season-ending injury. He was a big part of their plans as a nickel cornerback, and assuming he's not looking to cash in big, they are likely to try to bring him back.

Safety

The only safeties on the roster right now are Nat Berhe and Cooper Taylor, neither of whom projects as a starter for 2015. They'll talk to Antrel Rolle about a return, but I have a hunch they'll lowball him -- as they did Justin Tuck last year -- and he'll get more elsewhere. If that's the case, expect this to be a big focus of their offseason resources -- meaning either free-agent money, early-round draft picks or both. Stevie Brown and Quintin Demps are both candidates to return, but only if they're willing to do very team-friendly deals.

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