Dallas Cowboys: Can they outrun the rest of the NFC East?

#4 — The New York Giants

The Giants’ backfield duties will fall on the shoulders of second year running back Paul Perkins this season. He’s not a completely unproven commodity, but he also didn’t get a big workload last season.

Perkins ran for 456 yards on 112 attempts in 2016 and caught a handful of passes as well. His 618 total offensive yards are enough to showcase his versatility, but the fifth round selection from a year ago still has much to prove.

He has some experience backing him up, which certainly helps New York’s case as a unit overall. But six year veteran Shane Vereen has also failed to live up to his second round draft choice expectations from 2011.

Vereen has epitomized versatility throughout his career, totaling more career receiving yards (1,612) than rushing yards (1,325). Furthermore, amassed more yards through the air in three of the past four seasons than he did rushing yards. In fact, last season was the first time he didn’t since his second year in 2012.

Behind him, the picture gets even murkier for New York. Fourth year back Orleans Darkwa is the most likely candidate to play third string back. But he’s carried the ball just 75 times total over the past three years and his 10 pass catches don’t really add anything to the conversation, either.

As a unit last year, the Giants didn’t run much at all. With the talent they have at wide receiver and with a two-time Super Bowl champion throwing passes, they likely won’t much in 2017, either.