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The New York Giants are entering the 2026 NFL season with plenty of optimism about the team. It's warranted, as John Harbaugh's addition, the recent draft classes panning out so far, and the offseason pickups have been looking good so far. Obviously, they still need to prove it during the regular season, but it's fair for the Giants fanbase to have optimism. ESPN's Bill Barnwell agrees with that optimism, as he believes the Giants have a chance to "surprise" the NFL this season. But there is just one major hurdle for the Giants to clear to be able to stun the NFL. That hurdle? Keeping Jaxson Dart, Malik Nabers, and Cam Skattebo healthy for the 2026 season. Giants could 'surprise' NFL with big 2026 season if they stay healthy "I believe they have a legitimate shot at surprising the league and becoming a last-place team that jumps into the playoffs in 2026, but so much will depend on whether the offensive standouts stay healthy for much (or all) of the year," Barnwell writes. Giants fans seeing this optimism from Barnwell is exciting, as this ESPN analyst believes the Giants have a real chance to be contenders this year. But the issue is that the Giants need all of Nabers, Skattebo and Dart to stay healthy. Unfortunately, based on the last couple of seasons, that might be a long shot. Nabers has been banged up often in his NFL career, coming in and out of games in his rookie season, finishing with 15 total games, and then playing in just four games last year. MORE: Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux has 30% chance of being traded Skattebo played in just eight games his rookie season before he suffered a brutal ankle injury that knocked him out for the year. His offseason antics, like a backflip amid his ankle injury recovery, don't exactly instill confidence that he can stay healthy. Dart has also been in and out of the blue medical tent for his entire career at this rate. He played in 14 games last year and was very promising, but too many times he had to come out of the game due to injury, enough that it's a real concern. All three are injury question marks for the Giants, but if they were to stay healthy, the sky would seem like the limit for this Giants offense and team as a whole. Barnwell believes that the only thing stopping the Giants from contending this upcoming season is the big injury question marks surrounding Dart, Nabers, and Skattebo. More NFL news: - Browns given 80% chance of trading Cedric Tillman amid crowded WR room - Why Vikings have only a 30% chance to trade J.J. McCarthy after QB1 decision - Cowboys projected to have 90% chance of trading Marist Liufau - Dolphins have NFL’s worst WR, TE, Edge, CB and S rooms according to ESPN