After spending $200 million in the offseason and having a top 10 pick, the New York Giants apparently had one of the best offseasons in the NFL, this according to ESPN’s John Clayton.

In his recent ranking of the ‘Most Improved NFL Teams,’ Clayton slotted in the Jacksonville Jaguars as having made the most gains this offseason with the Giants coming in second. In his assessment of the Giants, Clayton lays out a scenario echoed here at ‘Giants Wire’ this offseason: This team doesn’t need to make a dramatic leap to be a playoff team, just marginal improvement.

This was a team that last year was 6-10 but had a number of tight losses. They can put up points but to borrow a line from the irrefutable Bart Scott, the Giants “couldn’t stop a nose bleed.”

The Giants, with the league’s worst defense a year ago but having an elite-caliber offsense, only need their defense to be an average unit. The $200 million spent this offseason on the likes of Janoris Jenkins, Damon Harrison and Olivier Vernon should surely help. The return of their injured depth at safety should dramatically help as well.

Clayton writes:

Herein lies the rub for the Giants, a team whose offense can be the best in the division and perhaps among the best in the NFL. The defense need show only slight improvement, as Clayton points out, to shave off “three or four points per game” to win the division. It isn’t a far-fetched theory.