After a transformative offseason, a new era of New York Giants football kicks off this week as the team heads to West Virginia to begin training camp.Amid the coaching changes and roster turnover, however, there will still be plenty of familiar faces tasked with getting this team back on the path to success. Some, of course, will play a more critical role than others, which got me thinking: Which players can the Giants least afford to lose right now?A few of my colleagues around The Athletic have undertaken similar exercises, and I thought it would be fun to try it out ahead of training camp, where, unfortunately, injuries will start to pile up.The names on this list probably won’t surprise you, but the rankings might. When compiling my list, I considered more than pure talent, though that’s obviously a big factor. I also considered the depth behind these players, their leadership qualities and the schematic changes required if any of these players were forced to miss a significant period of time.Let’s examine the six most indispensable Giants this season:Offense1. LT Andrew ThomasYou don’t need to use your imagination to think about what the Giants’ offense looks like without Thomas. Giants fans have gotten a few too many looks at that unfortunate scenario in recent years. Thomas missed seven games in 2023, the same season in which the team surrendered the second-most sacks in NFL history (85). In 2024, he played just six games before suffering a Lisfranc injury, and the Giants yielded 48 sacks, the 11th-most in the NFL. From 2024-25, the Giants’ offense scored 10.9 points per game without Thomas on the field, versus 13.5 points per game when he was on the field, according to TruMedia.He’s a critical cog in the offense, and if he were to miss time, the Giants would have to turn to 2025 fifth-rounder Marcus Mbow. While Mbow has shown talent, Thomas’ talent and experience are nearly impossible to replace. As one of the longest-tenured Giants, Thomas is a stalwart and an anchoring presence for an offense that desperately needs him to stay healthy.2. WR Malik NabersNabers is another player whose absence severely impacts the offense, as fans found out last season when he missed 13 games with ACL and meniscus tears. You don’t need a reminder of how grim things got for the passing offense without Nabers on the field, but I’ll give one anyway: From the time Nabers missed his first game (Week 5), until the end of the season, the Giants’ offense finished in the bottom half of the league in passing yards, passing touchdowns and completion rate. Giants receivers, meanwhile, finished seventh in drops (19) in that span.Despite learning what life is like without Nabers, the Giants didn’t really try to insulate themselves in case he again misses significant time. Last season’s leading receiver, Wan’Dale Robinson, departed in free agency. To replace him, the Giants added cheap veteran Darnell Mooney, along with ex-Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely. The team then spent a third-round pick on Malachi Fields before signing veterans Odell Beckham Jr., JuJu Smith-Schuster and Braxton Berrios to low-cost deals in the spring.While there are plenty of pieces for the coaching staff to work with, the depth chart doesn’t appear to be flush with playmakers outside of Nabers. The 22-year-old is New York’s one proven dynamic weapon who can change the way defenses prepare for the Giants’ offense. Without him, the Giants are likely to struggle to move the ball through the air.3. QB Jaxson DartYou might have expected to see Dart higher on this list, but the truth is the young QB is only going into his second year, and we don’t really know how good he can be. The 23-year-old has thrown just 339 passes at the NFL level, and while he looked good in his 14 games last season, it’s still too early to know just how much room he has to grow.Still, Dart has quickly emerged as one of the team’s leaders, and his presence is a big reason coach John Harbaugh is in New York, too.The other reason Dart fell to No. 3 here is that he has a high-quality backup in Jameis Winston, who might be one of the best QB2s in the league. If Dart were to miss time, the Giants offense would obviously lose something, but Winston is more than capable of leading New York to victories. That said, if Dart takes another big step in his development this year, he will have a compelling case for the top spot next season.Is Jaxson Dart more in the Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky range?Robert Mays and Derrik KlassenHonorable mentionJermaine Eluemunor blossomed into a reliable right tackle for the Giants last year, which earned him a three-year, $39 million contract. I also considered Likely, whom the Giants signed to a three-year, $40 million contract in free agency. However, we’ve yet to see him play a meaningful snap in a Giants uniform, so it would be hard to justify ranking him ahead of anyone on this list.DefenseOLB Brian BurnsNot only is Burns a top-tier pass rusher who tallied an NFC-best 16.5 sacks last season, but he’s also a highly respected veteran within the Giants locker room. Just look at the turnout of teammates who showed up for his charity softball game this spring. So yes, he might be part of one of the best position rooms on the team, which hurts his case for being the most indispensable, but his presence as the face of the defense — especially with Dexter Lawrence out of town — isn’t as easily replaceable.