Chauncey Golston is a versatile, 6-foot-5, 277-pound edge defender/defensive lineman coming off his best season in the NFL, a 5.5-sack, 56-tackle season for the Dallas Cowboys.

That versatility and production is why the New York Giants signed him to a three-year, $18 million contract ($6 million guaranteed) in free agency.

The problem, if you want to call it that, is that after signing Golston to that contract the Giants selected Abdul Carter No. 3 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. Carter does all of the things Golston does, plus a few more. With Carter’s talent and the Giants’ investment in him, that pushes Golston further down the Giants’ depth chart.

So, what will Golston’s role on the 2025 Giants be?

It is a question I often get asked. So, I put it to Golston on Wednesday in the Giants’ locker room.

“I don’t know, I don’t really think about that, honestly, like, what is my role?,” Golston said. “I don’t know, I just come ready to work, like, wherever I’m needed is, that’s really my role, just embracing where I’m needed at, and, giving feedback, and receiving feedback, and trying to be better every day.”

When Golston first signed with the Giants I asked him whether he preferred to play as a standup edge defender or as a defensive lineman with his hand in the ground.

“I prefer to be on the field,” he said at the time. “Whatever is going to get me out there.”

Golston played 790 defensive snaps for the Cowboys in 2024. Here is how his usage broke down, according to Pro Football Focus:

So, I asked Golston what he considers himself.

“A football player, because I also do the special team stuff,” he said. “I’ll just say that I’m a football player.”

Golston certainly isn’t complaining about a Giants’ depth chart that includes Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Carter on the edge, with Dexter Lawrence, Roy Robertson-Harris, Rakeem Nunez-Roches and third-round pick Darius Alexander as interior defensive linemen.

“That’s [having too many good players] never, that’s never a thing,” Golston said. “Who’s going to complain that we have too many good players, what are we going to do with all these good players?

Golston said he is “excited” to see what the talented Giants’ defense can do, but he isn’t focused on the preseason hype.

“I don’t really buy into the hype, because at the end of the day, we’re the ones that are going to go out there and work, so as long as we’re proving to ourselves that we are who we say we are, what the outside world has to say doesn’t really matter,” Golston said. Because some days they’re going to love you, some days they’re going to hate you.“

As for Carter, Golston said the highly-touted rookie can be “as good as he wants to be.”

Carter is often compared to Micah Parsons, recently traded from the Dallas Cowboys to the Green Bay Packers. Since Golston spent four years watching Parsons work as a member of the Cowboys, asking him for a Carter-Parson comparison seemed natural.

“Whenever I see him rushing over the center that reminds me of what Micah does,” Carter said. “Sometimes when I just seem him run on tape he just reminds me of Micah.

“But there’s still some maturing that he has to do, game-wise. There’s a lot of things that he hasn’t seen yet. So, once he banks those things, gets those under his belt, then he will continue his elevation.”

The Giants will try to elevate as a defense this season. Somehow, some way you figure Golston will have a hand in it.