Steve Spagnuolo Hiring Could Lead to Big Pay Day For JPP

By Anthony Joseph | Jan 16, 2015

Now that the New York Giants have officially hired former Baltimore Ravens’ assistant head coach/secondary coach Steve Spagnuolo to replace the recently fired Perry Fewell as their new defensive coordinator, many hope that “Spags” can bring back the aggressive defensive schemes he ran during his first tenure as Giants defensive coordinator for two seasons in 2007 and 2008.

The key to those defenses was the abundance of talented and versatile pass rushers like Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, and Mathias Kiwanuka. That combination of talent put constant pressure on opposing quarterbacks which allowed the secondary to make plays on forced throws and also lessened the time they had to be in coverage.

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Now with the 2015 season in focus for Big Blue, the team now focuses on their personnel especially free agents like Jason Pierre-Paul and Antrel Rolle.

With Spagnuolo’s love for big pass rushers, it is almost a certainty he will be pushing for the Giants to lock up JPP long term or at least franchise him for this season while a long term deal is discussed.

A Giants defense without JPP creates an issue with the type of defensive philosophy that Spagnuolo has. Sure, Robert Ayers and Damontre Moore are solid players, but it is JPP who is looked upon as the team’s play maker at defensive end. JPP draws a lot of attention from opposing offenses which opens up more opportunities for Moore and Ayers.

JPP is also stout against the run which is much needed on the Giants defense. His sack numbers were still lacking a bit but he came to life towards the end of the 2014 season in terms of production. Spagnuolo will find ways to give JPP opportunities to make the game changing plays he is capable of by moving him around the defensive line in order to get him the best matchup.

It is not a certainty JPP will be back in blue for 2015, but the chances of that just got better with the hiring of Spagnuolo who loves play making pass rushers like JPP because aside from his talent, he makes everyone around him better. He does so by making their jobs easier because of his ability to stuff the run and put pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Big Blue will probably look into drafting another pass rusher in this 2015 NFL Draft, but that is mainly because Spagnuolo’s defense relies on dominant pass rushers. At the end of the day, JPP is the most talented and physically gifted player on the Giants defense and he would benefit greatly from Spagnuolo’s schemes.

Spagnuolo is well aware of this and will most definitely push for JPP’s resigning. The Giants will have to pay a lot for JPP but they understand how Spagnuolo’s defenses operate from past experience, making it a great move to locking up JPP long term.

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