5 New York Giants making the most of their preseason snaps
By Henry Buggy
No. 4 – Romeo Okwara
Romeo Okwara is looking to make sure the Giants have to keep him on the 53-man roster this preseason.
The undrafted edge rusher out of Notre Dame spent a majority of the 2017 season on injured reserve. He is currently listed as a third-string outside linebacker on the team’s unofficial depth chart but may start earning some second-team snaps based on his play this preseason.
Okwara earned Pro Football Focus’ third-highest grade (82.8) of any Giants defensive player with a minimum of 15 snaps against Detroit.
#Giants edge defender @RomeoND45 came to play last night. He was the 3rd highest graded player on the Giants defense (min. 15 snaps) and had 1 forced fumble. #BigBlue pic.twitter.com/HcUPTbEgBk
— PFF NY Giants (@PFF_Giants) August 19, 2018
Against the Cleveland Browns, the 6-foot-4, 275-pound edge rusher recorded three tackles, including one tackle for a loss. The Giants are stacked with talent at the outside linebacker position. Vernon, Kareem Martin, Connor Barwin, and Lorenzo Carter are all ahead of Okwara on the team’s depth chart.
It’s unknown how many outside linebackers the Giants plan to keep, but so far Okwara is making a strong case to be one of them. His biggest competition may be fellow third-string outside linebacker Avery Moss, who was a 2017 fifth-round draft pick.