New York Giants: Grading all the free agent signings
By Matt Clark
S/ST Nate Ebner
New head coach of the New York Giants, Joe Judge, came over from the New England Patriots having previously served as the special teams coordinator with them. As a result, it is not surprising that his new team might target specific players from his former team.
Such was the case when the Giants announced that they were signing former Patriots special teams standout Nate Ebner to a one-year deal (monetary terms have not been disclosed and are pending a physical). Ebner had been with the Patriots since being drafted in the 6th round of the 2012 draft out of Ohio State.
Ebner was a walk-on with the Buckeyes before ultimately earning a scholarship from Ohio State to play football. Prior to his football career, he was a rugby star and was a part of the 2016 United States Olympic rugby team.
In his career, Ebner has recorded at least 10 special teams tackles in six of his eight seasons in the league. However, he has struggled with injury, having played all 16 regular-season games in just one year, 2016. When healthy, he is a star on special teams and should be a valuable addition to what was already one of the league’s best kickoff and punt coverage teams.