NY Giants 2020 roster bubble: R.J. McIntosh edition

R.J McIntosh was always a long-shot to stick with the NY Giants for a long period of time, and if his first two seasons are any indication, it looks as though his tenure with Big Blue won’t last much longer.

Former Miami Hurricane and 2018 fifth-round draft pick, R.J. McIntosh is fighting an uphill battle to make the NY Giants’ roster in 2020 as the team is running a 3/4 base defense while already being four deep with defensive lineman that will rotate — leaving the defensive end potentially on the outside looking in.

As we’ve seen with countless other NY Giants draft picks, McIntosh’s main problem, far and away, has been his inability to stay healthy and stay on the football field. Due to that, the brass doesn’t have a whole lot of meaningful tape to study on ‘Mack, although he did have a much better sophomore season in limited snaps (he played just %10 of snaps in 2019) over 12 games, picking up two sacks.

McIntosh was always considered raw and his thyroid diagnosis only halted his progress to start his rookie season.

Dave Gettleman chose not to wait on that progress, as he continued to stockpile defensive lineman which is why McIntosh has such a hard path forward with all the steep competition.

Chance R.J. McIntosh makes the 2020 NY Giants

As things currently stand, R.J. McIntosh really might already be finding himself on the outside looking in as NFL teams that employ a 3/4 defense typically only carry five defensive lineman. Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, Dalvin Tomlinson, and B.J. Hill all have a clear leg up on him and will make up 4/5 of those spots.

From there, McIntosh has young veteran Austin Johnson, 2018 seventh-round draft pick Chris Slayton and two high-upside practice squad guys to deal with; those players would be former Dartmouth standout Nick Loas and Owuole Betiku who I profiled earlier this week.

So, the third-year pro out of Miami will be fighting for that fifth and (likely) final spot with newly a signed veteran, Austin Johnson – who is a former second-round pick and still young – a run-stuffing player that was also drafted by Dave Gettleman, and two intriguing undrafted prospects.

There is a chance that new defensive coordinator, Patrick Graham, ends up carrying six defensive lineman if he does indeed tend to run a ‘multiple’ defense that switches between 3/4 and 4/3 which would be a big win for McIntosh.

Based on raw talent, you could make the argument that McIntosh should have a solid shot at beating those players out.

I, for one, would love to see McIntosh grab that fifth (and likely) finally spot, as what he brings as a pass rusher separates him from the rest of the group.