Evaluating the NY Giants’ new and improving defense
Of all the ways in which this NY Giants defense has changed, and arguably improved, since last season, their front three remain relatively untouched and with the same cast of players manning the front line.
With the exception of the acquisition of former Tennessee Titans nose-tackle, Austin Johnson, expect to see RE Leonard Williams (playing under the Franchise Tag this season) playing alongside LE Dexter Lawrence and DT Dalvin Tomlinson who are both continuing with the team in their second and fourth seasons with the club, respectively.
In short, this area of the field needs more depth upfront.
As a result, signing Johnson (a former 2016 second-round pick) to a one-year deal appears to be (at best) just that – a depth-add; where his experience as a run-stopper should help the team upfront and give them more experience on the front line.
If there’s one player to look out for on the defensive line, it’s the 26-year-old, Dalvin Tomlinson. Aside from his physical presence up front, the current longest-tenured NY Giant was originally recruited to Alabama by Joe Judge, and would later play under Patrick Graham during his first stint with the Giants as a defensive line coach in 2016. He’ll be a leader for this unit.
Dalvin Tomlinson is the Giants highest graded player on defense for 2019 with a 78.1 overall grade.
— PFF NY Giants (@PFF_Giants) January 2, 2020
That ranks 11th among all interior DL with at least 500 snaps and makes his 3rd consecutive season grading above 78 overall
Talent-wise, the same can be said of Dexter Lawrence, who is looking to expand on an impressive rookie season in 2019 where the former first-round pick started all 16 games while making 38 combined tackles and 2.5 sacks. We’ll also see how Leonard Williams performs after being tagged this offseason.
Maybe he’ll prove to be worth an extension, or become a bust as the centerpiece of the trade between the Giants and Jets last season. In short, it will depend on how he plays in his walk year. Since joining the Giants after Week 8, he made 26 combined tackles (42 on the season) and had 0.5 sacks.
Finally, while the Giants didn’t take any linemen in the draft, their undrafted signees to watch out for in training camp include DE Niko Lalos out of Dartmouth (whose versatility at playing outside linebacker could be appealing to a head coach looking for players he can move around the field), and the 6’7, 235-pound, OLB Dana Levine who racked up a noteworthy 19 solo tackles and 5.5 sacks last season at Temple University.
Here’s how the depth chart looks ahead of Training Camp in late July (22nd)*
Left Defensive End LDE: Dexter Lawrence, RJ McIntosh, Niko Lalos, Dana Levine
Nose Tackle NT: Dalvin Tomlinson, Austin Johnson, Chris Slayton
Right Defensive End RDE: Leonard Williams, B.J. Hill, Kevin Wilkins, Oluwole Betiku