4. Julian Love
Many draft experts pegged Julian Love as one of their steals of the 2019 NFL Draft. After a stellar collegiate career at the University of Notre Dame, where Love was a starter for the Fighting Irish each of his three seasons with the team, something that is impressive given the pedigree of their football program.
Love was a player that some experts had as one of the top cornerbacks in his draft class. However, he would inexplicably fall to the NY Giants in the fourth round, with the 108th overall selection. While Love didn’t exhibit off the charts athleticism, his game tape coming out of Notre Dame was extremely impressive.
Originally drafted as a cornerback, the Giants decided to have Love make the transition to the safety position in the preseason. Since he had played cornerback throughout his college career, the transition to a new position in the NFL was a learning process that kept Love off the field for a significant portion of the 2019 season.
Love would play in 15 games for the Giants, however, he would play primarily on special teams with only three defensive snaps played through the first 11 weeks. That would change during the team’s Week 12 matchup against the Chicago Bears. It wouldn’t take long for Love to make his mark as he would record his first career interception in the game.
Love would play 57% of the defensive snaps in the game against Chicago. That would increase to 97% the following week, 98% in Week 14, and 100% of the snaps in weeks 15-17. The NY Giants had hoped to line their talented young safety up opposite of Jabrill Peppers, who had been having a stellar first season with the team.
However, a season-ending back injury would prevent that from happening, and instead, Love would play opposite Antoine Bethea for the remainder of the year.
While NY Giants fans would be deprived of seeing the talented Love line up opposite the dynamic Peppers, they were still able to witness the traits that led many to believe the Giants had stolen Love in the draft. In limited action, Love would record 35 total tackles, five tackles for a loss, one quarterback hit, one interception, one forced fumble, and three pass deflections.
Most believed that Love’s excellent showing at the end of the 2019 season would lead him to be the starting safety opposite Peppers in 2020. However, when the Giants drafted Xavier McKinney in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft, that likely changed the gameplan for Love next season.
Despite likely not having a formal position, Love is still poised to have a breakout season. New defensive coordinator Patrick Graham can use Love in sub-packages that play to his strengths. Unless Deandre Baker is forced to miss time due to his legal issues, Love is likely to play a hybrid cornerback/safety role with the NY Giants next season.
While he may not have a set position, it is expected that Love will receive a large percentage of defensive snaps next season and be a significant playmaker.
With the return of a healthy Peppers, the additions of James Bradberry, McKinney, and Darnay Holmes to the defensive backfield, Love should provide the NY Giants with another ultra-talented defensive back that the team can be creative with and who can wreak havoc on opposing offenses.