1. Ezekiel Ansah
Another edge rusher I’ve done some campaigning for, singing Ezekiel Ansah would be a true wildcard move. A rarity in that he’s the only player on this list that I advocated the NY Giants to entertain signing before free agency opened up, Ansah’s age is a bit deceiving.
Although he’s 31, Ansah didn’t even begin playing football until he was 21 – simple math, he’s only got 10 years of the physical hardships that come with playing football under his belt. Even better, he’s a physical freak that was once a top-five draft pick, has made an All-Pro team, and has 50 career sacks to his name.
The NY Giants do not have anyone with that resume in their pass-rushing department right now, so they should take a look at Ansah who would probably come on the cheap. Seattle took a gamble on him last year that failed, as he produced only 2.5 sacks despite signing a $9M deal.
However, this is a player that produced over 7.5 sacks in four out of his first five years and had 12 sacks as recently as 2017 before the wheels started to come off.
When you really look at it though, it has only been two hard-luck years removed from that terrific season, where non-career threatening injuries took a toll on him in 2018 and 2019.
I mean, this is a guy that was thought highly enough of to receive the franchise tag from the Lions in 2018 and just turned 31 less than a month ago.
At this juncture of the offseason, he’s probably not looking for much money and he could turn out to be a real find for Gettleman to add some juice to the current committee.