NY Giants cut young promising runningback, sign another

After the team’s scrimmage on Friday night, the NY Giants made the surprising move to cut rookie Javon Leake while adding another young ‘back.

Despite looking solid in yesterday’s live NY Giants “blue and white scrimmage”, UDFA runningback Javon Leake was cut by Big Blue on Saturday.

Although the two moves are not officially linked (Feaster was signed early enough that he actually participated in the team’s Friday night scrimmage as well), Leake being cut seems to have something to do with the NY Giants adding another UDFA ‘back in Tavien Feaster, formerly of Clemson and South Carolina.

From the beginning of the offseason I’ve been campaigning for Big Blue to add a bigger runningback that is more adept at picking up those tough, short yards, so I was always a little surprised when the GMEN added the likes of Dion Lewis in free agency and gave Leake their third-highest UDFA guarantee amount.

There was hope that Javon Leake would be able to provide a spark in the return game, but apparently, new head coach Joe Judge already has someone he’s confident in as he parted ways with the speedy youngster two weeks before final cuts are due.

NY Giants sign Tavien Feaster

While Tavien Feaster has never made his mark as a feature back since his high school days that saw him distinguish himself as one of the handful of best runningbacks in the country, he surely showed that he can be an effective runner during his days as a Clemson Tiger and South Carolina Gamecock.

Feaster had to fend off some tough competition during his time at Clemson, including current NY Giants runningback Wayne Gallman. That won’t change this season, as Gallman figures to be Feaster’s biggest direct competition for playing time snaps.

The 5’11”, 220 pound ‘back put up an impressive 5.8 yards-per-carry average on over 2,000 career rushing yards and 20 touchdowns despite not ever holding down a solid role as a starter in college.

He enjoyed his best season in terms of yards with South Carolina as a graduate transfer in 2019, racking up 672 yards on a 5.4 average to go along with 5 touchdowns and 17 catches.

It’ll be interesting to see if the NY Giants end up carrying four runningbacks, and if they do, Feaster figures to be that fourth halfback to make the team.