OLB – Azeez Ojulari
Career stats (University of Georgia): 68 total tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, 15 sacks
Many evaluators around the NFL believe Ojulari can be among the biggest steals of this year’s draft class, after he went off the board No. 50 overall, in the second-round to the NY Giants.
During mandatory minicamp earlier this month, Graham sounded optimistic that the former Georgia Bulldog can make an immediate impact.
"“I was excited to see him there to be honest with you and I’m glad we have him,” Graham said. “What I’ve seen is here he’s a rookie, all right, he’s trying to learn the system and he has some familiarity with it because some of the verbiage is similar to Georgia and the system they have been in. Luckily we have coaches that have coached him before, so a little familiarity with that. But the thing I’ve seen from him — all I’ve talked to him about is our pad level. Let’s work on our pad level today. Playing with more knee bent, playing a little bit lower and that’s the case for most young players, especially in the front.”"
Ojulari is already making a strong impression on his teammates.
“He’s definitely a mature young man. He’s coming into his own,” NY Giants linebacker Cam Brown recently told me during an appearance on FanSided’s The Matt Lombardo Show podcast. “And you can see he doesn’t know everything yet, but is definitely open to learning it all. He’s open to growing, and I’m happy to be in the linebacker room with him. The time we spent together, I’m starting to get a liking to him.”
In all likelihood, Ojulari is going to compete for snaps with the likes of outside linebackers Lorenzo Carter and Oshane Ximines, two players coming off significant injuries.
Still, expect Ojulari to play a key role in the NY Giants’ pass-rush rotation.