NY Giants Injury Update: Azeez Ojulari fighting his way through pain for Saturday
You’ve really got to feel for NY Giants pass-rusher Azeez Ojulari. After a sensational rookie season, everyone expected him to have a monster sophomore campaign for the NFC East team, but injuries have prevented that from happening.
Whenever he has been on the field, Ojulari has been a terror for opposing offensive linemen to try and deal with. The issue for him, though, has been staying fully fit and able to make plays in the trenches. In the Wild Card win over Minnesota, Ojulari suffered a quad injury and wasn’t able to get himself back on the field.
It’s felt up in the air whether or not he’d be able to play vs. Philly, but it doesn’t look like anything is going to stop him from taking the field. Per The Athletic’s Dan Duggan, Ojulari intends to lace up his cleats at Lincoln Financial Field.
Azeez Ojulari said his bruised quad is painful. He’s planning to play on Saturday but his effectiveness will be based on pain tolerance.
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) January 18, 2023
NY Giants OLB Azeez Ojulari plans to play vs. the Eagles
This is a good news/bad news situation for head man Brian Daboll. The good news is that Ojulari is planning to play against the Eagles in the must-win showdown.
The bad news, however, is that the second-year pass-rusher is still clearly in a ton of pain and it’s going to have an impact on his ability to put pressure on Jalen Hurts. If Ojulari is in so much pain, we can’t expect him to be able to play a full game this weekend, which is a bummer.
When the entire pass-rushing unit of Ojulari, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence are out on the field together, it’s such a dangerous unit. Unfortunately, injuries have prevented the foursome from being featured on a consistent basis. This defense at full strength is a serious force.
Looking ahead to the Eagles matchup, it’s a major positive that both Xavier McKinney and Adoree’ Jackson will be able to play and make an impact for the secondary. Ojulari will put the pads on and give it his all in trying to bring down Hurts, but it sure feels like he’ll be on a snap count. That could change if he starts feeling better, but Giants fans shouldn’t expect Ojulari to see extensive action in this one.
