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4 LBs the NY Giants should stay away from in free agency

By Desmond Novack

CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 31: Deion Jones #54 of the Cleveland Browns celebrates after sacking Joe Burrow #9 of the Cincinnati Bengals during the second half of the game at FirstEnergy Stadium on October 31, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 31: Deion Jones #54 of the Cleveland Browns celebrates after sacking Joe Burrow #9 of the Cincinnati Bengals during the second half of the game at FirstEnergy Stadium on October 31, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images) /
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With the NY Giants set to have more than $44 million in cap space this offseason and plenty of positional gaps on the roster, it’s likely that we see Joe Schoen orchestrate a number of moves to improve the team on both sides of the ball.

One of the biggest positional needs on the Giants entering the 2023 season is at linebacker. New York has struggled at this position for years now and has not made many improvements. However, this offseason there are a multitude of solid-to-great linebackers the Giants should consider investing in.

Despite this, there are certainly less than ideal options the Giants should look to avoid. Whether they don’t fit well, are too old, or will cost too much, these four linebackers should be no-go’s heading into free agency:

4: LB Deion Jones

While in years past, we would be incredibly excited to see that Deion Jones is a free agent, he has played quite poor in recent seasons and the Giants honestly shouldn’t even consider signing him. Not only is Jones likely to want way more money than he is worth, but he simply isn’t that good of a player anymore as unfortunate as it may be. In 11 games last season, Jones racked up 40 tackles, three sacks, and one interception, earning a PFF player grade of 48.3.

While these numbers may not seem bad, watching him play tells a whole different story. Not only is Jones a near complete liability in coverage, but he also struggles mightily against the run at times.

Jones is very similar to former NY Giants linebacker Tae Crowder in the sense that they both have almost no read/react ability against the run and they really struggle to make simple tackles. This issue is something the Giants have been dealing with at the linebacker position for so long now and it would be better to just avoid a player like this.

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