Gervon Dexter Sr., Aaron Donald, and Darius Robinson. That’s it. Those are the only three interior defensive linemen with a higher pass-rush win rate than New York Giants defensive tackle DJ Reader through the first three games of the season.
The Giants got a good one. New York didn't sign him expecting him to seamlessly replace Dexter "Sexy Dexy" Lawrence, especially as a pass rusher, but three games into his two-year, $12.5 million deal, the 32-year-old is already giving Big Blue a little more than it probably bargained for.
Unfortunately, all that pressure hasn’t resulted in any sacks, but it’s still an encouraging sign, especially with Big Blue’s best pass rusher, Brian Burns, out for the season with a torn ACL and the rest of the pass rush looking more anemic by the week. The G-Men have exactly one sack through three games, better only than the Miami Dolphins’ zero, so they’ll take pressure from wherever they can find it right now.
DJ Reader has become an unlikely answer to Giants’ growing pass-rush problem
Reader’s certainly not known for his pass-rushing abilities. In 10-plus seasons, the 6-foot-3, 330-pounder has 12.5 career sacks. That’s a season’s worth of work for most of the league’s best pass rushers.
And yet, the advanced numbers suggest he’s been one of New York’s most effective players at getting into the backfield.
Reader has a 77.1 overall Pro Football Focus grade through three games, ranking 14th among 126 qualified defensive linemen. His 75.5 pass-rush grade ranks 13th, while his 68.4 run-defense grade ranks 22nd.
The 11-year vet has six tackles, two QB hurries, and no tackles for loss, QB hits, or sacks. That’s a pretty hilarious (and sad) stat line for a guy sitting near the top of the league in pass-rush win rate, but judging Reader by the box score alone -- especially when his career has never been defined by flashy numbers -- would be selling his hot start short.
New York traded Lawrence to Cincinnati and signed Reader right after, replacing one of the NFL’s best defensive tackles (when he's on) with a veteran who’s made his living eating double teams and mucking it up in the middle.
The growing concern is that New York’s plan to have space-eating linemen depended on Burns, Abdul Carter, and Kayvon Thibodeaux, you know, actually getting sacks. Burns is done for the year, Carter owns the Giants’ only sack, and Thibodeaux continues to be a 6-foot-5, 255-pound question mark.
It'd be nice, at some point, for Reader's wins to turn into production. A pass-rush win doesn’t end a drive the way putting a quarterback on the ground does. But considering the Giants signed Reader primarily to anchor their run defense, ranking near the top of his position as a pass rusher feels like found money. Now they desperately need someone, anyone, to actually cash in.
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