Let the offseason schedule serve as a reminder that depth-chart speculation is nothing more than a thought exercise.
Take the New York Giants, for example. When defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris went down with an Achilles injury last month, the narrative quickly became that rookie Bobby Jamison-Travis would fill in.
Never mind that Jamison-Travis is a sixth-round pick. He and Robertson-Harris play the same position, so Jamison-Travis was naturally the next man up, right?
Not quite. At least, not in June.
Giants rookie Bobby Jamison-Travis isn’t starting just yet
Granted, the idea was never that Jamison-Travis would start, not with DJ Reader and Shelby Harris ahead of him.
However, the consensus thought was that the Giants would spend OTAs working Jamison-Travis into a rotational role.
Instead, as The Athletic’s Dan Duggan reported on Monday, Jamison-Travis is still working with the third-string defense.
Jamison-Travis is evidently capitalizing on his opportunities, though. Duggan shared that the 6-foot-3, 328-pound rookie has developed an early knack for batting passes down.
When a sixth-round pick is already drawing positive reviews, you’d be wise to pay attention.
Outside of quarterbacks and All-Americans who slipped for whatever reason, we typically don’t see much initial optimism for sixth-round picks.
That didn’t stop ESPN’s Field Yates from recently including Jamison-Travis on a list of non-first-round picks he believes will provide an immediate impact.
Yates was far higher on Jamison-Travis than others around the NFL. Longtime draft analyst Lance Zierlein admitted that he viewed Jamison-Travis as a bottom-of-the-roster player and expected him to go undrafted.
Just because Jamison-Travis isn’t working with the starters yet doesn’t mean Giants fans should panic or fear he won’t help the Giants come Week 1.
Unfortunately for Jamison-Travis, the external expectations ballooned by no fault of his own. Yates included the former Auburn defender on his list even before Robertson-Harris’ likely season-ending injury.
The most important thing is that Jamison-Travis is getting noticed for the right reasons. This isn’t an instance of a Day 2 pick struggling with drops or arriving out of shape.
Slow and steady wins the race, and it’s on Jamison-Travis to just keep working through his initial adjustments. We know that sounds far easier said than done, but Giants fans must trust the process.
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