Of the four defensive players the New York Giants drafted in April, defensive tackle Bobby Jamison-Travis faces the most challenging road to receiving meaningful snaps.
Not that anyone should be surprised, given that Jamison-Travis is a sixth-round pick at a veteran-heavy position.
Hope nonetheless springs eternal for rookies, especially given that the Giants already lost defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris to a likely season-ending Achilles injury.
However, we suggest holding off on expecting Jamison-Travis to contribute too much in his first professional season.
What should Giants expect out of Bobby Jamison-Travis?
We didn’t hear a ton about Jamison-Travis during OTAs, as he primarily worked with the third-string defense.
Again, that in itself isn’t shocking, and we should plan on seeing plenty of him during the preseason. From there, it’ll be on Jamison-Travis to justify the Giants’ deeming him worthy of being drafted.
In a pre-draft scouting report, NFL Media’s Lance Zierlein projected that Jamison-Travis would go unselected and instead sign as a priority free agent.
Zierlein also called Jamison-Travis’ rushing skills “unimaginative” and predicted he’d be a bottom-of-the-roster or practice squad player.
“He shows first-step and hand-strike quickness, but he’s forced to lean into contact to bolster his base, leaving him unable to move quickly with the design of the play,” Zierlein wrote.
When we say, “Ouch,” we’re not talking about the kind that puts running backs on the ground.
The best-case scenario for Jamison-Travis is that he makes the Week 1 roster and finds a home on special teams.
Projected defensive tackle starters DJ Reader and Shelby Harris are older players on one-year deals. By doing his job and staying healthy, Jamison-Travis could theoretically set himself up to earn more playing time next season.
Such a goal may not sound overly exciting, but that’s the reality of the NFL.
Being drafted doesn’t guarantee a player even a short-term future with that team. Just ask the teams who cut their seventh-rounders in August and try to stash them on the practice squad.
Jamison-Travis avoiding that fate would in itself be a massive victory.
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