3 NY Giants who must step up with Jarrad Davis undergoing knee surgery
By Zak Musso
1. Wink Martindale
The injury to Davis puts a lot of pressure on Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. Martindale's options to play alongside Okereke, whom the Giants signed to a four-year, $40 million contract this offseason, are McFadden (rookie year struggles), Beavers (coming off an ACL tear and has never played an NFL snap), or potentially a free agent Schoen signs in the coming days/weeks.
Martindale is going to need to hide the second Giants linebacker, regardless of who it is and not put them in unfavorable positions. Last season, the Giants had zero inside linebackers on the roster who should have been seeing snaps on an NFL field (the blame for that goes to Dave Gettleman for leaving the Giants in a terrible salary cap position), but thankfully this season, they will at least have Okereke, who is an above average inside linebacker.
Martindale will need to find creative ways to cover up that hole on the Giants defense. Wink could opt to blitz even more, switch to a 4-3 at times, or even play with three on the defensive line, three at linebacker, and five in the secondary.
Wink is one of the best defensive minds in football and has been a football coach since 1986 (also the year of the last Mets World Series title), so it's safe to say he knows how to cover up a hole in his defense.
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