1. Azeez Ojulari
While Kayvon Thibodeaux has taken the next step as an edge rusher for the G-Men this season, Azeez Ojulari has taken a step back. Part of Ojulari’s struggles in 2023 have been health related, missing six of 10 games due to nagging ankle and hamstring injuries.
When healthy, Ojulari has shown he is a capable pass-rusher, recording 5.5 sacks in seven games in 2022 and eight sacks as a rookie in 2021. Ojulari has yet to record a sack this season and has only three tackles in four games. Simply put, that is not going to get the job done, especially for a player selected in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Thibodeaux and the Giants have desperately needed another pass-rushing presence to emerge alongside the defensive line and were hopeful that Ojulari would fill that role in 2023, but that hasn’t been the case through 10 weeks.
Over the past two seasons, Ojulari has played in 11 out of 27 possible regular-season games for the Giants. In other words, Ojulari has quite literally gone completely missing not just through the first 10 games of this season, but each of the past two campaigns.