If you're anything like me, you likely expected second-year safety Tyler Nubin to improve on his impressive rookie season. After all, the 24-year-old finished second on the team in tackles (98) and eighth in tackles for loss (4) in 13 games.
Advanced analytics supported a potential Year 2 takeoff. He posted a 65.8 overall grade as a rookie, ranking 43rd out of 97 eligible players. Then 2025 hit him like a brick, and reality went full Mother Nature, raining on Big Blue Nation’s parade. This was after the team signed Jevón Holland in free agency to hopefully make life easier alongside the up-and-coming DB.
How quickly perception has changed on the 2024 47th overall pick. It doesn’t help his case that the G-Men could be selecting Ohio State standout safety Caleb Downs with the fifth pick in the 2026 Draft. With Holland’s expensive contract and Downs’ unlimited potential, Nubin could realistically be without a starting spot come September. Maybe.
If Nubin has any psychic abilities, now is the time to use them. The writing is on the wall, and the only way to survive is to adapt. We’re talking Darwinism at its core. If he wants to keep his playing dreams alive, a position switch might be his best option. And what better time to experiment with a move to linebacker than with John Harbaugh in town and the team desperate for a tone setter?
Tyler Nubin staring down make or break year under John Harbaugh
Big Blue’s linebacker room was ravaged last season, and that’s putting it lightly. Injuries and inconsistency wrecked the run defense, and at some point, enough is enough.
Bobby Okereke is a potential cap casualty. Micah McFadden is an upcoming free agent. Darius Muasau and Swayze Bozeman feel more like special teams staples and break-glass-in-case-of-emergency options than long-term answers.
Which makes this the perfect time for the former Minnesota Golden Gopher to make the switch.
If there’s any silver lining for the Giants and Nubin, there’s at least a blueprint to follow. Three-time Pro Bowler Jamal Adams made the jump from safety to linebacker in 2025 and managed to revive some of the impact he had earlier in his career with the New York Jets. The two players are eerily comparable in their size and physical limitations, making this experiment one to absolutely send it:
Tyler Nubin | Jamal Adams | |
|---|---|---|
Size | 6-foot-2, 210 pounds | 6-foot-1, 213 pounds |
40 time | 4.59 | 4.56 |
Vertical | 31.5 inches | 31.5 inches |
Downhill mindset? | Check | Check |
Iffy in pass coverage? | Yup | Uh huh |
If an oft-injured 30-year-old Adams can do it in Year 9, Nubin can do it in Year 3. He’d need to add some weight to that 210-pound frame to handle the physicality in the middle, but something tells me he could be a real difference-maker for the G-Men if he fully buys in.
He’s always looked more comfortable in run support than in coverage, even if his gap discipline and pursuit angles haven’t been perfect. Some of that comes with flying downhill from a safety spot. Playing closer to the line could simplify things and let him react instead of think. He might never become the lockdown defender fans once envisioned, but his background as a DB would absolutely give him an edge in coverage against tight ends and running backs out of the backfield.
Harbaugh’s work with Ray Lewis, C.J. Mosley, Roquan Smith, and Patrick Queen might end up being the best thing that’s ever happened to Tyler Nubin. If this really is make-or-break time in East Rutherford, he won’t get a better opportunity than learning from a coach who’s built his reputation on molding tone-setters in the middle.