Giants' Youth Movement Offers Promise
No one at the Giants is ready to throw in the towel yet on the 2020 season despite the 0-4 season, but that doesn't mean that head coach Joe Judge and his assistant coaches don't want to see how some of the younger, less experienced players are coming along in their respective developments.
To that end, Judge and his coaches have made plans to insert young players like offensive tackle Matt Peart, guard Shane Lemieux, linebackers Cam Brown and Tae Crowder, and cornerback Madre Harper into the lineup whenever possible to gauge what they have.
"They didn’t have a preseason, so there’s a lot of these young players who are eventually going to have to play for us," Judge explained.
"We want to get them involved as much as we can to get them game action and just progressing them with what they’re doing."
So far, Judge said the early returns are promising.
"I think we have a lot of young guys right now on the roster who are at least starting to come around," he said.
"You can kind of see a difference in their eyes, which is kind of natural for them to have after some experience on the field. They’re acclimating a little bit to not only the speed of the game on the field, but the speed of the game in the classroom, the speed of the game how you have to carry it from the classroom to practice, and it’s kind of slowing down for them a little bit."
Peart, the team's third-round pick out of UConn, received 12 snaps at right tackle for starter Cam Fleming Sunday against the Rams.
Peart's orientation to life in the NFL began the week prior when he got a couple of snaps in relief of Fleming when the veteran had to leave the game for a couple of plays due to injury and continued successfully in Week 4.
According to PFF, he pitched a shutout as far as pressures allowed, though it also needs to be noted that the Giants didn't run any plays his way. Still, Peart did well when asked to protect the edge against the Rams speed rushers on passing downs in what was a very encouraging sign.
"I was pleased with how Matt played when he was in there," Judge said. "There were some things to learn with, some things to build on right there. I think he’s a guy who is a developing player who has a skillset. The more we can keep him involved, the more progress he’ll make."
Lemieux, the team's fifth-round draft pick this year, received one snap at fullback, a skillset that Judge and the coaches learned the rookie out of Oregon had through their work with him in practice.
Lemieux threw a decent interior block in his lone snap, the small sample size likely being enough to whet the coaches' appetite to see more of Lemieux in the role down the line.
"Eli’s (Penny) our fullback, but Shane has a skill set as well," Judge said. "That was something that we just kind of thought would give us something in certain plays and situations yesterday we wanted to use. Shane was the guy that fit the role."
Brown, the team's sixth-round pick, has made himself at home on special teams, where he is a core member and has shown himself to have a natural field for the organized chaos that is special teams.
The coaches lined Brown up as the strongside gunner, an unusual role for a 6'5" player. On one punt coverage, he fought through a double team to force a fair catch. On another coverage, he faced single blocking and again won his battle to force the returner to re-direct and limit his return.
Meanwhile, Crowder, this year's Mr. Irrelevant, is making a strong case to unseat Devante Downs for the starting inside linebacker job in the base defense alongside Blake Martinez.
Crowder's stats from Sunday don't look very impressive--he was credited with two assisted tackles. However, they also don't tell the full story of his game. The former Georgia product has taken smart angles that have allowed him to limit the ball carrier and penetrate gaps and some instinctive play that you want to see from an inside linebacker.
He was credited with one quarterback hit and very nearly picked off a pass.
"I’m pleased with the way Tae and Cam Brown and a lot of other young guys are really coming around right now and making progress," Judge said.
Harper, who just joined the Giants last Thursday after he cleared the COVID-19 entry protocol and passed his physical, was initially a guy the Giants hoped to add to their practice squad after training camp. However, Harper decided to stay with the Raiders, and it finally took the Giants' offering him a signing bonus to lure him away.
Harper has a nice combination of size and speed. Although he only had two "blink and you'll miss them" snaps on defense, his play on special teams served as an eye-opener of what's still to come.
Harper made a touchdown-saving tackle on the Rams’ second-half kickoff return by swallowing up the smaller returner and putting on a burst of closing speed that likely has the coaches drooling over putting him one-on-one against some of the NFL's faster receivers that are ahead on the team's schedule.
With such a promising start by these young guys--and there are many others to speak of--Judge wants to see continued growth.
"We want to keep these young guys developing and involved in the game, so when they have to get out there and play extended periods, they’ve already had experience," Judge said.
