This USFL Defender Could Be a Great Fit for Giants
The New York Giants had a deficiency at inside linebacker last season, a possible reason why we saw them in a dime package (six defensive backs) so much. So in recognizing the deficiency, which saw the coaches go through Tae Crowder, Jaylon Smith, Micah McFadden, Jarrad Davis, and Landon Collins at the position, addressed it by signing former Indianapolis Colts linebacker Bobby Okereke during the initial free agency wave.
Okereke embodies all of the qualities of the new-age NFL interior linebacker. At 6-foot-1 and 235 pounds, he is a big linebacker who plays with the speed and explosiveness of a running back. This also allows him to hunt from sideline to sideline and cover receivers.
But Okereke's presence alone does not solidify the linebacker position. The top NFL defenses have two guys, and beyond Okereke, the Giants have some unproven talent that includes youngsters McFadden, Darrian Beavers, Carter Coughlin, and the veteran Davis, just to name a few.
General manager Joe Schoen has said in the past they're always looking to upgrade all positions on the team, and one such player who could help accomplish that as far as the linebackers go is a guy who was with the Pittsburgh Maulers in the USFL this spring: 29-year-old linebacker Reuben Foster.
Foster is a former 2017 first-round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers, a team with an uncanny ability to identify interior linebacker talent. In his rookie season, he started ten games and collected 72 tackles, including 59 solo tackles and seven for loss. Although his rookie season was shortened by an ankle injury, Foster still finished third in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.
In 2018 off-the-field issues mixed with injuries began to impact his livelihood. He was released in November of 2018 after he was arrested on domestic violence charges. Those charges were later dropped, but the damage had already been done. Washington later picked him up, but he never played after suffering a season-ending ACL injury.
Although Foster received some interest during the 2022 off-season from Miami and Seattle, his NFL comeback remained on hold.
Older, wiser, and most importantly healthy, Foster was the leader of a Maulers team built on defense, a team that rode it to the championship game. In only eight games, he tallied 53 tackles, eight tackles for loss, a half sack, an interception, and five pass breakups.
When we look back at Foster's first-round draft pedigree, the reason he was chosen so high is that at 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, he was that new-age prototype at the position, a prototype that hasn't changed. Foster possesses all of the same skills as Okereke and could give the Giants a duo that could become one of the better linebacker pairings in the league.
Foster likely won't cost much to sign. If he has truly cleaned up his off-field issues and is willing to put his focus on his football career, as he seemed to do with the Maulers, taking a flier on him might not be the worst decision the Giants could make, especially if their other options at the position don't work out during training camp.
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