Giants Player Profile: Josiah Tauaefa, ILB
2019 Rewind
Inside linebacker Josiah Tauaefa was signed in 2019 as an undrafted free agent out of UTSA. Tauaefa, a former two-star recruit from Lake Davis, Texas, spent most of his rookie season as a core special teams player.
The 6’1", 230-pound linebacker was highly productive at UTSA. In 2016, he had 115 tackles, nine tackles for a loss, an interception, and six sacks.
In 2017, he was injured most of the season, but still managed 29 tackles, 2 for a loss, one sack, and 2 passes defensed. His final year on campus was his redshirt-junior year when he recorded 111 tackles, 11.5 for a loss, 4.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles.
He was one of 10 semifinalists for the Butkus Award, given to the nation’s top linebacker. He was honorable mention all-conference in 2018.
Tauaefa graduated with a degree in communications and was an honor roll student. He also was a Freshman All-American in 2016, due to his incredibly productive campaign in that season.
Going undrafted is never an easy road to travel, but it was the cards that Tauaefa was dealt, despite his productive college career. At his pro day, Tauaefa ran a 4.83 40 yard dash, with a 1.69 10 yard split; neither is eye-opening or stunning.
He also measured with a 78⅜” wingspan (solid for a linebacker) and has big 10-inch hands. He performed 21 reps on the bench, jumped 32 inches in the vertical jump, and 9'1" in the broad jump, so his lower body explosiveness wasn’t exactly great. These numbers probably assisted him in not being drafted.
Tauaefa spent most of his rookie season as a special teams player on the Giants’ kick return, punt return, and kick coverage squads. He was promoted from the practice squad after the injury to Ryan Connelly.
He recorded three tackles for the special teams and found himself on the field in the Vikings game, where he recorded four defensive tackles and was targeted two times, surrendering as many receptions.
One of the receptions was against C.J. Ham on a play-action roll-away that fooled the Giants the entire game.
Tauaefa did an excellent job not biting on the play fake and reading his pass keys well to fly out to the flat and make an impressive open-field tackle on Ham.
He showed high mental processing, physicality, and solid athletic ability in doing so, especially when we consider how bad the Giants defense was manipulated as a whole in that contest.
Going Forward
Josiah Tauaefa showed some good traits all season on special teams and in his limited duty at linebacker. Still, the Giants invested a lot of assets into the position in the off-season.
They signed Blake Martinez to a three-year, $30.7 million contract to replace Alec Ogletree. The Giants should also have Ryan Connelly back from his ACL injury, and David Mayo was re-signed to play the third linebacker role.
The Giants also drafted Cam Brown from Penn State, Carter Coughlin (more of an EDGE) from Minnesota, TJ Brunson from South Carolina, Tae Crowder from Georgia, and they signed Dominique Ross out of North Carolina.
Tauaefa, who I feel has quality talent, has to overcome many odds to learn a new system, from a different coaching staff, and win a job here as a second-year, undrafted player.
Crazier things have happened, especially considering Tauaefa’s effectiveness on special teams, but it’s going to be tough to crack the roster with all the talent around him. He could be a practice squad stash if he doesn’t make the roster, and no one claims him.
By all accounts, Tauaefa is an incredibly bright and hard-working player; this could endear him to the new head coach Joe Judge. He’s got juice in his step, and I feel his first step is quicker than it was timed, but linebacker was a position of emphasis for the Giants even with Tauaefa on the roster, and that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.
