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ESPN Picks This UFA to Be as "Best Fit" for Giants

ESPN likes this pending unrestricted free agent to be for the New York Giants.
Patricia Traina|
ESPN Picks This UFA to Be as "Best Fit" for Giants
ESPN Picks This UFA to Be as "Best Fit" for Giants

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New York Giants

The New York Giants have no shortage of needs this off-season, needs that pretty much everyone can agree on, such as receiver, linebacker, interior defensive line, and cornerback, just to name a few.

But where opinions differ is in how--and with whom--the Giants intend to fill these needs. Will it be via free agency, where some position groups are thought to be stronger than others, or the draft, where talent is abundant in certain spots?

Only general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll know what their strategy is regarding improving a roster that surprised last year by going 9-7-1 and qualifying for a playoff berth for the first time since 2016.

With free agency up first for the NFL world, who this week descends in Indianapolis for the annual scouting combine, ESPN's Matt Bowen is out with his list of 50 free agent fits for teams around the league.

For the Giants, he lists two obvious fits--the Giants' very own Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley--plus a third unrestricted free agent to be from outside of the organization: Chargers inside linebacker Drue Tranquill, of whom he writes:

The Giants need to find an answer at linebacker. Tranquill's 144 tackles for the Chargers in 2022 were a career-high, and he can be deployed as a blitzer from multiple second-level alignments. He logged 5.5 sacks and four pass breakups last season, too. Tranquill would play inside linebacker for Wink Martindale's defense, but he has the movement ability of a weakside linebacker in both base and sub-packages.

The Giants were forced to try four different players at inside linebacker last year after promising rookie Darrian Beavers suffered a season-ending ACL injury, and the team and Blake Martinez parted ways.

Tae Crowder, the previous year's tackle leader, ended up losing his job in what then became a string of auditions that included Jaylon Smith, Micah McFadden, and Jarrad Davis, with safety Landon Collins taking on some inside linebacker responsibilities.

The unintentional revolving door didn't exactly yield encouraging results, as none of the Giants' inside linebackers had a coverage rating under 106, nor did they intercept or break up any passes.

Coverage wasn't the only problem for the Giants inside linebackers, who were a contributing problem in the run defense. The Giants' inside linebackers combined for 44 stops and 12 missed tackles, while their average depth of tackles made away from the line of scrimmage coming in at approximately 4.3 yards.

Tranquill, 6-foot-2 and 234 pounds, is a fourth-round pick by the Chargers in 2019. While his 53 stops from last year are more than the Giants' entire inside linebacker group alone, Tranquill led all inside linebackers with a whopping 25 missed tackles in 2022 (1,050 defensive snaps)--more than double what the Giants' linebackers.

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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