Giants D-Line Coach Andre Patterson Reveals Advice He Gave to Rookie Elijah Chatman

Elijah Chatman will get his first career start on Sunday when the New York Giants host the New Orleans Saints.

Sep 22, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II (97) congratulates defensive tackle Elijah Chatman (94) on his sack against the Cleveland Browns during the first quarter at Huntington Bank Field. | Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

New York Giants defensive line coach Andre Patterson has one piece of sage advice for rookie defensive lineman Elijah Chtman this weekend.

Be yourself.  

It sounds simple enough, but according to the veteran coach, often with young players, instead of being themselves and focusing on their talents and abilities and what they do best, they often try to be someone or something they’re not.

“Yeah, sometimes they outsmart themselves, you know what I mean?” Patterson said Friday. “They see other guys do things on film and go, ‘Oh, I wanna try to do that,’ or ‘I want to go try to do that.’ 

“Well, it's not you–you gotta continue to be you in the gifts God gave you as a player. That's not unique to chat; don't get me wrong. That's every young player. And so that's been the biggest thing with him.”

Chatman, who saw a bump in his game snaps in the Giants’ last game (at Dallas) after both Dexter Lawrence II (elbow) and Rakeem Nunez-Roches (burner) left the game with injuries, has had an up-and-down showing. 

Against the Cowboys, he was too easily pushed around and knocked off his feet, the latter one of his greatest hurdles. Still, Chatman’s pass-rush win rate (4.8 per Pro Football Focus) ranks third among the Giants’ interior defensive linemen, behind team leader Lawrence and Armon Watts (5.4), the latter having only played in 38 pass-rushing snaps to Chatman’s 138 snaps.

“Yeah, he's, he's gotten better every week,” Patterson said.

The veteran defensive line coach believes Chatman, an undrafted rookie free agent out of SMU, has all the elements necessary to be a solid defensive lineman in this league: explosiveness, power, and quickness. It’s all just a matter of putting it all together. 

“Sometimes he just gets into being explosive and powerful and leaves the quick part out of it, you know?” Patterson said. “But he needs all three of those elements to be the player he can be. 

If he just went out there and tried to play off of his quickness over time, that wouldn't be good enough, just like his just trying to go out there and play off his power and strength. So, he needs to use all three of those elements to be the best player he can be.” 

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