Should Giants Move on from Pending UFA DL Rakeem Nunez-Roches?

Rakeem Nunez-Roches dealt with injuries for most of the season. Is there still a role for him in the Giants' defensive interior?

New York Giants defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Rakeem Nunez-Roches, DT

• Height: 6-foot-2
• Weight: 305 lbs.
• Age: 32
• NFL Exp: 11 Years
• College: Southern Miss

Among the various problems that hurt the New York Giants in their disappointing 4-13 season, it can't be stressed enough that they still have work to do to improve the interior defensive line and make it a tougher unit against the opposing run game.

The Giants will certainly be seeking an addition or two to bolster their beef up front in free agency and the draft, but they also have a couple of in-house players whom they'll need to decide whether to bring back in 2026, and Rakeem Nunez-Roches is one of them.

Nunez-Roches arrived in the NFL via the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft (No. 217 overall), where the Kansas City Chiefs selected him. He spent his first three seasons with that franchise before moving to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2018 to 2022 and then the Giants for the past three seasons.

The Chiefs' tenure was a slow buildup for Nunez-Roches, who didn't see a full season until his final year with the team, when he made 11 starts, recording 24 total tackles and 11 pressures created in a more defensive edge role.

Once he moved to Tampa Bay, the 32-year-old became a more consistent player on the defensive front. Four seasons saw him appear in at least 16 games, including his 2022 campaign, where he notched a career-high 33 tackles, two sacks, and a 5.6% missed tackle rate against the run.

The Giants added Nunez-Roches to their defensive line during the 2023 free-agent period, signing him to a three-year pact worth $12 million to bring some veteran experience to a unit that ranked in the bottom third in total yards allowed in four of the previous five seasons.

In his first season in blue, Nunez-Roches played in 16 games and started in four. He recorded 26 total tackles (14 solo), 0.5 sack, and one pass deflection while making 11 stops at the line of scrimmage for a miserable Giants defense that ranked 31st in yards per carry allowed that year.

Returning the next season in 2024, he was a full-time starter for 15 games next to Dexter Lawrence once a gap opened up from the departure of A'Shawn Robinson in free agency.

The opportunity helped Nunez-Roches produce a new career-high 52 total tackles (14 solo) with two more sacks, two pass deflections, and 19 stops, which marked his second-best number in the trenches.

Nunez-Roches became the Giants' oldest defensive lineman ahead of 2025 training camp, but sadly, his third year with the organization wouldn't be a repeat of the last amid injury obstacles.

2025 Recap

New York Giants defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Rakeem Nunez-Roches entered the 2025 season expected to be a key contributor to the Giants' run response. Instead, he was hampered by ankle and toe injuries, which limited his activity to just nine games (five starts) with 23 total tackles (six solo), though he did achieve a career high with three sacks and eight pressures for his best pass-rushing grade of 65.1.

While the first half of the season was slow, given his first ailment happening in the season opener against the Washington Commanders, Nunez-Roches found a little bit of a groove in both the pass rush and run defense.

At the same time, he was active from Weeks 8-13, posting five of his eight pressures, three being the sacks, and seven stops in that span.

Still, his limited availability and smaller size hurt his overall effectiveness as a run stuffer. Nunez-Roches saw only the fifth-most defensive snaps within the defensive line room and earned a 48.9 PFF grade that marked his second-lowest since joining the Giants.

Why the Giants Should Keep Him

New York Giants defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The overall identity of the Giants' defensive front still feels in flux as the team heads into an important offseason. Dexter Lawrence is still the obvious centerpiece, but the rest of the group is made up of unproven pieces who need some veteran leadership to mentor them into being more productive players in the future.

Rakeem Nunez-Roches can certainly fill that role, given his experience with three different NFL teams and his ability to earn his way into becoming a key contributor for each of them.

His guidance would be helpful to players like Darius Alexander, who didn't have as impactful a rookie season as some expected after he was taken in the third round of last year's draft.

In his stint with the Giants, Nunez-Roches has become a slightly better pass rusher (five sacks since 2024) and has shown glimpses of being a fairly effective gap stuffer when healthy.

He has especially worked on his tackling in that span, lowering his missed-tackle rate to 5.6%, which has been a larger issue for the defense as a whole.

Why the Giants Shouldn't Keep Him

New York Giants defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Giants' interior defensive line room is looking pretty thin heading into the offseason. That includes the impending free agent statuses of Rakeem Nunez-Roches and DJ Davidson, both of whom ended the 2025 season on injured reserve.

Nunez-Roches is starting to get older, and the injury bug spared nothing in limiting his availability to help the Giants' defense get better at slowing down opposing running backs from gashing them on Sundays.

The Giants might not want to risk re-signing the veteran defensive tackle and risk being short on reinforcements later in the 2026 season. Nunez-Roches's market value has been set at $4.7 million by Spotrac, and New York could look for a more reliable option at the same low price.

Keep or Move On??

New York Giants defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While the Giants have more pressing issues to address on their roster, it wouldn't be surprising if they tap into the interior defensive lineman market in free agency or the impending draft class at some point. They need to build around Dexter Lawrence and bring in pieces that can take some of the pressure off his shoulders when he is one of the most double-teamed defenders across the NFL.

If they feel confident that they can get a quality replacement at a similar cost to their cap space, it wouldn't be the worst thing to move on from Rakeem Nunez-Roches. He is an energetic player who has worked hard to grow into the experienced gap stuffer that he has been for three teams.

That said, the Giants have to stop messing around with the injury bug and letting it dictate the course of another season, when guys inevitably go down with ailments in the physical game of football.

It affected Nunez-Roches and his stock along the defensive front, where the Giants will be bringing back Roy Robertson-Harris and have two project players, Darius Alexander and Elijah Chatman, who can fill out their depth.

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