Can Jack Kelly's Special Teams Play Earn Him a Roster Spot on John Harbaugh's Giants?

The New York Giants' linebacker room during the 2025 season was abysmal, and, because of that and contract value, there was a massive change at the top with the release of Bobby Okereke, followed by the signing of Tremaine Edmunds.

With the drafting of Ohio State’s Arvell Reese with the fifth overall pick, the Giants also now have two off-ball linebacker/edge hybrids in the room between him and Abdul Carter.

After Reese and Edmunds, it’s wide open, which means that the backup linebackers are likely going to be expected to contribute heavily on special teams. And for sixth-round rookie Jack Kelly, that's going to be his path to the roster.

It won’t be easy for the rookie, who will compete against Darius Muasau, Zaire Barnes and Cam Jones for that role. Jones and Barnes are proven, consistent special-teams contributors, and Muasau played a smaller role in 2025 than in 2024.

Kelly played special teams in college, but pro special teams are different, especially with the kickoff changes. He should be able to give the veterans ahead of him a run for their money.

Jack Kelly, LB

Height: 6-2
Weight: 242
EXP: Rookie
School: BYU
How Acquired: D6c-’26

2025 in Review

Kelly was the driving force behind a BYU defense that finished in the top 20 nationally in 2025.

He racked up 55 total tackles, 13.5 tackles for a loss, 10 sacks, one pass defense, and two forced fumbles, thriving in downhill situations.

Where Kelly struggled mightily was finishing tackles in space, with a 22.4% missed-tackle rate.

While tackling doesn’t necessarily get easier in the NFL, there will be fewer situations where Kelly will see offenses that spread out to the extent college offenses did, since there’s less space to manipulate in the NFL.

Where Kelly performed at his best was against teams like Stanford, Texas Tech, Utah, and UCF—all run-oriented and generally tighter to the formation.

Contract/Cap Info

Kelly signed a standard four-year contract worth $4,662,648 total, with $282,648 fully guaranteed at signing.

Because he’s a freshly drafted rookie, Kelly does have an increased chance of making the roster, but isn’t nearly as guaranteed a spot as an earlier pick would be.

If the Giants were to cut Kelly this summer, they would create $885,000 in cap space while incurring a $70,662 dead cap penalty, with the remaining prorated signing bonus hitting the 2027 cap.

The reality of Kelly’s contract is that there’s very little financial incentive for the Giants to cut ties with him since they would be able to cut veterans who would create more space.

2026 Preview

Kelly is going to be competing for playing time at the bottom of this Giants linebacker room against veterans who will be competing for a roster spot.

Kelly’s status as a draft pick helps his case to make the roster over another bottom-of-the-roster veteran, especially if the conversation becomes “neither of these options should play much, if at all,” because many teams will choose to keep the younger option in that instance.

Where Kelly needs to prove his worth as a rookie is on special teams, an area he played but not significantly in college—the value of linebackers on special teams with John Harbaugh as the head coach cannot be overstated.

Kelly has size and is a solid linear athlete, with great speed and explosive numbers, but his agility testing numbers were much better than his play suggests, especially in coverage.

While expectations should be low for Kelly as a rookie, that doesn’t mean that the team should be fine getting no return on its investment early on, and if special teams ends up being an area that Kelly can’t contribute to in 2026, he should be a practice-squad consideration.

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