Giants' 2020 Roster Report Card: Grading the Defensive Line

There’s an old saying in life that you get what you pay for.

So let’s take a look at what the Giants are paying for on their defensive line. According to Spotrac, the Giants currently have $25,248,947 tied up in their defensive front. Of that total, $16,126,000 is devoted to one player—Leonard Williams, who will play out the season on the franchise tag.

That means $9,122,947, or roughly an average of $1.303 million, is devoted to each of the remaining players on the unit.

What does this tell us? The Giants defensive line is loaded with youth—six of the players are on rookie deals. And with youth comes a degree of inexperience, though all things considered, this unit still was by and far the best of the defensive units last season and enters this year again as the strongest unit on the team.

Is there work to do to get this unit better? Absolutely. The change in coaching cannot be understated. New position coach Sean Spencer’s track record at Penn State is impressive. It includes Penn State’s finishing third in the nation against the run in 2014, leading the FBS in average sacks per game (3.54) in 2015 and a streak of four straight seasons in which the school recorded 40 or more sacks. With that kind of accomplishment, the possibilities of what Spencer might be able to do with the current young group of defensive linemen is very intriguing.

And to accomplish those kinds of achievements at the NFL level, Spencer has a very interesting and diverse group of players that he’ll be looking to mold into a group that enforces its will against the opponent.

Roster Locks: Leonard Williams, Dalvin Tomlinson, Dexter Lawrence II

The debate over Leonard Williams, who is locked in to play 2020 on the franchise tag this season, isn’t going away anytime soon, not unless Williams has a double-digit sack season this year. But while it’s understandable that people want to see Williams earn his coin, to pigeonhole him into one specific role isn’t necessarily doing him a solid.

Williams is a tall, powerful man who plays a consistently physical game, and has enough athleticism to stay on the field on passing downs and who is a rock against the run. While there is no arguing that Williams has historically struggled to finish off his pass rushes, his legit athleticism and coordination getting upfield and bending the corner certainly impacted the Giants’ pass rush in the eight games in which he played.

RELATED: Leonard Williams: The Good, the Great and the Ugly

In those games, he rushed from both edges but lined up primarily inside on those passing downs and was very active, especially as the point man on stunts. Perhaps with an improved Dexter Lawrence and Dalvin Tomlinson—both of whom were solid players by the way—the projected starting trio will click and start to be able to do things with the pass rush for which the Giants have been yearning.

When we talk about teamwork along the defensive line, Dalvin Tomlinson comes to mind. Tomlinson’s stock swung upward after Williams arrived, and a big reason for that was Williams was suddenly drawing the attention that had previously been devoted to Tomlinson, who was now free to use his mobility to attack.

But even before Williams arrived, Tomlinson, for reasons unknown, looked tentative at first (maybe a hidden injury was to blame?) until he got to Week 6. That’s when he racked up seven tackles (six solos) and would go on a mini tear in which he racked up 2.0 of his 3.5 sacks toward the middle of the season.

What changed? Tomlinson has always been at his best when he takes control of the situation rather than wrestles with his man. When he manages to overpower his man, that creates gaps which his fine mobility and quickness allow him to exploit.

While Tomlinson didn’t have eye-popping numbers, there were any number of plays in which something he did create an opportunity for someone else to get on the stat sheet. And as he enters a contract year, Tomlinson is sure to be even more motivated.

The second of the Giants three first-round draft picks last year (and the one acquired in the Odell Beckham Jr trade with Cleveland) Dexter Lawrence II defied physics with how well he moved for a man of his size (6’4 and 345 pounds). Lawrence has great power and get-off, both of which he used to clog up the running lanes. Most impressive of all is that Lawrence showed outstanding balance; you very rarely saw him get knocked to his feet.

RELATED: Dexter Lawrence II: The Good, the Great and the Ugly

Lawrence seemed at his best when asked to play the nose (0-tech), where he often had the size and power advantage. Yet somehow this young man, who set out to show people that he was more than just a two-down run stopper, also accumulated 2.5 sacks thanks to a strong bull rush that allowed him to push and collapse the pocket. Once Lawrence can anticipate a little bit better, the sky is the limit.

Likely Backups: B.J. Hill, Austin Johnson, Chris Slayton

After an impressive rookie campaign in which he recorded 5.5 sacks, Hill’s production took a bit of a nosedive, further exacerbated by the arrival of Williams, who ate into Hill’s snaps.

At times, Hill seemed to be more reactive than proactive, guessing wrong, and failing to get himself into proper position to make plays. Whereas during his rookie season, he was regularly finding and exploiting gaps that didn’t happen as much last year.

With that said, it’s unlikely the Giants will give up on Hill, who figures to be a defensive end in the 3-4 rotation. Hill moves well for a man of his size but needs to regain whatever lost confidence crept into his game last year both before and after the Williams acquisition.

Austin Johnson is the lone new face from the veteran ranks to this unit, a player who comes from the Titans but who, from his days at Penn State, is familiar with defensive line coach Sean “Coach Chaos” Spencer.

Johnson, 6’4, 325 pounds, has the body frame to be a natural anchor and excel as a 0- or 1-tech. While he has enough mobility to survive as a 3-tech, the plugger role is probably the better fit for his skillset.

There, Johnson’s quick hands help to keep would-be blockers from latching on to him and neutralizing his forward progress. He keeps his feet moving and has shown himself to have an acceptable bull rush to catch centers off guard. He figures to play a heavy role in the rotation this year.

That the Giants decided to elevate Chris Slayton, their seventh-round draft pick from last year, to the 53-man roster at the end of the 2019 season spoke volumes about how they feel about his talent.

On the surface, Slayton, last year, seemed to take a little longer than expected to adjust to the speed of the NFL game. He’s not the first rookie to go through that, nor will he be the last.

An intriguing fit for defensive end, Slayton has that quick first step to get into the backfield, but he needs a plan to locate the ball and finish off the disruption. That should come with more coaching and reps as should constant reminders to keep his head on a swivel so that nothing gets by him.

Bubble Guys: RJ McIntosh, Oluwole Betiku, Niko Lalos

R.J. McIntosh started last summer off with a bit of a bang, but once things heated up and we got to the regular season, his game fell off. At Miami, McIntosh showed a significant first step that often got him into the backfield to disrupt.

That first step seems to have disappeared since he arrived in the NFL, and with some new competition added to the mix, this 24-year-old fifth-round draft pick from 2018 is looking at an uphill battle to stick with the team.

Oluwole Betiku entered USC with great promise as a five-star recruit. Still, between injuries (he lost the 2018 season because of a hip ailment) and opportunity, Betiku’s production was below pedestrian. He didn’t develop an interest in football until he was a little older than most of his contemporaries, instead eyeing a career as a basketball player.

Betiku played ten games at Illinois, where he attended as a graduate transfer. He demonstrated good athleticism and a functional bull rush, but Betiku is the very definition of raw and who is a player who lacks ideal agility.

Niko Lalos, who played his college ball at Dartmouth, is an intriguing player who might have “practice squad” written all over him. The Hula Bowl’s MVP, Lalos recorded six tackles, three tackles for a loss, two sacks, and a forced fumble in that game working from the defensive end spot. Some added bulk and a full year with NFL coaching could very well result in this prospect turning into a very real depth player at defensive end as soon as next year.

Grade: B

Typically I’m not particularly eager to grade too high on potential because there have been many instances in which potential has blinded common sense. But the talent is too hard to ignore on this unit and I truly believe it's on the doorstep of becoming one of the better units in the league.

Football is a team game, and while it would be awesome if the defensive linemen racked up 8-10 sacks apiece, we need to be realistic and agree that probably won't happen.

But when we eventually turn on the tape of the games, if this unit proves it can not only mucking up the turn but also create opportunities for the back end of the defense to get home with a pass rush, then it will be difficult to dismiss that kind of performance as a failure.

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