Giants Player Profile: Montre Hartage, DB

2019 Season Rewind

When a new coaching staff comes into new environments, they tend to bring in their own players who have shown comfort with their systems--we saw this a lot in James Bettcher’s defense with players like Kareem Martin, Antoine Bethea, Deone Bucannon, and Josh Mauro.

Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who coached defensive back Montre Hartage in Miami last year, apparently lobbied for his one-time player.

Hartage was an undrafted free agent in 2019, out of Northwestern, a school that prides itself on academics in the heart of the Big 10 conference.

Hartage was very productive for Pat Fitzgerald's team in college; in his senior season. He had 51 tackles, 15 passes defensed, and two interceptions while playing boundary cornerback.

Hartage finished his collegiate career with 172 total tackles, ten interceptions, and 39 passes defended. The media voted him First Team All-Big Ten, while also being an Academic All-Big Ten player. He majored in organizational change and learning in school.

The Dolphins signed Hartage after the 2019 NFL Draft, and he was one of the final cuts on the roster, so he was relegated to the practice squad.

Due to a lot of injuries and personnel shuffling on the roster, Hartage was activated towards the end of the 2019 NFL season, and he first appeared in Week 13 against the Eagles.

He played one game, mostly at free safety, and then was put back on the practice squad until he was called up two weeks later. Hartage played the rest of the season for the Dolphins, as a versatile safety who would drop into the box.

His role was not quite like Jabrill Peppers’ role from 2019, but it tasked him to perform many different roles and wear a few different hats.

Hartage is a versatile player in general, which fits what Graham is trying to do with the Giants. The defensive back finished 2019 with eight tackles and one pass defenses.

Hartage also brings solid size, he stands at 6’0" and is a shade under 200 pounds. He was released by the Dolphins one day after the 2020 NFL Draft, as the Dolphins selected defensive backs Noah Igbinoghene in the first round and safety Brandon Jones in the third round.

Looking Ahead

Hartage wasn’t used a lot in Graham’s defense during their 2019 season together in Miami. Still, we must consider the entire context, starting with the fact that he was an undrafted rookie going through a position change.

When he was on the field, he played well and wasn’t a liability. He’s a solid tackler, a good athlete, and puts himself in good positions to succeed, especially for a player that was new to the position.

It should not be a surprise that a Northwestern graduate could transition to safety and pick up the position's nuances in less than a year.

With that said, his climb up the ranks of the roster will be tough. The Giants just spent a second-round selection on Xavier McKinney, while still having Julian Love and Jabrill Peppers on the roster (and the latter’s fifth-year option was just picked up, too).

Hartage will look to earn a backup role on the Giants roster, but he has a lot of competition. Hartage has to earn a roster spot over Sean Chandler, seventh-round rookie Chris Williamson, Rashaan Golden, rookies Malcolm Elmore out of Central Methodist, Christian Angulo out of Hampton, and Jaquarius Landrews out of Mississippi State.

If a player like Grant Haley can't fix his vertical coverage deficiencies, maybe Hartage can transition to a backup slot role on rushing downs, due to his tackling ability.

That would, of course, require another tweak to his position, but Hartage is intelligent enough to pull that off. It’s a somewhat uphill battle for Hartage, but he does possess a basic understanding of this defense that Patrick Graham employed last season.

In this truncated off-season, a player like Hartage, who is also an educator, may have value due to his teammates' lack of reps in the offseason.

Hartage may be able to prove his worth early on, in that capacity, but he’ll have to play with sound execution and continue to grow as a safety to stick on the roster.

I hope for the best for Montre Hartage as it never hurts to have an intelligent player that understands a coach’s philosophy.