New York Giants Linebacking Situation

Okay, a lot of folks seem sort of antsy about the Giants current LB situation.  After all, this is the team of Huff, Carson, Taylor, Banks and Armstead.   So do the Giants have a big problem at LB, because they only signed Connor while cutting Boley and drafting no help?   Probably not.   The current Giant 4-3 does not generally have 3 linebackers on the field.    So right there, the position is a little less important than the old days when we had to keep drafting LB's to fill out our 3-4.    No, very often the Giants play a version of the Big Nickel where a safety moves up and either blitzes or drops.  In fact, they draft just that kind of Safety, Cooper Taylor, in the 5th round last month.

Now, though Cooper Taylor is just the sort of Big Safety that the Giants will want to play some chess with.  It may not be this year, or to start this year.   That's because the Giants don't play or start a lot of rookies.  Fortunately, they still have Antrel Rolle for his job, as well as last year's gift from the football gods, Will Hill.   So we'll be okay in the Big Nickel if we can just get two LB's who can cover, play the run or both,   And the Giants already have some of those, and a couple of them may finally be ready for prime time.   I'm talking about Jacquan Williams and Spencer Paysinger.   Williams flashes as a run and hit big play rookie two years ago, and Paysinger was getting more and more of Boley's and Rivers' reps as last year went on.  They're both outside LB's, as is Keith Rivers who was unimpressive but retained.

In the middle we have Dan Connor, who is probably going to be a bit of an upgrade over Chase Blackburn, his slow but beloved predecessor.  And Mark Herzlich, the courageous cancer survivor who looked all worldish before he got sick at BC.

They also have a couple of interesting prospects who were either UDFA's or Street Free Agents last year and this.  They are Jake Massau and Charles Dieusuel, an undersized LB who looked like Super Sam Mills for Division III powerhouse, Mount Union.

So while they'll probably kick the tires on some more guys for camp, their actions show they are not as concerned as either Mel Kyper or much of the fan base is.   And if all else fails, they always have Kiwi.