The Giant Pass Rush

For decades, and through their last two Super Bowl wins, the Giants have been known for their pass rush.   However; over the past two seasons, the pass rush has been largely absent.    Two of the major reasons, have been the injury related decline of JPP, and the departure of Osi Umenyiora, who was always good for 6-10 sacks, even in a bad year and had to be accounted for whenever he was on the field.

Tuck rallied late in 2013, but now he's gone, too.  Still there were other reasons why the rush declined.  First, other teams were committing to shorter drops and more protection, allowing them to get their throws off before the rush could get them.  Second, the Giants didn't supplement the front four with many effective blitzes.  And thirdly, the Giants had a dearth of coverage sacks.

During free agency, the Giants haven't added anyone who can rush the passer from a basic set, but they really have strengthened their coverage, which should buy the pass rush some extra time to get there, and lead to more turnovers, if not more sacks.   Also, maybe one of the new DB's will be a good blitzer.   I remember Sehorn being a great one back in `96 and `97.

Also, they probably have to find another pass rusher in the draft.   There are a bunch of good pass rushing LB's in the draft, starting with Barr.  But the Giants don't use their LB's to rush passers, so unless they think they can make one into a Simeon Rice type 4-3 weak side end, they should look among the DL's.

The one who might be at 12 is Pittsburgh's Aaron Donald.  He's listed as an undersized DT, at 6 feet and 286 or so, but he runs like a fast linebacker or a safety.   Though, I would still rather get an OL in the the first, Donald would really fill a couple of holes for the Giants.

They have long sought a 3 tech DT who could play next to a big nose, these days, to put next to Johnathan Hankins on passing downs.  Donald could do that. And that would save the Giants from having to move JPP or Moore or Kiwi inside on passing downs, like they used to with Tuck.    So there really is a role for Donald if he's the pick.

There are some other DE's who can rush the passer who will be available later, like Crichton, Jeffcoat, DeMarcus Lawrence and, my small school favorite Elhadje Ndiaye out of Nebraska-Kearney, so we should be able to still fortify the rush even if we pass on Donald or if he's not available at 12.