Many pundits have listed their breakout stars for the New York Giants this upcoming NFL season. Wide receiver Darius Slayton, defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence and quarterback Daniel Jones have all been identified as players who could take that next step to stardom this year.
Adam Rank of NFL.com adds another name to the mix — second-year outside linebacker Oshane Ximines, who was selected in the third round in last year’s NFL Draft out of Old Dominion.
The “X-Man” as he has become to be known, played in all 16 games last year as a rookie, starting two, registering 25 total tackles, 4.5 sacks and nine QB hits.
The Giants would like to see Ximines jettison to stardom with more playing time in 2020. It won’t be an easy task, as the Giants signed Kyler Fackrell in free agency and are likely bringing Markus Golden back later this month.
“The Giants are going to need to improve defensively (they ranked 30th in points allowed last season) and it’s going to be incumbent on them to get to the quarterback more, as they ranked 22nd in sacks,” writes Rank. “The Giants could have been super frisky in the draft and picked Isaiah Simmons fourth overall, which would have been my choice. (I know he’s not an edge rusher but he did have eight sacks for Clemson last season.) Or they could have paid big money for an edge rusher in free agency.”
Rank thinks the Giants stayed away from adding a top edge rusher this offseason because they are confident that Ximines (and others) can get the job done.
“That leads me to believe the Giants saw enough from Ximines last season to trust him as one of their top pass rushers. Ximines posted 4.5 sacks despite playing less than half the defensive snaps as a rookie. He’s poised to make a huge jump in Year 2.”
The Giants would be in excellent shape if X-Man can come through for them. With talent added all over the field on defense, a quality edge rusher would turn them into a formidable bunch.
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