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Through 10 weeks of the season, New York Giants rookie defensive back Julian Love has been on the field for a grand total of three defensive snaps, but that could be poised to change when the team returns from the bye week.
Although the Giants will be off from Thursday through Sunday, they did have a practice closed to the media on Tuesday and will have another on Wednesday. And one of the interesting notes from that dark practice is Love suddenly seeing first-team reps.
One of the personnel changes for which fans have been clamoring with #NYGiants: rookie Julian Love at free safety for Antoine Bethea.
Sounds like Love got most if not all the reps with first-team today. Might be sign of something coming, may just be a bye week thing. We'll see.
— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) November 12, 2019
When the Giants selected Love in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, many viewed the pick as a legitimate steal and heaped praise upon general manager Dave Gettleman.
However, Love experienced some growing pains during the spring and summer, seeing his reps moved from cornerback to free safety, essentially slowing down his learning curve.
However, as veteran safety Antoine Bethea continues to struggle save for one game against the Dallas Cowboys in which he played exceptionally well, the calls for Love (or basically anyone else) have begun to mount.
The Giants already lead the league in rookie snaps by leaps and bounds, so it’s not as if thrusting Love into the fray would change much. The team is losing consistently and many of their problems come on the defensive side of the ball, so getting Love some live game experience ahead of the 2020 season makes sense.
We’ll know for sure if Love is getting a push when the Giants return to East Rutherford ahead of Week 12, but at this point, it should be encouraged. Throw everything against the wall at 2-8 and see what sticks.
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