Tag: Austin Calitro

Giants sign two to 53-man roster in flurry of roster moves

The New York Giants made a series of rosters moves ahead of their Week 12 game, which included two signings, two releases and two elevations.

With a significant number of injuries entering a Thanksgiving Day game against the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Giants were forced to make a string of roster moves beforehand.

The team announced on Wednesday evening that they have signed offensive lineman Devery Hamilton and defensive back Trenton Thompson from the practice squad to the active roster.

Hamilton and Thompson help provide depth at two positions truly ravaged by injury. Four offensive line starters are out in Week 12 — four and a reserve if you include Ben Bredeson — and three members of the secondary, including safety Xavier McKinney. Two others (Dane Belton and Jason Pinnock) are questionable.

In order to clear space for Hamilton and Thompson on the 53-man roster, the Giants waived linebackers Austin Calitro and Quincy Roche.

The Giants also announced that defensive back Terrell Burgess and offensive lineman Korey Cunningham have been elevated from the practice squad, again adding depth at positions of need.

Linebacker/safety Landon Collins was once again passed over for elevation.

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Giants sign Devery Hamilton from practice squad, release Austin Calitro

The New York Giants have signed OL Devery Hamilton from their practice squad to the 53-man roster and released LB Austin Calitro.

The New York Giants have signed offensive lineman Devery Hamilton to their active roster from their practice squad.

In order to make room for Hamilton, the Giants have released linebacker Austin Calitro.

The Giants are banged up along the offensive line and it is a short week, so this move makes sense.

Center Jon Feliciano, Tyre Phillips and rookie Joshua Ezuedu all are dealing with neck injuries and starting right tackle Evan Neal is still dealing with a knee issue.

Left tackle Andrew Thomas is also dealing with an illness.

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Oshane Ximines, Andrew Thomas were highest-graded Giants in Week 1

New York Giants LB Oshane Ximines and LT Andrew Thomas earned the team’s highest Pro Football Focus grades in Week 1.

The New York Giants rallied from 13 points down to defeat the Tennessee Titans, 21-20, in Week 1. And while the team’s play was far from perfect, they performed well enough under a new coaching staff to get the job done.

On the defensive side of the ball, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence had a noteworthy performance but he didn’t lead the unit in Pro Football Focus grades. That distinction went to edge rusher Oshane Ximines, who led the entire team with a grade of 86.0.

Lawrence earned a 79.1 and was followed up by cornerbacks Aaron Robinson (73.4) and Adoree’ Jackson (71.5), and defensive lineman Leonard Williams (71.2).

Other defensive grades worth mentioning include linebacker Jihad Ward (69.7), safety Xavier McKinney (63.1) and linebacker Tomon Fox (56.2).

The lowest-graded Giants defenders were defensive lineman Justin Ellis (37.4), and linebackers Tae Crowder (29.0) and Austin Calitro (28.9).

On the offensive side of the ball, left tackle Andrew Thomas led the way with a 79.9. He was followed by running back Saquon Barkley (74.8), wide receiver Sterling Shepard (69.0) and tight end Daniel Bellinger (67.1).

Additional offensive grades include wide receiver Richie James Jr. (62.2), quarterback Daniel Jones (57.4) and wide receiver Kenny Golladay (51.0).

The lowest grades on offense belong to center Jon Feliciano (49.4), right tackle Evan Neal (40.1) and guard Ben Bredeson (38.0).

It’s also worth pointing out that rookie guard Joshua Ezeudu earned a pass protection grade of 0.0. The second-worst pass protection grade for a lineman belonged to Bredeson (38.0).

Defensive back Nick McCloud earned the Giants’ highest special teams grade (80.2).

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Giants release unofficial regular season depth chart: 9 takeaways

The New York Giants have released their unofficial regular season depth chart and here are 9 key takeaways.

The New York Giants will take on the Tennessee Titans this Sunday in Nashville and several things remain unsettled.

Among them are the team’s starters at left guard and inside linebacker. With Shane Lemieux on injured reserve and Blake Martinez having been released earlier this week, the Giants still have some decisions to make.

They won’t come immediately, head coach Brian Daboll told reporters on Tuesday. They’ll have an open competition in practice this week that may lead to some unexpected changes.

Despite that, the team released their unofficial regular season depth chart on Tuesday and there were several notable things to take away.

Here are nine:

Giants vs. Jets Player of the Game: LB Austin Calitro

New York Giants LB Austin Calitro is the player of the game from the preseason finale.

The New York Giants were defeated by their cross-town rivals, the New York Jets, in Week 3 of the preseason.

The 31-27 loss brings the Giants to 2-1 in the preseason. Big Blue rested most of their starters in this game letting the players fighting for roster spots show out. And one player that demonstrated that he deserves a shot on the roster was linebacker Austin Calitro.

Calitro has spent five years in the NFL with several teams as an inside linebacker. He’s had a modest career as a reserve player with 94 total tackles (seven for a loss), two passes defended, three quarterback hits, and one sack. On July 28th he signed with the Giants to give them offseason depth at linebacker. At the time Calitro had an uphill battle for a roster spot but his chances definitely improved against the Jets.

The former undrafted free agent out of Villanova was all over the field on Sunday. He recorded five tackles (one for a loss) and was responsible for two turnovers. Calitro’s first turnover was an interception from an errand pass from Joe Flacco that he returned 34 yards to the house.

Calitro’s second turnover was a recovered fumble off of a Micah McFadden tackle. It was a heads-up play by Calitro to dive on the ball. This was Calitro’s third turnover of the season as he picked off a Bailey Zappe pass in Week 1 of the preseason.

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WATCH: Giants’ Austin Calitro pick-six against Jets

Austin Calitro grabbed his second interception of the preseason.

New York Giants linebacker Austin Calitro made the most of his opportunities during the preseason finale Sunday against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

As Jets quarterback Joe Flacco rolled out to his right to avoid pressure, he lobbed a ball straight to Calitro’s hands. The Villanova product took it 35 yards back to the end zone to give Big Blue their first touchdown of the day.

This was Calitro’s second interception of the preseason.

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Giants’ Austin Calitro: Wink Martindale ‘keeps it real’

New York Giants LB Austin Calitro has high praise for Wink Martindale and expressed an excitement over playing his former mates, the Bengals.

Austin Calitro spent a portion of the 2020 season with the Cincinnati Bengals and later returned to the team in 2022 for their wild Super Bowl run. But on Sunday, he’ll be suiting up for the New York Giants and taking on his old mates.

Understandably, Calitro is looking forward to the matchup.

“I’m looking forward to it, I built a good relationship with a lot of those guys,” Calitro told reporters. “The bond we had from last year, I was actually there in 2020 before they traded me to Denver, and it was kind of full circle that I got to go back last year and be a part of that run because I saw what they were building before Joe (Burrow) got hurt.

“To come back and feel the vibe and the team vibes, the locker room was closer than it was when I left. To have everyone healthy and to go on that run was fun, it’ll be nice to say hi to a couple of the guys before the game and say hi to the coaches that I made a connection with, but when the ball snaps it’s time to go.”

The Giants, of course, are trying to emulate the sort of turnaround Cincinnati experienced last season. And Calitro said the second he stepped foot into the East Rutherford buildings, he felt those same sort of vibes.

“The first thing that I noticed when I walked in my first week here was how close the locker room was, and I think first and foremost if you have a culture and a close locker room if everything else goes bad that’s something you can fall back on. Something they had in Cincinnati is they had a bunch of young talented players and we have that here too,” he said.

“Speaking of the coaches, I think everyone is pretty much in sync coach-wise, and front office-wise, and (Brian Daboll) does a great job telling everyone what he expects, and he holds that to us. That’s the start of a great team in my opinion. I wasn’t there for the entire turnaround, but like I said, when I went back you can tell they didn’t skip a beat. (Bengals head coach) Zac Taylor still had his expectations, and Dabes is the same kind of guy — he has his expectations and you’ve got to meet them.”

Calitro also praised Giants defense coordinator Wink Martindale, who he credited for a great call on Thursday night’s interception against the New England Patriots.

“I happened to get into the window and just did my job at the right time,” Calitro said. “Wink made a great call, it was fourth-and-short, so we knew it was some kind of quick routes, I kind of used my instincts there and tried to bat the ball. I think you guys saw the result.”

Like the close-knit locker-room, Martindale also gives off that winning vibe in Calitro’s eyes.

“To be honest with you, he’s one of the first coaches that I’ve had outside of (former Seahawks defensive coordinator) Coach Norton in Seattle that really keeps it real.” he said. “He tells you where you are, why you are where you are and what you can do to get better in the things you struggle at.

“As an undrafted guy myself, throughout the last six years it’s been difficult, but for me to finally have a coach that tells you what he needs from you and how he sees you and just being upfront and honest is really a blessing and it really puts your mind at ease as well.”

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Giants training camp: 10 takeaways from Day 2

Day 2 of New York Giants training camp practice has come and gone, so here are 10 quick takeaways.

After a successful first day of training camp practice on Wednesday, the New York Giants were back at it again on Thursday. This time, they focused on areas outside of the red zone (although red zone drills were again included).

Head coach Brian Daboll met with reporters before practice started and then it was off to the races.

Here’s a look at 10 quick takeaways from Day 2 of training camp practice.

Giants sign LB Austin Calitro, waive LB Justin Hilliard

The New York Giants continued roster shuffling with the addition of linebacker Austin Calitro and the release of linebacker Justin Hilliard.

The New York Giants released linebacker Justin Hilliard on Thursday.

They will fill the open roster spot with linebacker Austin Calitro, a well-traveled player who has appeared in 47 regular season games with nine starts for Seattle, Jacksonville, Denver and Cincinnati.

The Giants are Calitro’s 11th NFL stop since being signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent out of Villanova in 2017.

The Giants claimed Hilliard off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers last year. He played two games, predominantly on special teams before landing on season-ending injured reserve in mid-October.

Hillard, a former Ohio State Buckeye, was suspended in June for the first two games of the upcoming season for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substance policy.

As stated by Mike Garafolo above, Hilliard is more of a 4-3 linebacker who is not a logistical fit for new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s 3-4 scheme.

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Bears officially sign WR Isaiah Coulter, place LB Austin Calitro on IR

The Bears have made the Isaiah Coulter signing official and made a corresponding roster move, placing Austin Calitro on injured reserve.

The Chicago Bears have made the signing of former Houston Texans wide receiver Isaiah Coulter official, announcing the move Sunday night. Chicago also placed linebacker Austin Calitro, who suffered a hand injury, has been placed on injured reserve.

Coulter, a fifth-round pick by the Texans in the 2020 NFL draft, caught 72 passes for 1,039 yards and eight touchdowns in his final year at Rhode Island.

He struggled with injuries during his rookie season, and he only appeared in one game. The Texans released Coulter last week as part of the first round of roster cuts.

Coulter joins a crowded wide receivers room vying for essentially two roster spots with Allen Robinson, Darnell Mooney, Marquise Goodwin and Damiere Byrd all locks for a roster spot.

And with players like Dazz Newsome and Rodney Adams impressing, Coulter faces an uphill battle with just one preseason game left.

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