Tag: Oshane Ximines

Dave Gettleman has message for Giants fans: ‘Better days are ahead’

New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman vowed that “better days are ahead” for the organization.

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The New York Giants have won just 12 games since the 2016 season and are on their fourth head coach (if you include Steve Spagnuolo) over that span.

For many, it feels like the team’s rebuild may never end, but general manager Dave Gettleman sees things differently. In fact, Gettleman is feeling rather optimistic about the 2020 group and he shared that hope with Giants fans on Saturday.

“We’re putting a very competitive NFL team on the field, you can be assured of that. Joe [Judge] and his coaching staff will get every ounce out of this group,” Gettleman said during an NBC special. “Better days are ahead.”

While Gettleman stopped short of offering any sort of win-loss prediction, he did express the utmost confidence in Judge despite the unique nature of his first offseason as head coach.

“It’s obviously been a very odd time — the spring and this training camp. Joe is a great communicator to begin with and he’s really in tune with these guys and with what’s going on,” Gettleman said. “He’s done a really terrific job connecting with them despite all the obstacles.”

Gettleman also feels rather optimistic about the team’s pass rush, which has lacked any sort of consistent presence dating back to the days of Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck.

“Hopefully the puppies are growing up and are going to have a little bit more bark this year,” Gettleman said. “It’s really funny, back in the day when Bill Walsh wrote the book, ‘The Winning Edge,’ he had a two-year rule for players. Well now, because of the way the college game is so much different than ours, we have a three-year rule and these guys are growing up, so we’re excited about them.

“Lorenzo [Carter] is getting better, X-Man [Oshane Ximines] is getting better, Dexter Lawrence is getting better — they’re all improving. A pass rush is really a group effort, so with Markus [Golden] added [back] we’re confident.”

We’ll see if Gettleman’s confidence and optimism meet reality this season, but it would seem that the organization feels they are finally moving in the right direction.

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Kyler Fackrell on Giants’ pass rush: ‘Third downs are going to be fun’

Kyler Fackrell expects the New York Giants’ young pass rush to step up in 2020, especially on third down in passing situations.

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The New York Giants have been scouring every and all avenues in an attempt to generate a pass rush. They selected Oshane Ximines in last year’s draft, re-signed their top sacker from a year ago in Markus Golden and added Green Bay outside linebacker Kyler Fackrell in free agency.

The 28-year-old Fackrell, a 6-foot-5, 245 pounder selected by the Packers in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Utah State, registered 10.5 sacks in 2018. One of the linebacker coaches on that club was one Patrick Graham, who now happens to be the Giants’ defensive coordinator.

Fackrell told reporters that Graham was actually the inside linebackers coach while he played on the outside. He still knows Graham very well and the type of defense that he likes to employ.

“It’s similar in a lot of ways (to Green Bay’s), especially they’re both 3-4 schemes” Fackrell told reporters Thursday. “But I think it’s kind of similar to the Patriots scheme, which is a little bit of what Pat has done before. On third downs and in those rush situations, there’s a little bit more creativity I would say with Pat’s defense.”

Making the transition to the Giants will also be eased by the fact that another former Packer, Blake Martinez, will be the Giants’ signal caller at inside linebacker. Fackrell has a strong relationship with Martinez.

“Yeah, definitely,” he replied when asked if Martinez can be the leader of the defense. “Especially because the whole team really, but definitely the defense, is very, very young. He’s done a great job of kind of stepping up and filling that role. That’s kind of the role of the Mike linebacker anyways. Yeah, he’s done well with that.”

And speaking of those young players, outside of the veteran Golden, Fackrell will by vying for snaps against the likes of Ximines and Lorenzo Carter as well as rookie Carter Coughlin. He sized up the group as such:

“A lot of talent, honestly. A lot of raw ability,” Fackrell said. “I think we’ve been working, we’ve been getting a lot better in the one on ones and everything. That work has been great. We were watching some clips from last year with pressures and stuff. As a rookie, X produced. I think he had four, four and a half sacks, which is awesome for a rookie. The same kind of thing with Zo. He’s going into his third year.

“I think it’ll be… It’s a fun room, it’s a fun group to be a part of. The mixture of us as outside linebackers as well as all the talent in the interior d-line. I think third down is going to be a fun down.”

That’s exactly what the Giant fans want to hear. Third downs haven’t been much fun around here in quite some time.

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Giants’ Bret Bielema thankful for the presence of Markus Golden

New York Giants outside linebacker coach Bret Bielema is thankful for the return of Markus Golden.

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One of the key moves the New York Giants made this year was to apply the rarely-used unrestricted free agent tender on veteran outside linebacker Markus Golden.

Golden entered free agency seeking a deal that would pay him in the neighborhood of $10 million per year. In late April, he was still on the market. That is when the Giants adroitly slapped the UFA tender on him, meaning that if he didn’t find a suitor by July 22, his rights would revert back to the Giants.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Golden, the Giants’ 2019 sack leader (10), was re-signed to a one-year, $5.1 million contract on August 5 and is now back in the fold. He joins free agent addition Kyler Fackrell and last year’s third round pick Oshane Ximines as the key cogs in the Giants’ pass rushing unit.

First year outside linebacker coach Bret Bielema is also thankful for the Giants bringing Golden back. His job got a bit easier upon Golden’s return.

Bielema has known of Golden since his their college days, when Bielema was the head coach at Arkansas and Golden a star defender at Missouri.

“First, it’s been awesome for me. I’ve been a fan of Markus for a long time,” said Bielema. “Unfortunately, I had to play against him in college, and then saw his career grow and got to know a little bit about him over the last few months. He’s been awesome in the room. His voice, he’s got that personality. He’s been a really nice addition to our room. I think because nobody was allowed on the field, it really wasn’t that far of a catch-up factor.

“MG, really, the thing I appreciate about him, he just wants more and more and more and more. So, I kept feeding it to him. I’ve been able to have some individual meetings as well, so he’s been a real pleasure to be around.”

The Giants have gone from having few options at edge rusher to having several. They are expecting Golden to be retake the lead, but Fackrell is a very capable player as well. Then there is Ximines, who the team sees as a potential breakout player this season.

Bielema has been working with each player individually to hone their skills further.

“You see Markus on film, what he brings to the table,” Bielema said. “But each one of these guys has been really good for me to now be around them for a couple of weeks and see what their strengths are.

“All I try to do, we have a giant tool box sitting there. Everybody’s tool box is different. The more tools we can add for them, the more things we can do. Maybe it’s how they do a certain look, how they place their hands, a countermove. Most natural pass rushers, it’s not their first move, it’s their second move. To build a little bit of a repertoire with each one of those guys on what their strengths, minimize their weaknesses then hopefully having great results on game days.”

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Giants will rely heavily on their X-Men in 2020

The New York Giants will have a pair of X-Men — Oshane Ximines and Xavier McKinney — playing significant roles in 2020.

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What are the odds that an NFL team has two players with the same nickname?

Well, the New York Giants are experiencing that this summer at camp. Last year, when the media was still learning how to pronounce the name of Old Dominion edge rusher Oshane Ximines, a reporter (believed to be Chris Bisignano of The Giant Insider) gave him the name “X-Man.”

This summer, the Giants have another player with an X in their name, Alabama safety Xavier McKinney, who they selected with the 36th overall pick in this year’s draft. He has also been called “X” by his coaches and teammates.

Now comes the question of who will be known by what nickname. Ximines says not to worry.

“We both have it,” Ximines said on Sunday. “We’re both the X-man. X is a good guy, I like him.”

Asked if he really calls McKinney “X,” Ximines confirmed that he does.

“Yes, I do call him X,” Ximines added.

Whatever names the Giants decided to call them by or what they end up calling each other, the two players are expected to play key roles on the Giants’ defense this season.

Both players know the team is leaning on them to continue learning and fast as the season is less than a month away. Ximinies will be likely used in a rotational role at outside linebacker and perhaps even at defensive end along with veterans Marcus Golden and Kyler Fackrell.

“Rookie year was great, I learned a lot of things,” Ximines said. “In year two I’m just looking to do whatever I have to do to help the team win. Coming in learning the playbook and doing whatever I have to do every single day. Getting better and being an asset to the team. After playing a full season I kind of already know what to expect when it comes to camp and different schemes on the field and things like that. It’s good going into year two, you feel a lot more comfortable.”

McKinney is being asked to step in and help bolster a secondary that looked like the Keystone Cops last year. Jabrill Peppers will be one safety and currently Julian Love, a fourth rounder out of Notre Dame last year, is the other. The plan is to have McKinney supplant one of them as a starter this year. A good problem to have, one would think.

“I’m just trying to get better each and every day. I’m not exactly where I want to be right now,” McKinney told reporters Sunday. “Whatever role they want me to play, whatever they want me to do so that the team is successful, then I’ll make sure I do that. My main focus as a rookie is trying to get better. Try to earn the respect of my teammates, try to earn the trust of my teammates. That’s what I’m going to do.”

That aside, McKinney is determined to make his mark this season for the Giants. At the moment, he’s his most staunch critic.

“(I am) never satisfied,” he said. “That’s my biggest thing right now. For me, I know what I can do. I know what I’m capable of. A lot of the times I go back and watch my film and when we watch film as a team, I always study and see what I did wrong and what I can do better so I can improve on a play. Whether it’s a down or whoever I’m guarding, I try to make sure I key on that every time I watch film.”

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Giants’ Lorenzo Carter drawing rave reviews from coaches, teammates

New York Giants LB Lorenzo Carter is receiving a lot of hype from his teammates and coaches as he enters Year 3.

New York Giants outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter has always been dogged about not living up to his enormous talent. At Georgia, he was one of the most highly-rated recruits only to have a less-than fulfilling college career.

That is likely why Carter fell to the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft. The Giants thought they were getting a steal. Instead, they have witnessed pretty much what scouts saw in Carter in college.

Carter’s first two seasons in the NFL have demonstrated that as well. As a rookie on 2018, Carter “flashed” with 43 total tackles, four sacks with 10 QB hits and four passes defensed in 15 games, only two of which he started.

The Giants were hopeful after sliding him into the starting lineup in 2019 that he would explode with a breakout year. It didn’t happen. In 15 games with 12 starts, Carter posted similar numbers (45 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 13 QB hits and five passes defensed).

This summer, with a new outside linebackers coach in Bret Bielema, the Giants are hoping once again that Carter will breakout. This time their patience might be paying off. His teammates have recognized a change in Carter this year.

“Zo and X work hard, that’s all those guys do,” said veteran Markus Golden about Carter and second year pro Oshane Ximines.” Since they were young last year they have always been working hard. You have to respect those guys and the work they put in. Me, myself, I expect big things from them I know they are working hard. They expect things from themselves, but at the end of the day it’s another year in the league and you can always come back better.”

“Zo is working really hard,” defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said of Carter. “He came in looking really good, also in good shape. You kind of see it transferring on the field. I have a locker right next to him and we chat it up a little bit. He’s doing good. He’s special.”

“Zo’s a great player,” said right guard Kevin Zeitler. “He’s doing a lot of good things here. Just like everyone else, he’s getting better every day. It’ll be a fun battle these next couple weeks. Knowing the type of person he is, I can only imagine that he’ll improve. I’m excited to see what happens.

Giants new inside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer coached Carter at the University of Georgia. He knows how infectious a presence Carter can be for a defense.

“I think I was here maybe a week and he popped in. I hadn’t really seen much of him since we both left the University of Georgia. Lorenzo is a great person, great player, good family. I’m actually looking forward to it. You kind of hope he’s a voice in the locker room that lets players know who you are before you show up,” he said.

Is 2020 finally the year Carter puts all the pieces together? We can only hope.

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Bret Bielema: Giants don’t have any true all-stars at OLB

Bret Bielema says the New York Giants don’t have any true all-stars at outside linebacker, but leaves the door open for that to change.

Bret Bielema, the New York Giants first-year outside linebackers coach, is well-known to football junkies around the country. He was a defensive lineman at Iowa under coach Hayden Fry before going into the coaching profession.

Bielema is widely known as the former head coach of both Wisconsin and Arkansas and a well-connected figure among the coaching ranks. He lands with the Giants here in 2020 as a ‘senior defensive assistant’ who will also handle the outside linebackers.

Bielema has a connection to new Giants head coach Joe Judge via their time in New England the last two seasons working on Bill Belichick’s staff.  Judge served as the Patriots’ special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach, while the more seasoned Bielema held the title of “special consultant to the head coach” and also ran the defensive line. He is a big proponent of Judge’s leadership abilities.

“I knew Joe Judge’s name before I went to New England and then obviously during my time there over two years,” Bielema told reporters this week.”The first meeting I sat in front and he was going over details that Coach Belichick would give him, just very impressive to realize the football presentation awareness. His voice, his demeanor, it was very intriguing to me. I know he has a special teams background and interests.

“To hear that firsthand and then get around him and see the general football knowledge that existed. On a personal note and the way he is as a father and the way he interacts with his colleagues and coaches and players, you know he had big things in front of him. I’m very excited to be here with him.”

Bielema, who led the Badgers to three Big Ten titles brings his advanced experience and knowledge to East Rutherford to take on the task of rounding out a very diverse and talented group that consists of Markus Golden, Kyler Fackrell, Lorenzo Carter, and Oshane Ximines plus two rookies in Cam Brown and Carter Coughlin.

“They are all very impressive,” Bielema said of his charges. “I think as a group we always talk about ‘OLBDNA.’ What we are and what we represent, when we’re there, when we’re not there. They have been a good group do work with. There isn’t any true all-stars, just guys who show up to work every day. They have a blue-collar mentality. They represent the New York Giant blue really, really well. They are hard workers.

“I’m not saying they aren’t going to be stars or superstars, but they are guys that are working the process. We have two rookies, that’s probably why my voice is the way it is. Trying to bring them along on a daily basis. Joe and the personnel department have done an outstanding job of giving us a good group of people to work with. It’s just fun to come to work every day.”

Bielema is also pleased to work with two former Big Ten players in Brown (Penn State) and Coughlin (Minnesota).

“Yeah, they have been a lot of fun. Two different kinds of guys,” said Bielema. “Carter played on the line of scrimmage, did a lot of things on the edge at Minnesota. Cam was an edge to air player, he was in space a lot. A very long player, Carter is a little bit more of an on the line of scrimmage linebacker. It’s been fun. Both uniquely different but both great to work with on a daily basis.

“What’s impressive to me is the way the vets have responded to them. You knew they were going to respond to the vets, but sometimes the vets aren’t as reciprocal. All four of our veteran players do everything they can to make them better. It really makes our room pretty cool.”

Just another example of how the Giants’ culture is changing under the guidance of Judge and his staff.

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Patrick Graham explains how Giants intend to generate pressure

New York Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham believes in his players and has little doubt they will be able to create pressure.

The New York Giants defense was one of the worst in the NFL last season, finishing 30th out of 32 teams, allowing 377 yards and 28.2 points per game.

That was enough to get the coaching staff fired (along with other things) and replaced by a more aggressive, creative bunch. This year, the Giants’ defense will be run by new coordinator Patrick Graham, who coached the Giants’ defensive line under Ben McAdoo from 2016-17.

Graham was hired by new head coach Joe Judge, who worked with Bill Belichick’s staff in New England from 2012-15. He met with the Giants’ media pool via Zoom on Tuesday to discuss the progress of the team’s new-look defense.

With a glut of new faces who have never played together before, Graham told reporters that the focus in the beginning stages of training camp was to “learn the fundamentals” and eventually become “multiple within the scheme.”

The Giants’ pass rush has been less than satisfactory the past few seasons. Graham acknowledged that he has some decent options (Markus Golden, Kyler Fackrell, Oshane Ximines) but warned that rushing the passer is different in the NFL than it is in college.

“We’re trying to figure out what everyone does well,” he said.

Graham iterated that in the beginning it will be “trial and error” and it was way too early to talk about any rotation.

Graham would not disclose the information every Giant reporter and fan what to know — will he run a 4-3 or a 3-4? His answer was inconclusive as he simply said that all his schemes will “bend together” and that they will mostly run sub packages so the base defense was insignificant.

Graham was asked about the Giants’ big ticket defensive lineman, Leonard Williams, who is playing this season under the $16.1 million franchise tag.

Graham also loves the effort he’s seeing from second-year nose tackle Dexter Lawrence.

“He plays with really high levels of effort,” said Graham. “When those big guys are the leaders in effort, you can feel that on the field.”

All in all, Graham’s presser showed a completely different side of the man who was here three seasons ago under McAdoo. Much more open and informative.

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2020 Giants training camp: Position battles to watch

As the New York Giants ready themselves for padded training camp practices, here are some key positional battles to watch.

Every summer brings NFL training camps and every training camp has their share of roster battles.

With a new coaching staff and a load of new faces to pit against some unproven old faces, the New York Giants’ camp will have quite a number of battles for key positions this year.

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Offensive tackle

Nate Solder was going to have to prove that he was still left tackle timber this summer before he opted out for the season. So, left tackle was very much in play. Now, it’s their priority.

The Giants are hopeful that first round pick Andrew Thomas slides right in and starts from Day 1. That could still happen. He’ll have plenty of company, though. Third round pick Matt Peart will now be thrust into the mix for the left tackle spot as well.

Right tackle is even more wide open. The loser of the left tackle role will have to fend off veteran free agent Cam Fleming and the Giants’ everyman, Nick Gates. These are the two biggest question marks of the summer.

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Osi Umenyiora offers pass rushing advice to Giants’ Oshane Ximines

Osi Umenyiora and New York Giants OLB Oshane Ximines have been in recent contact with Osi offering up some solid pass rushing advice.

Former New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora sees a lot of potential in current Giants outside linebacker Oshane Ximines.

The two-time Super Bowl champ and Pro Bowler knew how to get to the quarterback in his nine years as a Giant and is now offering advice to Ximines, the Giants’ third-round pick out of Old Dominion in last year’s NFL Draft.

Osi and Ximines are very similar in size. Osi is 6-foot-3 and played at 255 pounds, while Ximines, called the “X-Man” here in New York (courtesy of Chris Bisignano from The Giant Insider), is slightly taller at 6-foot-4 and played last season at 254 pounds.

In a tweet from Alex Wilson of Empire Sports Media, it was suggested that Osi provide some advice to Ximines regarding rushing the passer. So, he did.

In a phone interview with Pat Traina of SI.com’s Giants Country, Umenyiora outlined what he believes Ximnines can accomplish in this league and even how to achieve them. The two players have reportedly been in constant contact since, which is a good thing for Ximines, who is eager to learn from one of the great Giants pass rushers of the past.

“You have to set up offensive lineman,” Osi told Traina. “Say, for instance, you are a speed rusher, and you want to change things up and power rush on a play and then bull rush on another. You want the offensive lineman to think that you’re speed rushing. And then when you’re speed rushing, you want him to think that your power rushing. You have to be able to set up your pass rush moves where everything looks the same way to the offensive linemen.”

“If you’re able to do that,” Umenyiora continued, “then the offensive lineman will be big trouble because to block speed rush, you have to set up a certain way. To block a bull rush, you have to set a certain way. If the offensive lineman doesn’t know which one is coming, he’s literally at your mercy.”

It will be difficult for Ximines to match Umenyiora’s production. Osi registered 14.5 sacks in 2005, the year he was named an All-Pro. Osi would go on to have two more double-digit sack seasons (2007, 2010) and finished his Giants career with 75 sacks, placing him fourth all-time on the Giants’ sack list behind Hall of Famers Michael Strahan and Lawrence Taylor and the very underrated Leonard Marshall.

Ximines probably won’t be able to match Osi’s production because they literally play two different positions. Umenyiora was 4-3 defensive end, whose main job was to pin his ears back and go after the quarterback. Ximines will be a 3-4 outside linebacker charged with not only rushing the passer but sealing the edge on the running game and cover running backs and tight ends in the passing game.

Umenyiora suggests Ximines study some of the more successful 3-4 outside linebackers in the league such as his former teammate at Troy, DeMarcus Ware, Denver’s Von Miller and Chandler Jones of the Arizona Cardinals.

“The only thing is as outside linebacker there asking you to drop into coverage,” Umenyiora said. “So you gotta be able to read the offense and those things, as opposed to firing off the ball in a pass rush.”

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Giants roster outlook: Upgrades, downgrades or lateral moves on defense

Giants Wire examines the New York Giants defense and the changes made this offseason, offering a verdict on each unit.

The New York Giants went into the offseason knowing they had to make some changes on their 25th ranked defense.

General manager Dave Gettleman used his free agent money and seven of his 10 draft picks in an attempt to revamp and revive a group that simply allowed way too many easy scores to opponents in 2019.

Here is a quick rundown on each unit as training camp begins

Al Bello/Getty Images

Defensive line

Gained: Austin Johnson

Lost: Olsen Pierre

The Giants’ big move was made last October when they traded two draft choices to the Jets for Leonard Williams, an impending free agent. They could not come to an agreement this offseason, so they applied the franchise tag to retain Williams at a price of $16.1 million. He’ll be a starter along with Dalvin Tomlinson and Dexter Lawrence. B.J. Hill, R.J McIntosh and Chris Slayton are returning as well. Johnson will provide some veteran depth.

Verdict: Slight upgrade

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