Tag: Riley Dixon

4 Giants worthy of Pro Bowl consideration

2020 Pro Bowl rosters will be revealed on Tuesday, and here are four New York Giants worthy of consideration.

The New York Giants are not having a great season. In fact, they’re not really having a great decade, having gone through four head coaches (if you count Steve Spagnuolo), two general managers, multiple different offensive and defensive systems, and once again appear poised for major change.

Currently, they are 3-11 on the season and even those three wins are surprising. They are slated to select second overall in the 2020 NFL Draft and could soon embark on a head coaching and general manager search.

Despite all of that, there are a few bright spots. And with the 2020 Pro Bowl rosters scheduled to be revealed on Tuesday night, we here at Giants Wire wanted to take a look at a few players worth of consideration.

Enjoy.

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Dalvin Tomlinson

Because the Giants defense has been so poor this season, quality players such as Tomlinson are likely to be overlooked. And while that’s understandable, it’s also unfortunate because the third-year defensive lineman is actually playing quite well this year.

Tomlinson has become a force along the Giants’ defensive line and currently sports a 77.7 Pro Football Focus grade on the heels of a game against the Miami Dolphins in which he graded out with an 82.

In 14 games this season, Tomlinson has recorded 45 tackles, four stuffs, one forced fumble and 3.5 sacks.

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Giants drop Dolphins: Winners, losers and those in between

The New York Giants defeated the Miami Dolphins in what may be Eli Manning’s final game. Here’s a look at the winners and losers.

In what may be Eli Manning’s final start as a member of the New York Giants, the team came up big and managed to get him a victory — Manning’s first win in over a calendar year and the team’s first win since Week 4.

It was ugly early on, but then the Giants began to roll and never looked back. There were some issues here and there, but all things considered, it was the team’s most well-rounded game all season.

Here’s a quick look at the winners and losers from Week 14:

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Winners

David Mayo: On a team — and specifically a defense — that does very little right, Mayo has been a pleasant and unexpected surprise. Yes, he’s been up-and-down at times and even had a few hiccups on Sunday, but overall he’s a very sound player who steps up and makes big plays at crucial times. It’s a shame his teammates actually drag down his play.

Saquon Barkley: Finally. Finally. Finally. Barkley had not had a 100-yard game since Week 2 and had not reached the endzone since Week 7. Both of those streaks ended with what was arguably Barkley’s best performance of the season. He finished the day with 112 yards on 24 carries, 31 yards on four receptions and two touchdowns.

Darius Slayton: Slayton didn’t put up huge numbers, but he came up big in a few big plays in key spots. He finished the game with two receptions for 31 yards and his eighth touchdown of the season.

Riley Dixon: Worth. Every. Penny.

Others: Dalvin Tomlinson, Leonard Williams, Michael Thomas

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Giants Coordinator Corner: Coaches looking for consistency down the stretch

The New York Giants’ coordinators are looking for some consistency out of their players over the final three weeks of the season.

The New York Giants’ three coordinators met with the media on Thursday as their prepared their respective units for Sunday’s game against the 3-10 Miami Dolphins.

The Giants, 2-11, have lost nine consecutive games and can set a franchise record for consecutive losses should they come out not he losing end this week.

Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com, North Jersey Record via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Offensive coordinator Mike Shula

The Giants are still holding out hope that Daniel Jones can play this Sunday. Shula did not commit to Jones or Eli Manning leaving that announcement for head coach Pat Shurmur.

Shula was also asked about the failure of running back Saquon Barkley to crack 100 yards rushing since returning from a high ankle sprain seven games ago.

“First of all, it’s hard. Last year when we got rolling, it was you get on a roll and you stay on it,” said Shula. “That’s our goal to do that every year. More importantly, to win football games. We know that the running game is going to be a big part of that. I think that probably four or five weeks ago, we kind of struggled just with a few things, just with some moving parts.

“Saquon was just getting back from his injury. I think the last few weeks, though, we’ve been back heading in the direction where we want to go. We’re not quite there, but there are a lot of positive runs, a lot of efficient runs. You see our offensive line coming off the ball, you see them re-establishing the line of scrimmage, Saquon is hitting it up in there. We’ve had a few that have been really close, really in the last three games, from breakouts. I felt that way the week before.

“Unfortunately, we had to punt it over and then got down a couple scores. We had to kind of get to throwing the football. Then last week, we were kind of the same. But there is a lot more good now than basically what we saw four or five weeks ago.”

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Giants make Riley Dixon one of NFL’s highest-paid punters

The New York Giants have made Riley Dixon one of the highest-paid punters in the NFL with his three-year extension.

The 2-10 New York Giants are making moves. Not really earth-shattering ones, but moves that losing teams make to safeguard themselves from becoming even worse.

This week, they re-signed punter Riley Dixon to a three-year deal.

No one really cares about punters, we get it. But being around the Giants for many years, having a solid punter is vital, especially if your offense isn’t cutting it.

In the 1970s and 80s, the Giants had great punters such as Dave Jennings and Sean Landeta to get them out of trouble and help control field position. They would then hand the game over to their defense to win or lose.

This Giant team can’t really do that because their defense is a joke but, hey, they got the punter part down. They acquired Dixon before last season from the Denver Broncos in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick and have repeatedly brought in challengers to keep him honest, but good punters are hard to find. The Giants are hopeful Dixon can continue to improve the next few seasons.

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Report: Giants, Riley Dixon agree to three-year contract extension

The New York Giants and punter Riley Dixon have agreed to a three-year contract extension.

There have been very few bright spots for the New York Giants this season, but one of them has been punter Riley Dixon, who is not only having the best year of his career, but is arguably one of only two Giants (Dexter Lawrence) deserving of Pro Bowl and All-Pro consideration.

Not wanting Dixon to get away, the Giants offered him a three-year contract extension which was agreed on by both parties, reports ESPN’s Jordan Raanan.

We here at Giants Wire recently listed Dixon as one of five players worthy of a contract extension, so… shameless self plug right there.

Here is what we said at the time:

Dixon’s rookie deal ends this season, so he’ll be looking for more and will come down to a matter of how much more. There’s no reason for the Giants to be looking to replace Dixon, whose average of 47.0 per attempt is sixth-best in the NFL (his net of 42.3 is fifth-best).

Dixon also serves as the holder in the kicking game, so he wears more than one hat. Steady punters are hard to find in this league and being a proponent of having strong special teams, it’s a good bet Gettleman will bring Dixon back.

The exact financials of Dixon’s three-year extension have not yet been released.

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5 Giants who are candidates for contract extensions

Here’s a look at five members of the New York Giants who are candidates for contract extensions ahead of 2020 free agency.

The New York Giants have a total of 17 players on their roster who are not under contract past this season.

Headed for unrestricted free agency are: Eli Manning, Leonard Williams, Marcus Golden, Mike Remmers, Michael Thomas, Russell Shepard, Cody Latimer, Zak DeOssie, Antonio Hamilton, David Mayo, Javorius Allen, Deone Bucannon, Scott Simonson, Alex Tanney, Corey Coleman, Cody Core and Riley Dixon.

It’s unlikely the team will bring Manning back. That would be counterproductive in a number of ways. DeOssie appears to have played his last down in blue and many of the others are veterans that can be upgraded through either the draft or free agency, where the Giants are positioned to be very active.

Here are five impending free agents the Giants could be looking to prioritize and extend:

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Defensive lineman Leonard Williams

After surrendering a 2020 third-round pick and a 2021 fifth-round pick (that becomes a fourth rounder if they sign him) to land Williams, general manager Dave Gettleman will look foolish if he allows the former Pro Bowler to walk.

Gettleman might look even more foolish if he gives Williams an over-the-market contract. Williams has not brought enough to the table for the Giants for them to go above and beyond to retain him.

Williams is not worth both a third- and a fourth-round pick plus a contract that could  pay him double-digit millions per annum. No sense throwing good money after bad.

The Giants best bet is to let Williams walk and only bid on him if his price starts to drop to where it would be a bargain. I don’t foresee Williams getting signed for a while in free agency as he and his reps appear to be looking for a huge payday.

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Giants’ Kevin Zeitler, Riley Dixon make PFF’s NFL Week 10 Team of the Week

Two members of the New York Giants were named to the Pro Football Focus NFL Week 10 Team of the Week.

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The New York Giants fell to the New York Jets, 34-27, on Sunday in embarrassing fashion and precious few players could put a feather into their cap for a solid performance.

One of those players was right guard Kevin Zeitler, who played well despite some struggles around him, earning a spot on Pro Football Focus’ NFL Week 10 Team of the Week.

RG KEVIN ZEITLER, NEW YORK GIANTS

Zeitler earned his highest single-game grade of the season (75.6) against the Jets in Week 10. He allowed just two total pressures and earned a 72.3 run-blocking grade.

Considering how poorly the offensive line played as a hole and how little Saquon Barkley was able produce, it may seem somewhat shocking to see Zeitler’s name here, but PFF has their opinion.

In addition to Zeitler, punter Riley Dixon also earned a spot on the PFF Team of the Week, although they offered no additional context when it came to his inclusion.

Dixon averaged 53.5 yards on six punts with a long of 59 and one downed inside the 20. He also had a touchback and a failed two-point conversion attempt off a bad snap from Zak DeOssie.

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