Giants waive defensive back Ryan Lewis

The New York Giants have officially waived defensive back Ryan Lewis.

The New York Giants announced on Wednesday that they have officially waived defensive back Ryan Lewis.

Lewis entered the league as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Pittsburgh. He first signed with the Arizona Cardinals before bouncing with several teams, making stops with the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins and Washington Football Team.

Lewis was signed to the Giants’ practice squad last September, elevated for the team’s Week 2 game against the Chicago Bears and later promoted to the active roster before landing on IR with a hamstring injury in early November.

In total, Lewis appeared in five games (three starts) for the Giants, recording 13 tackles and one pass defensed. He earned a PFF grade of 41.2.

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PFF ranks Giants’ secondary in bottom half of NFL

Pro Football Focus ranked the New York Giants’ secondary in the bottom half of the NFL but offered incredible praise for CB James Bradberry.

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The New York Giants defense played well above expectations in 2020 and that was due in part to their secondary, anchored by cornerback James Bradberry and safeties Logan Ryan and Jabrill Peppers.

Bradberry, of course, was named to the Pro Bowl and Ryan was a narrow miss, having led NFC free safeties in voting for months before falling just short in the end.

Despite the quality play from the secondary, there was one glaring weakness: the lack of a consistent CB2 alongside Bradberry.

The combination of Isaac Yiadom, Ryan Lewis and others was enough to drop the unit’s entire ranking in the eyes of Pro Football Focus, who have the Giants finishing the 2020 regular season in the bottom half of the NFL.

18. NEW YORK GIANTS

New York is this high because of one man only: James Bradberry. The fifth-year corner was signed to a monster contract this past offseason after four middling years with the Carolina Panthers. He didn’t play at a high level in his four years with Carolina, failing to surpass a 70.0 PFF grade in every season, so the contract was risky, to say the least.

But Bradberry proved all the doubters wrong and justified his pay this season. He ranked fifth among outside corners in coverage grade and fourth in forced incompletion rate (21%). There were quite a few missed tackles from him (14), but that’s something you can live with if he keeps up this shutdown play.

While that’s a whole lot of credit for Bradberry, the safeties were sold a bit short in this analysis.

Either way, it’s been obvious for months that the Giants are in desperate need of another quality cornerback to pair with Bradberry, so that will certainly be a central focus of general manager Dave Gettleman & Co. this offseason.

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Giants place DB Ryan Lewis on injured reserve

The New York Giants have placed defensive back Ryan Lewis (hamstring) on injured reserve.

The New York Giants have had injury issues in their secondary all season and that trend continued on Friday with the team announcing that cornerback Ryan Lewis has been placed on IR.

Lewis was a late addition to the injury report last week and ultimately missed a Week 8 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a hamstring injury.

Although the Giants remained hopeful Lewis could return in short order, he had been unable to practice all week and will now miss at least three games before he’s eligible to return.

Ryan had served as the team’s No. 2 corner alongside James Bradberry for several weeks leading up to Monday night’s game after Corey Ballentine and Isaac Yiadom failed to secure the role. Yiadom now figures to get another crack at it.

In five games (three starts) this season, Lewis has recorded 13 tackles and one pass defensed. He has a Pro Football Focus grade of 41.2, including a coverage grade of 42.8.

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Giants injury report: Devonta Freeman, Blake Martinez limited

New York Giants RB Devonta Freeman (ankle) and LB Blake Martinez (hamstring) were limited in practice on Thursday.

The New York Giants were back on the practice field in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Thursday as they prepare for a Week 9 battle against the Washington Football Team.

It was the first full practice of the week, which comes on the heels of a Wednesday walkthrough and as anticipated, wide receiver Golden Tate re-joined his teammates.

However, Tate’s participation was heavily limited and it’s clear he’s found himself in Joe Judge’s doghouse. His workload did not reflect his designation in the portion of practice open to the media.

Meanwhile, running back Devonta Freeman went through individual drills for the first time since injuring his ankle against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 7.

Defensive back Ryan Lewis was not spotted at practice.

Below is the official injury report:

Did not participate: DB Ryan Lewis (hamstring)

Limited participant: RB Devonta Freeman (ankle), LB Devante Downs (shoulder), LB Blake Martinez (hamstring), DB Logan Ryan (hip), WR Sterling Shepard (shoulder/toe)

Full participant: WR Golden Tate (not injury related)

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Giants’ Ryan Lewis added to injury report, doubtful vs. Bucs

The New York Giants have added cornerback Ryan Lewis (hamstring) to their injury report, listing him as doubtful against the Buccaneers.

Already thin at cornerback, the New York Giants can ill afford to lose any additional players ahead of a Week 8 matchup against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but that’s exactly what happened on Sunday.

The Giants have added Ryan Lewis to the injury report and list him as doubtful to play on Monday night due to a hamstring injury.

Ryan has served as the team’s No. 2 corner alongside James Bradberry for the past few weeks after both Corey Ballentine and Isaac Yiadom failed to secure the role.

The Giants did designate veteran cornerback Brandon Williams to return from injured reserve earlier this week, but he has not been officially activated as of Sunday morning.

In addition to Lewis, the Giants have also listed running back Devonta Freeman (ankle) and safety Adrian Colbert (shoulder) out for Monday’s game.

Wide receiver C.J. Board (concussion) is listed as questionable.

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Matt Peart, Dalvin Tomlinson were highest-graded Giants in Week 6

Rookie OL Matt Peart and DL Dalvin Tomlinson earned the New York Giants’ highest Pro Football Focus grades of Week 6.

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The New York Giants picked up their first win of the season on Sunday, defeating the Washington Football Team, 20-19, at MetLife Stadium.

It wasn’t necessarily a clean win for the Giants, but the result reads the same either way. What made victory No. 1 so interesting were those who contributed to it.

Rookie linebacker Tae Crowder factored in heavily, as did rookie offensive tackle Matt Peart, who stepped in for fellow rookie offensive tackle Andrew Thomas after his benching for disciplinary reasons.

In fact, Peart led all Giants (25+ snaps) with a 90.6 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, including a 93.4 run blocking grade.

Thomas, meanwhile, earned an overall grade of 72.6 and a run blocking grade of 79.5.

Neither Peart nor Thomas fared particularly well in pass protection, earning grades of 58.0 and 55.3, respectively.

Tight end Kaden Smith (23 snaps) earned the team’s highest overall grade with 90.6. Defensive lineman Austin Johnson (6 snaps) also fared well, earning a 90.0 grade.

But it was defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson who led that unit with an overall grade of 83.9. He was followed by fellow defensive linemen Leonard Williams (75.7 overall) and B.J. Hill (75.5 overall).

Ryan Lewis was given the highest grade among defensive backs, earning a 71.9. Surprisingly, James Bradberry recorded a grade of just 65.1, while Logan Ryan was tabbed with a 62.6 grade.

The lowest-graded defender on the day was linebacker David Mayo, who earned a 28.6 in his return from injured reserve.

Finally, the lowest-graded offensive player of Week 6 was left guard Will Hernandez, who checked in with a lousy 44.1.

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Darius Slayton, James Bradberry were highest-graded Giants in Week 5

WR Darius Slayton and CB James Bradberry were the highest-graded New York Giants in a Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

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The New York Giants experienced another mixed bag in a Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Their offense finally stepped up to the plate, but it was their defense that ultimately let them down.

It was just the latest example of the Giants failing to put things all together and ending up with another loss.

On the positive side of things, wide receiver Darius Slayton had one of the best games of his career (8 receptions for 129 yards) and that was reflected in the Pro Football Focus grades. Slayton earned a team-high grade of 91.6.

On the defensive side of the ball, cornerback James Bradberry led the charge with an overall grade of 77.9, including a coverage grade of 791. And even that seems low for a guy who completely shut down Amari Cooper.

Also checking in with an impressive grade was punter Riley Dixon, who earned an 87.9 for his beautiful touchdown pass to tight end Evan Engram on a fake field goal (the play was negated due to a penalty).

Meanwhile, quarterback Daniel Jones earned an overall grade of 68.6, defensive tackle Leonard Williams a grade of 74.6 and safety Jabrill Peppers a grade of 73.5.

The lowest-graded Giants of Week 5 were linebackers Tae Crowder (28.0) and Devante Down (32.4), and cornerback Ryan Lewis (33.8).

The lowest-graded offensive players were center Nick Gates (42.6) and wide receiver Damion Ratley (49.0).

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Giants-Cowboys Week 5: Offense, defense and special teams snap counts

The New York Giants lost their Week 5 game against the Dallas Cowboys. Here are the snap counts on offense, defense and special teams.

The New York Giants fell to the Dallas Cowboys, 37-34, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Sunday, dropping their record to 0-5 on the season and potentially putting jobs on the line.

For the fourth time this season, the Giants battled and had a chance to walk away with a win, but simply couldn’t make the plays they needed to in the end.

Here’s a look at the snap counts that attributed to their latest loss.

Offensive snaps: 68
Defensive snaps: 66
Special teams snaps: 34

Cornerback Ryan Lewis has completely taken over as No. 2 alongside James Bradberry, seeing the field on 97% of all defensive snaps. By contrast, Corey Ballentine didn’t take a single defensive snap in Week 5. Ditto Isaac Yiadom.

Unfortunately, safety Nate Ebner and linebacker Devante Downs took two defensive snaps each, and wouldn’t you know it, the Cowboys scored a touchdown on one of those plays.

Meanwhile, defensive back Adrian Colbert, who had two terrible personal foul penalties called against him, out-snapped Jabrill Peppers 50 to 23. That would seem to indicate that Peppers is not fully back from his ankle injury just yet.

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Giants place Saquon Barkley on IR, promote CB Ryan Lewis

The Giants have officially placed Saquon Barkley on IR.

In an expected roster move, the New York Giants placed running back Saquon Barkley on injured reserve and have replaced him on the active roster.

Barkley tore the ACL in his right knee in the first half of the Giants’ 17-13 loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday. No date has been announced by the team for Barkley’s corrective surgery.

Taking Barkley’s spot on the 53-man roster is cornerback Ryan Lewis, who was promoted from the practice squad on Tuesday.

Lewis, (6-foot, 195 pounds) was a UDFA out of Pitt back in 2017 and has spent time with the Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins.

He appeared in eight games (three starts) last year with Miami under current Giants defensive coordinator, Patrick Graham.

In a corresponding move, safety Sean Chandler was reverted back to the practice squad, which opens up a spot for Devonta Freeman, who the team is reportedly expected to sign soon.

Giants to sign CB Ryan Lewis to active roster

Giants are bringing up Ryan Lewis to the active roster.

The New York Giants are signing cornerback Ryan Lewis to the active roster from the practice squad, per Dan Duggan of The Athletic.

Lewis has been on the Giants practice squad to begin the season but was elevated to the active roster for the 17-13 loss in Week 2 against the Chicago Bears. He didn’t log a snap in the loss.

Lewis has experience working with Giants new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham from their time with the Dolphins in 2019.

Lewis will likely be an addition of depth for the secondary and on special teams. James Bradburry led the way playing 100% of the snaps in Week 2 followed by Issac Yiadom (55%), Corey Ballentine (45%) and Darnay Holmes (38%).

The Giants are back home hosting the San Francisco 49ers (1-1) at MetLife Stadium in Week 3 so we will get an idea of what type of role Lewis will have then.