Tag: T.J. Brunson

CFL’s Roughriders sign ex-Giants draft pick T.J. Brunson

Former New York Giants draft pick, linebacker T.J. Brunson, has signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL.

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The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced the signing of former New York Giants linebacker T.J. Brunson on Thursday.

The 25-year-old Brunson was a seventh-round pick of the Giants in the 2020 NFL draft. He spent two seasons with the team before being waived in June of 2022.

As a rookie in 2020, Brunson appeared in five games for the Giants, recording three tackles and taking most of his snaps on special teams.

Brunson was poised for a larger role in 2021 but suffered a torn ACL in the team’s first preseason game against the New York Jets.

“It’s unfortunate. Sometimes that’s the nature of the game. You don’t wanna see any player on either team get hurt. You always want every team to come out completely healthy,” then-head coach Joe Judge said at the time.

Under the new regime of general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll, last year, Brunson didn’t even make it to training camp and sat out the entire season.

Prior to being drafted by the Giants, Brunson played his college ball at South Carolina and was named to ESPN’s All-Bowl Team in 2017.

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19 players Giants have drafted from Senior Bowl over last 6 years

Since 2017, the New York Giants have drafted 19 players who had practiced during Senior Bowl week or played in the Senior Bowl itself.

The NFL draft run-up begins this week with the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. The New York Giants have always had a presence at the game and have drafted many a player who has participated in the game over the years.

Here are some players the Giants met and scouted at the game and then drafted going back to 2017.

Giants sign WR Keelan Doss, release LB T.J. Brunson

The New York Giants have signed WR Keelan Doss, who was a tryout during minicamp, and waived LB T.J. Brunson.

The New York Giants announced on Friday that following their three-day minicamp, wide receiver Keelan Doss has been signed.

Doss was one of four tryout players to join the Giants in East Rutherford this week. The other three were wide receiver Isaiah Ford, tight end Jaeden Graham and defensive tackle Kobe Smith.

Doss, 26, was signed by the Las Vegas Raiders as an undrafted rookie free agent out of UC Davis in 2019. He’s also made stops with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets, plus a second stint with the Raiders.

In nine career games (two starts), Doss has caught 11 passes for 133 yards.

With a spot needed on their 90-man roster, the Giants also announced that linebacker T.J. Brunson has been waived.

The 24-year-old Brunson was a seventh-round pick of the Giants in the 2020 NFL draft (under Dave Gettleman). In five career games, he has recorded three tackles (two solo).

Brunson missed last season after suffering a torn ACL in a preseason game against the New York Jets.

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18 injured or absent Giants account for over $33 million in salary cap space

A look at 18 injured or absent members of the New York Giants and their respective cap hits totaling more than $33 million in space.

The New York Giants have under $3 million in available salary cap space, according to Spotrac. And part of the reason for that slim margin is due to an overwhelming number of injured or absent players.

Sixteen players currently reside on injured reserve and that does not take into account the number of players that have been waived with injury settlements. Additionally, the Giants have one player (running back Gary Brightwell) on the Reserve/COVID-19 list and one player (center Jonotthan Harrison) on the Practice Squad/Injured list.

Let’s not even talk about the players eating up a ton of dead cap space.

Below is a look at the 18 injured or absent Giants and how much cap space they account for.

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Giants place three players on injured reserve

The New York Giants have placed OL Kyle Murphy, LB T.J. Brunson and DB Joshua Kalu on injured reserve.

The New York Giants placed another player on injured reserve on Monday.

Backup interior offensive lineman Kyle Murphy, who injured his ankle in Saturday’s preseason loss to the Jets, is joining linebacker T.J. Brunson (knee) and defensive back Joshua Kalu (pec) who were placed on IR earlier in the day.

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The league has changed the rules regarding IR. Teams are now allowed to return as many players as they want from IR. Players sent to injured reserve (or the reserve/NFI – non-football injury – list) before the final roster cuts on 4:00 p.m. on September 1st will not be eligible to return during the 2021 season.

That will be the case for Murphy, Kalu and Brunson. All three are done for the year.

Those placed on IR after the 53-man rosters are finalized however, can be brought back. Players placed on IR must stay there for a minimum of three weeks, istead of six, which was the timeline last year.

Murphy, due to the thinning ranks along the offensive line, had a legitimate shot to secure a roster spot this summer. He was signed last April as a UDFA out of Rhode Island. He was cut in camp but was immediately re-signed to the practice squad.

Murphy was signed to the Giants’ active roster on November 13.

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David Moa, Carter Coughlin were highest-graded Giants vs. Jets

David Moa and Carter Coughlin earned the New York Giants’ highest PFF grades in a preseason Week 1 loss to the New York Jets.

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The New York Giants dropped their first preseason game of the year, 12-7, against the New York Jets on Saturday night at MetLife Stadium.

It was the first game hosting fans since December of 2019, but the Giants provided little to cheer about. There were more negatives than positives, but it’s important to note that the team’s starters saw very little action — some not at all.

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Pro Football Focus completed their grading breakdown on Sunday morning and there were some legitimate surprises.

Linebacker Reggie Ragland, who earned our Player of the Game, was the lowest-graded Giant with a 32.6. Although he did grade out fairly well in terms of tackling and run defense, his coverage grade of 32.1 really drug him down.

Veteran defensive tackle Danny Shelton, who had a drive-changing stuff on fourth down, also graded out at just 39.1.

Some of the team’s other low grades belong to defensive end Raymond Johnson (39.7), rookie cornerback Rodarius Williams (45.5), running back Alfred Morris (45.0) and running back Corey Clement (45.1).

The team’s highest grade belonged to defensive tackle David Moa, who earned a remarkable 92.0 on 41 snaps. Linebacker Carter Coughlin checked in just behind him with a 91.8.

Also earning a 90+ was linebacker T.J. Brunson (90.4).

On the offensive side of the ball, left tackle Andrew Thomas led the way with a 76.0, followed by right tackle Matt Peart with a 73.2.

Meanwhile, wide receiver David Sills earned a 73.0 and offensive lineman Kyle Murphy a 72.2.

Other noteworthy grades include quarterback Mike Glennon (72.2), guard Will Hernandez (60.1) and edge rusher Azeez Ojulari (56.6).

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Giants’ T.J. Brunson out for season after tearing ACL

New York Giants LB T.J. Brunson suffered a torn ACL and DB Joshua Kalu a torn pectoral muscle, and both are likely out for the season.

Injury news has gone from bad to worse for the New York Giants following their 12-7 preseason-opening loss to the New York Jets on Saturday night.

Although head coach Joe Judge expressed some level of optimism following the game, that was not realized as news trickled in on Sunday morning.

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Linebacker T.J. Brunson has been lost for the season after suffering a torn ACL, the team announced.

“It’s unfortunate. Sometimes that’s the nature of the game. You don’t wanna see any player on either team get hurt. You always want every team to come out completely healthy,” Judge told reporters following the game.

Brunson, a seventh-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft, was vying for a spot at linebacker — a position where the Giants already lack some depth.

In addition to Brunson, the Giants also announced that defensive back Joshua Kalu suffered a torn pectoral muscle. He, too, is likely out for the season.

Both Brunson and Kalu had solid odds of making the team for their depth and special teams prowess but now, as the Giants say all too often in recent years, it’s time for the next man to step up.

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Giants’ Joe Judge: String of injuries is ‘unfortunate’

New York Giants head coach Joe Judge says his team’s recent string of injuries, particularly along the O-line, is “unfortunate.”

The New York Giants held out the majority of their starters in Saturday’s 12-7 loss to the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in an effort to protect them from unnecessary injury. Being the first preseason game of the year in a new era where the strategy has changed due to the shortened run up to the season, they appeared to be doing the right thing.

The game was meaningless in the grand scheme of things and with rosters due to be reduced to 85 players this week, the team actually needed to get a longer look at some their backups.

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There were some injuries during the game to report, however. Tight end Cole Hikutuni left the game with a hip injury and offensive lineman Kyle Murphy was carted off with an ankle injury and did not return. Linebacker T.J. Brunson also got banged up during the game and had to be attained to by the medical team.

“Hopefully Kyle and some of the other guys that left the game, hopefully it’s not too serious and we can get these guys back out there,” head coach Joe Judge said after the game. “They’re all working really hard for us and doing a good job. You hate to see a guy like Kyle or a guy like TJ or Cole have to leave the game with some kind of an injury. It’s unfortunate. Sometimes that’s the nature of the game. You don’t wanna see any player on either team get hurt. You always want every team to come out completely healthy, so we’ll find out what that is. And, again, we’re hoping for the best and we’ll get these guys as well as we can as fast we can.”

Rookie wide receiver Kadarius Toney was ruled out before the game with an unspecified injury. He was snot seen on the field during warmups.

“Any injured player who was not going to be able to play in the game tonight, we didn’t put on the sideline,” Judge said. “Everyone who was on the sideline would have been healthy enough to participate in the game. The only exception would be Saquon (Barkley) and if it’s a captain, there’s a different deal. Sometimes, we’ll let them on the field.”

When pressed about Toney’s injury, Judge offered little detail.

“I’m not gonna disclose any person’s individual injury at this moment, but we hope to get him out there this week…he’s been dealing with it for a little bit. Something was aggravated in practice towards the tail end of this week, so he was unable to play tonight.”

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Giants drop preseason opener to Jets, 12-7

The New York Giants avoided a shutout but fell to the New York Jets, 12-7, in the preseason opener at MetLife Stadium.

The New York Giants opened the preseason on Saturday night in a game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

With fans in attendance for the first time since December of 2019, the Giants gave them little to cheer about through the first half. They were sloppy, confused and hardly looked like a team ready to compete.

But the second brought about change, right? Wrong.

The Giants got no better in the second half and arguably played even worse until midway through the fourth quarter. They were unable to generate any offensive momentum and had entirely too many defensive mishaps, but they did get one touchdown to avoid a shutout.

The Jets certainly weren’t dominant, but the Giants were not at all competitive until there was under 7:20 left to play and then that faded quickly.

Giants’ 2020 draft class earns one of NFC East’s lowest grades

The New York Giants’ 2020 draft class received one of the lowest NFC East grades courtesy of NFL.com’s Nick Shook.

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The 2021 NFL draft is nearing and teams are beginning to maneuver to make room for the incoming class. The New York Giants have six selections in this year’s draft, one in each of the first four rounds (11th, 42nd, 76th and 107th overall) and two sixth rounders (Nos. 172 and 177). They do not have their fifth-round and seventh-round selections having surrendered them in trades for defensive lineman Leonard Williams and defensive back Isaac Yiadom.

But before we jump into speculating on this year’s group, let’s review how well did the Giants did at the draft table last year.

Nick Shook of NFL.com gave the Giants’ 2020 draft class a C+ grade in a recent article.

The lukewarm grade is largely based on the poor start to first round pick Andrew Thomas’ NFL career. Thomas played all 16 games, starting 15 and led the NFL in sacks and pressures allowed. The Giants’ second rounder, Alabama safety Xavier McKinney, broke his foot in training camp and missed the first 10 games of the regular season.

Thomas got off to a slow start in his rookie season, which carried extra pressure seeing as he was selected (a bit surprisingly) at No. 4 overall. But the first-year tackle started to put things together down the stretch (save for New York’s nightmare against Arizona in Week 14), finishing with a grade near that of PFWA All-Rookie Team member Jedrick Wills. Thomas would have started all 16 games had he not been benched for the first quarter in Week 6 for what coach Joe Judge called disciplinary reasons. McKinney’s evaluation is largely incomplete due to a foot injury that prevented him from playing until Week 12, but he also finished strong, recording his first career interception in Week 17.

The rest of the 10-player draft class all contributed on different levels. Third-round pick Matt Peart served as a swing tackle most of the year. Fourth rounder Darnay Holmes excelled as a slot corner and Tae Crowder, Mr. Irrelvant as the final pick in the draft, ended up starting six games at linebacker due to injuries. Fifth rounder Shane Lemieux started nine games at guard.

Peart didn’t see a ton of time as a rookie, but he showed flashes of promise as a possible developmental tackle for an offensive line that has question marks at one, if not both, of the tackle positions. Holmes saw considerable defensive snaps and recorded an interception, but struggled in pass coverage not unlike other rookies selected in the same range. His athleticism and instincts make him a potential candidate for Year 2 improvement. Lemieux replaced Will Hernandez at the end of October after the Giants placed the veteran on the COVID-19 list. The rookie played so well, he held onto the job for the remainder of the season, giving New York a potential steal in the fifth round.

Seventh-round selection, DB Chris Williamson, was waived during the season and the other picks — linebackers Cam Brown, Carter Coughlin and T.J. Brunson — all saw their snaps increase as the season drew to a close.

Brown primarily played special teams, with just 87 of his 397 snaps coming on defense. Coughlin played special teams for most of the first half of the season before seeing his reps increase in the final five weeks, recording 15 tackles between Weeks 12 and 15. Brunson played almost entirely on special teams in a reserve role. Williamson was waived in early September and spent most of the season on the practice squad before the Giants released him in early December. He landed with the Falcons and signed a futures deal with Atlanta in January. Crowder was one of the NFL’s more productive Mr. Irrelevants, finishing with 57 tackles (three for loss), one sack, one pass defensed and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

Shook also included two UDFAs in his grading — defensive end Niko Lalos and wide receiver Austin Mack.

Lalos was elevated from the practice squad late in the season and made a key play in his first NFL game, recording an interception in a narrow win over Cincinnati. Mack caught seven of his 11 targets for 91 yards and played more than 200 special-teams snaps.

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