Tag: Tyrone Tracy Jr.

PFF ranks Giants’ running backs among league’s worst

Pro Football Focus has ranked the New York Giants’ running backs among the worst in football entering the 2024 season.

The New York Giants went through their biggest change of the offseason at the running back position. It’s no knock against Xavier McKinney or Darren Waller, but New York is going to feel Saquon Barkley’s loss more than any other player.

The Giants also have not re-signed Matt Breida, although a reunion between Breida and the Giants isn’t off the table.

Those changes at the position this offseason landed the Giants’ running back units among the league’s worst, according to Pro Football Focus.

28. NEW YORK GIANTS

Devin Singletary looks to be the main back in New York after Saquon Barkley‘s offseason exit. He reunites with former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll after generating the fifth-best PFF wins above average figure last season (0.17).

Eric Gray is in line for RB2 duties, and rookie Tyrone Tracy is the ultimate wild card who could really boost this group, especially in the passing game.

Recently, Singletary himself and the Giants’ running back unit were near the bottom of the league in similar rankings, respectively, so these low ranks shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

The Giants are going to need to change the way they operate their offense considering they ran it through Barkley. They will likely go with more of a running back by committee in 2024 but don’t underestimate Singletary, who will be wearing No. 26 and believes he’s a playmaker just like Barkley.

The Giants will hope that Singletary provides the team with a more durable option at the position and ideally, the unit performs above expectations behind what should be an improved offensive line.

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Is Tyrone Tracy Jr. the Giants’ best option at kick returner under new rules?

Under the NFL’s new rules, is rookie RB Tyrone Tracy Jr. the New York Giants’ best option at kick returner?

New York Giants fifth-round selection Tyrone Tracy Jr. is one of their most interesting picks in years.

The 24-year-old rookie who began his college career as a wide receiver at Iowa and ended it as a running back at Purdue is expected to help the Giants in multiple ways right off the bat.

One of those roles could be as a kick returner — a position that teams will likely use star players at now that the new kickoff rules have been designed to limit the risk of injury.

Pro Football Network believes Tracy is the best candidate on the Giants’ roster to take advantage of the new rules.

Following the departure of Saquon Barkley, the Giants are looking for help at running back. Rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr. should be in the mix for some snaps in New York’s backfield, but he could be the team’s kick returner as well. At Purdue, Tracy averaged 25.5 yards per kick return in 2023.

Tracy said last month that teams looking to draft him were asking him about his returning ability. The rule changes suddenly made him more valuable.

“Everybody was talking to me about punt and punt return, but when they changed it, it kind of added a little bit more value to me and really the rest of running backs because that’s something we can place in our bag and do on the field and add to our skillset,” he said. “I was pretty happy, to say the least.”

How it all will work remains to be seen. Tracy doesn’t see much of a difference if you’re a top playmaker.

“To be honest with you, like to me, football is football,” he said. “You place a playmaker on a football field, you put a ball in his hand and he goes out there and makes a play.”

The Giants have several other options at returner, mainly Gunner Olszewski and Isaiah McKenzie, who are both wide receivers by trade. Tracy, with his experience as a running back, could have the advantage under the new rules.

“It’s going to look more like the offensive run game than people think,” Giants special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial said this week. “The NFL has taken the speed and space out of it and there is just less space to necessarily get as creative with your blocking schemes as you would think.”

Ghobrial is impressed with both Tracy and another rookie, Dante Miller.

“You talk about two young bucks that I’m excited to see what they do in pre-season,” said Ghobrial. “Both of them just tremendous human beings, number one, and so excited, so eager to put their best foot forward. Both have such a skillset to be good returners in this league.”

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The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Greg’s favorite players in the 2024 NFL draft

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell,” Greg details the attributes of his some of his favorite prospects in the 2024 NFL draft class.

With just a few weeks until the 2024 NFL draft gets underway on April 25, it’s time to get a bit in the weeks with our prospect evaluation processes. So it is in “The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” with Greg (of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup) and Doug (of USA Today Sports Media Group and Touchdown Wire) discussing some of Greg’s favorite prospects in this year’s draft class.

  • Trey Benson, RB, Florida State
  • Tyrone Tracy Jr., RB, Purdue
  • Anthony Gould, WR, Oregon State
  • Ladd McConkey, WR, Georgia
  • Troy Fautanu, OT, Washington
  • Laiatu Latu, EDGE, UCLA
  • Byron Murphy II, DL, Texas
  • Cole Bishop, Safety, Utah

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Cory Trice Jr.’s former Purdue teammates celebrated his stellar 40-yard dash while soaking in hot tub

We all need teammates like this in our life.

Former Purdue cornerback Cory Trice Jr. had quite the cheering section going on for him at his alma mater.

While Trice was running his impressive 4.47-second 40-yard dash on Friday, Purdue wideout Tyrone Tracy Jr. shared a video of Trice’s former Boilermaker teammates celebrating Trice’s stellar time while soaking in a large hot tub at one of Purdue’s athletic facilities.

There’s never a bad time to root for an old teammate, even when you’re chilling by the hot tub. They just looked joyous for their fellow Boilermaker.

With Trice expected to be picked during the 2023 NFL Draft, perhaps his old Purdue teammates will one-up this awesome celebration when he’s selected by his new team.

That’s just good friendship right there. Trice certainly took notice of his old Boilermaker teammates cheering him on.

It’s always fun during the NFL Scouting Combine to see what’s going on around the drills, and this Purdue celebration might take the cake for the best reaction this past week.