Portrait » Get to know the Giants’ undrafted free agents

The initial period of waiver claims and veteran signings is complete and the 2018 New York Giants 53-man roster is set — for now. In addition to draftees and veteran free agents Cheap Landon Collins Jersey , the Giants’ roster this year is home to a number new undrafted free agents. This is nothing new, UDFAs play a role on every NFL team, and they have a celebrated place in Giants’ history. None more than the recently retired Victor Cruz, who along with Henry Hynoski, Spencer Paysinger, and Mark Herzlich, helped the Giants win their latest Super Bowl. It might be tempting to look at undrafted free agents as players who are there simply to fill out the 53-man roster and help facilitate practices during the week, they are an under rated source of value for the NFL. Statistically speaking, undrafted free agents tend to out-perform fifth, sixth, and seventh-round selections. Looking at draft position collectively, undrafted free agents are as likely to be “hits” (have a greater than league-average career) as those fifth, sixth, and seventh-round draft picks, combine. And, as of a couple years ago, they are the third-most likely group to produce an All-Pro player behind the first and second round (respectively). There’s a few reasons for those surprising stats. First, and foremost, there are lot more undrafted rookies than late-round draft selections. Even with compensatory picks, a team might only get three or four players from the late rounds of the draft, while they could get double or triple that number of undrafted free agents. That makes it more likely that a team might stumble upon a player who simply fell through the league’s cracks (a la Victor Cruz). Secondly, teams have a tendency to draft potential at the late rounds — Players with intriguing measurables or high upside who they don’t want to make sure are in their camp. Undrafted players tend to have lower ceilings, but their higher floors help them stick around.Meet the rookie free agents Evan Brown (C) - Brown is the Giants’ third back-up center/guard and was signed this year out of SMU. Height: 6’2” Weight: 310Pro Day40-Yard Dash: 4.97 Vertical Jump: 36”Broad Jump: 9’5”3-Cone 8.06 secBench Press: 36 repsBrown was a solid four-year starter at center for the Broncos. He doesn’t have great movement skills, but his upper body strength and lower body explosiveness show themselves in his run blocking. He is fundamentally sound as a run and pass blocker and showed a solid awareness of pass rushers, but struggled when asked to block in space. Sean Chandler (S) - Chandler was one of the potential jewels of the Giants’ rookie free agent class. They quickly signed him out of Temple after the end of the 2018 draft, and he beat out former starters Darian Thompson and Andrew Adams to make the Giants’ final roster. Chandler isn’t a great athlete for a safety Cheap B.J. Hill Jersey , but he is solid in a variety of roles, from playing the deep zone in a Cover 2, Cover 3, or Cover 4, playing close to the line of scrimmage as a strong safety, or even filling in as a corner. He was a very productive four-year starter for Temple, playing in 48 games in four years. Over that span he racked up 265 total tackles, 13.5 tackles for a loss, 3 sacks, 10 interceptions (2 touchdowns), 23 passes defensed, and 4 forced fumbles (2 recoveries). Toughness and intelligence are Chandler’s stock in trade, and he should be a solid depth player in the secondary and could become a key contributor to the Giants’ special teams.Tae Davis (LB) - Davis is a former safety turned linebacker out of Tennessee-Chattanooga. He spent camp and the preseason as a depth player behind Ray-Ray Armstrong. Davis was solid throughout the preseason on defense, and showed up in extended action in the Giant’s final preseason game. Height: 6’1”Weight: 225 pounds40-Yard Dash: 4.63It became clear over the course of the preseason that the Giants need more speed to help defend the middle of the field. The answer was to add Ray-Ray Armstrong to the starting rotation as the “moneybacker” in nickel situations. Davis isn’t quite as big as Armstrong, but as another former safety, he gives the Giants depth at the position.In his final season at Chattanooga, and first at linebacker, Davis had 74 total tackles, a sack, 5 tackles for a loss, and 6 QB pressures. He had 13 total tackles and a pass defensed for the Giants in the pre-season. Robert Martin (RB) - The Giants were set at running back when they signed Robert Martin out of Rutgers. But after an impressive performance in their rookie mini-camp, they couldn’t let him leave. Height: 5’11”Weight: 210 pounds40-Yard Dash: 4.6020-Yard Shuttle: 4.573-Cone Drill: 7.02Vertical Jump: 32Broad Jump: 09’06”Bench Press: 19Martin isn’t the most explosive athlete at the running back position, but he played too well on the field for the Giants to risk losing him on the waiver wire. Martin gained 97 yards on 15 carries, good for 6.5 yards per carry, scoring 1 touchdown against the Detroit Lions. Martin only had 11 yards on 3 carries against the New England Patriots, but by that time he had showed his potential. He runs with good patience behind the line of scrimmage and a solid burst through the hole. Combining good lower-body strength Cheap Dalvin Tomlinson Jersey , quick acceleration, and good balance, Martin proved tough to bring down. Martin enters the season as the Giants’ fourth running back. It has been a busy week for the New York Giants. The team has traded defensive starters Eli Apple and Damon Harrison, which has sent waves throughout Giants-land. And while they have given every indication of the season being over, there are still games to play, including one this week against the Washington Redskins. The Giants’ offense finally took advantage of an opponent’s weakness against the secondary of the Atlanta Falcons. But while Sterling Shepard and Odell Beckham Jr. had big games, the running game was thoroughly suffocated. Will the Giants’ find a run game against Washington? Will they be able to build on their good passing performance in Atlanta before the bye week? Let’s take a closer look.StatsWhich passing game will show up?So far this season, the Giants have played two distinct styles of offense. The first sees them attacking every level of the defense, sending Beckham and Shepard on deep routes, intermediate routes, and quick passes with the chance for run after the catch. The other style of offense has been a ball control offense which was heavy on quick timing passes. The vast majority of targets coming inside of 5 yards from the line of scrimmage, with many coming at or behind the line of scrimmage. Those plays were designed to chase completions and try to supplement a nonexistent running game. The oddest part of the Giants’ offense through the first seven weeks of the season has been how they have swung wildly between philosophies on a weekly basis. The team fielded their most conservative offense in their week 6 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, then their most aggressive against the Atlanta Falcons. The difference in game plan is perfectly captured in how Beckham was used in those two weeks: The question now becomes the one we have asked each week for the last month: Which offense will we see Sunday? We have seen that the Giants’ offense is at its best when it has a vertical element and forces opposing teams to defend the whole field. Will the Giants break from their pattern of going back to a horizontal offense in weeks after using a more vertical passing game? There is also the Giants’ Red Zone woes to consider. With less room with which to work, the speed of the game increased, and mistakes compounded inside the 20-yard line, the Giants have been wholly ineffective in the Red Zone. They have found explosive plays when looking deeper down the field, and while scoring from beyond the 20-yard line isn’t a sustainable way to play offense, neither is settling for field goals whenever the offense is in scoring position.Can Shurmur figure out how to use Barkley? When the Giants drafted Saquon Barkley with the second pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, the reasoning was that thanks to his well-rounded skill set and incredible athleticism, not only would they be getting a potentially elite running back, but an elite receiver as well. So far the Giants have not used him as such. Barkley has proven his worth as a runner. He has been criticized for not taking 2-3 yard gains more often, but any success in the run game rests almost entirely at Barkley’s feet. Per Football Outsiders, the Giants’ offensive line is last in the league in Adjusted Line Yards (yards gained by the offensive line) and 29th in runs stuffed. Meanwhile, the GIants are 11th in running back yards (yards gained by the back, independent of the offensive line) and are first in the league in “open field” yardage, which is the yards gained past 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. In the passing game http://www.giantscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-alec-ogletree-jersey , however, Barkley has rarely been allowed to get the ball in space. He has been used as either a check-down option or on swing passes almost exclusively. That means that he usually catches the ball behind the line of scrimmage with the defense converging on him. He has had highlight reel plays on screen passes or on down-field plays, but those have been few and far between. The Washington defensive line is young, athletic, powerful, and very stout against the run. Their defense hasn’t been as spectacular as some around the league, but they thoroughly solid football, lead by the trio of Matt Ioannidis, Jonathan Allen, and Da’Ron Payne. With Washington’s defense giving up just 87.3 rushing yards per game, the Giants are unlike to find any consistent success on the ground. If the offensive line can’t open any holes for Barkley, the Giants should try getting him past the line of scrimmage before getting him the ball. There are few running backs — or players at any position — who can do what Barkley can with a bit of space. The Giants should try to put him in position to get as much space as possible and be the playmaker they drafted him to be.Will the big plays continue to come?Speaking of big plays, the Giants field one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL. With players like Odell Beckham Jr. Sterling Shepard, and Barkley, that is to be expected.Unfortunately, the explosiveness doesn’t translate into consistent production — it just means that a big play could come at any time. This doesn’t always mean a seven step drop and a deep bomb from Manning to Beckham, it could be on a screen pass to Barkley, or Sterling Shepard catching the short slant on a tosser concept and turning upfield for a big gain. The problem is that the Redskins don’t give up big plays, ranking fifth in the league in giving up plays of 20 yards or more. The Giants are built to be a big-play offense, and ball control has proven unsuccessful. Whether they want to or not, the Giants depend on them for the bulk of their offensive production. If they can’t get them, the offense has its work cut out for it.