The New York Giants felt confident in their decision not bring back veteran safeties Jabrill Peppers and Logan Ryan this year. They are going with the upcoming star Xavier McKinney and utility back Julian Love, who started five games in 2021 due to an injury to Peppers.
Love, 24, was a fourth-round pick out of Notre Dame in 2019 and has been used all over the secondary under the prior two coaching regimes. This year. he’ll be a likely starter at safety under new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale.
Love likes the philosophy Martindale brings to the defense, which is to apply pressure and play downhill.
“I think the biggest adjustment is that it’s pretty aggressive. It’s fun to be a DB in this system,” Love told Good Morning Football in a recent interview. “We’ve enjoyed having him so far and getting to know him for sure. And now we’re going to get after it on D this year.”
Love says the Giants’ changes in general have been refreshing. New general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll have been welcomed by veterans and rookies alike.
“The biggest thing, so far, has been transparency from the top down. I think as a worker, that’s what you want — you want to know what your boss is thinking and what he expects from you. And that’s what it’s been so far. It’s been great to get to know coach Dabes. He’s very eccentric. He has a lot of energy,” Love said. “He’s a different breed.”
Training camp starts in two weeks. We’ll see if the changes result in a better bottom line. The Giants were 4-13 in 2021 and have lost ten or more games five straight years — the worst stretch in the nine and half decade history of the team.
