The New York Giants have invested heavily in pass rushers over the past few years — an investment they are still waiting to reap the benefits of.
In 2021, they selected Georgia outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari with the 50th overall pick. After a promising inaugural season in which he set a franchise record for sacks by a rookie, Ojulari has been besieged by injuries, playing in just seven games last season and one this year.
Buy Giants TicketsOjulari has missed the past two games with a hamstring injury.
The Giants drafted Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux with the fifth overall pick last year to pair with Ojulari, as bookends of sorts, but that plan has not fully manifested itself as of yet.
Thibodeaux has had some ‘a-ha’ moments but has largely struggled at times. He has five sacks in 17 games as a Giant.
This season, the Giants have recorded only two sacks with 16 pressures and have the lowest quarterback-hurry rate in the NFL (2.1 percent of dropbacks).
Ojulari and Thibodeaux should be on the field together on Monday night when the Giants host the Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium.
“He’s a good player for us,” head coach Brian Daboll said of Ojulari. “We’ve got to get him into those situations where we can utilize his skillset, which he does a good job of rushing the passer, but we’ve got to play good team defense, good team football in order to get to some of those situations.”
Truer words have never been spoken. The Giants have been behind in games for all but 19 seconds this season. That has to change.
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