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.”
