First, I want to give a ton of credit to Joe Judge, Jason Garrett, Patrick Graham, Thomas McGaughey, and the rest of the Giants coaching staff. During perhaps the toughest offseason ever, this new staff took over a team that went 4-12 and kept them in the game against one of the league’s top defenses. 

A bunch of players stood out in a good way despite the loss. Darius Slayton, Lorenzo Carter, and Blake Martinez had very good games. First, let’s talk about Slayton. He picked up right where he left off last year, bringing in 6 of 9 targets for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns. His hands looked even better than they did last year (he only dropped 1 pass) and his routes looked more crisp. Next, let’s talk about Lorenzo Carter. Patrick Graham loves versatile, athletic defenders, and Carter showed he was that and much more on Monday night. Carter played extremely well in run defense, did a fantastic job dropping back into pass coverage, and consistently got pressure on Ben Roethlisberger. Martinez, who I have heavily criticized before, played very well. He was incredible in run defense, got pressure on some blitzes, and did a good job in coverage.

Now, let’s talk about some players who struggled: Evan Engram, Nick Gates, Cam Fleming, and the entire secondary (except for James Bradberry). Engram was PFF’s worst graded player in the entire NFL for Week 1. He struggled as a receiver and a blocker. Gates and Fleming struggled massively as both run blockers and pass blockers, as was evident in Saquon Barkley’s statline (15 carries for 6 yards). Lastly, the secondary. Jabrill Peppers did well as a punt returner but was lackluster in coverage. He allowed Eric Ebron to get a big gain over him and struggled the whole game in coverage. Corey Ballentine, Isaac Yiadom (newly acquired from Denver), and Darnay Holmes all took turns guarding Juju Smith-Schuster and struggled miserably. Holmes and Yiadom deserve some slack because it was their first game with the team, but Ballentine should not be playing corner for an nfl team. 

In summary, the Giants did a lot of things well and also struggled a lot in their season opener. They were great in run defense, generated a decent amount of pass rush, and were good passing the ball (other than a few stupid mistakes by Daniel Jones). They struggled massively to block the Steelers pressure on both running and passing plays, could not guard Juju Smith-Schuster, and were bad in run defense, allowing Benny Snell to rush for over 100 yards. Hopefully, Joe Judge and the staff key into these struggles in practice this week and get the team ready for another tough defense in Chicago. If not, it could be another long season.

People are often fooled into thinking that Blake Martinez is a good NFL linebacker by his gaudy tackle numbers. In 2017, Martinez (and Joe Schobert and Preston Brown) led all NFL players in tackles with 144. Last year, he was second in the NFL in tackles with 155. Sure, these numbers seem great, but Martinez isn’t all that great of a tackler. According to Pro Football Reference, Martinez missed 10.4% of his tackle attempts last year. When you compare this to some elite NFL linebackers, you see just how bad this is. Cory Littleton missed just 3.6%, Bobby Wagner 5.9%, Luke Kuechly 6.5%, Jaylon Smith 7.8%, and Jordan Hicks missed 10.7%. Those who maintain that Martinez is a good player often say he’s a great tackler, but, as you can see, this is simply not true. 

Another myth told by Martinez truthers is that he is a good run stopper. Pro Football Focus (PFF) gives Martinez a 47.0 run defense grade, which is downright awful. This grade didn’t even rank among the top 50 qualified linebackers (the lowest grade on the list was 63.3) and was far from it. Martinez often seems lost on run plays, struggling to fill the correct gaps and lacking the athleticism to get to runningbacks before they reach the second level. 

Martinez also struggles in pass coverage. PFF gives him a 64.2 coverage grade, which ranks 61st among qualified linebackers. Opposing defenses targeted him on purpose, knowing that they would be able to march down the field if they threw his way. He was targeted 74 times in coverage last year (6th most among LBs). On these 74 targets, Martinez allowed a whopping 62 completions, which meant opposing QBs were able to complete 83.8% of their passes when targeting him. He allowed 570 yards in coverage (339 after the catch), which amounted to 15.3% of the total passing yards allowed by the Packers last season. 

Martinez is most skilled when used as a pass rusher in a blitz. According to data from Pro Football Reference, he had a pressure rate of 14.3% when rushing the passer last year. For comparison, T.J. Watt had a pressure rate of 11.6%, and Aaron Donald had a pressure rate of 9.6%. Obviously Martinez rushes the passer much less, and the majority of the time he does is on designed blitzes, but this shows his strength as a rusher nonetheless. Additionally, PFF gives him a pass-rush grade of 78.4, which is pretty good, especially for a linebacker. This grade ranks 15th among all linebackers, which further shows that pass rushing is one of his strengths.  

Blake Martinez is not a horrible player, but he certainly isn’t a star. His overall PFF grade of 58.9 ranks 53rd among qualified linebackers, meaning that he would be a solid backup on a contending team. He is said to be a great locker room presence and he has 4 years of experience starting as well as playoff experience, which are all great traits for a backup on a contending team. This most certainly does not justify a 3 year, $30,000,000 contract, especially from a bottom 5 team in the NFL that has no talent on the roster at linebacker and could’ve added someone like Cory Littleton for just a little bit more per year or Nick Kwiatowski for considerably less. But, since the Giants did sign Martinez, they would be better off benching him and seeing what some of the young guys on the roster can do. The salary cap is expected to shrink because of Covid-19 and Martinez could be a casualty after this season. 

This is not meant to bash Blake Martinez. By all accounts, he is a great person and was obviously good enough to start in the NFL for four years. This is actually meant to target Dave Gettleman and anyone else working for the Giants that thought it would be a good idea to sign Martinez. This is one of many terrible moves made by the Gettleman regime and hopefully, if the team struggles again, he is no longer with the team after the 2020 season.

Stats Via:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MartBl01.htm#all_detailed_defense

https://www.espn.com/nfl/stats/_/season/2019/seasontype/2

https://www.espn.com/nfl/stats/team/_/view/defense/table/passing/sort/netPassingYards/dir/desc

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2019/defense_advanced.htm

In 11 days, we will hear commissioner Roger Goodell utter (virtually, that is) these long-awaited words. What we don’t know is whose name will come after. Most Giants fans want Clemson Linebacker Isaiah Simmons. Simmons is the total package; he can cover Tight Ends and Runningbacks with ease (3 INT last year), rush the passer (7 Sacks last year), and is a solid tackler (104 total tackles last year). Sure, he would be the defensive playmaker the Giants desperately need, but Giants fans need to be prepared for other scenarios. The Giants have been connected to OT Tristan Wirfs and have most recently been rumored to take an offensive lineman at 4. Here, I am going to outline four draft-day scenarios, three of which do not include Isaiah Simmons.

Scenario 1, Giants draft LB/S Isaiah Simmons:

This is the scenario most Giants fans want. As I said before, he can do everything on defense and would immediately be an impact player. New Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham prizes versatility in his scheme and with Simmons and the “Swiss-Army Knife” Jabrill Peppers, Graham would have a lot to work with.

Scenario 2, Trade with Las Vegas Raiders: 

Giants receive Picks 12, 19, 80, 81, 91

Raiders receive Picks 4 and 99

In my opinion, this is the best-case scenario for the Giants. Although they would be passing on Simmons, they would be able to land one of the top OTs at 12 (Tristan Wirfs, Jedrick Wills, Andrew Thomas, or Mekhi Becton) and a defensive playmaker at 19 (Kenneth Murray, Patrick Queen, K’Lavon Chaisson, Yetur Gross-Matos, or AJ Epenesa). They would also gain two 3rd round picks, bringing their total to three, and could either trade back up into the 1st or 2nd round or stay put and add three solid players.

Scenario 3, Giants stay at 4, but Isaiah Simmons is taken at 3 by Detroit:

This would be the worst possible scenario. The Giants lose out on extra draft picks gained from trading back and Isaiah Simmons. The Giants then select OT Tristan Wirfs, who is rumored to be the highest Offensive Lineman on their board. Wirfs is a freak athlete who would start at RT for years to come. Wirfs would bring some much-needed protection for Daniel Jones and Saquon, but would still leave the defense with quite a few holes.

Scenario 4, Giants stay at 4 and select DT Derrick Brown:

Remember when I said the previous scenario would be the worst? Scratch that, this would be way worse. In this scenario, Gettleman drafts the man who is speculated to be his personal favorite player in this draft class. Don’t get me wrong, Brown is a beast, but the last thing the Giants need is another DT. I truly hope that this isn’t being considered by the Giants, but knowing Dave Gettleman and his love for defensive linemen, it just might be what the Giants do come April 23rd.