The progression of the linebacker position for the New York Giants has been interesting to witness over the past couple of seasons. Trading for Alec Ogletree, a generally overrated player to be the MIC linebacker and command the defense was a sign of desperation.
While Ogletree did record five interceptions last season, he missed a ton of tackles and was bad in coverage. In addition, BJ Goodson, who showed promise early on in his career, has struggled with injuries at times or hasn’t left a mark big enough to justify a starting position.
With that being said, Goodson could lose reps to Tae Davis, a second-year player looking to take his game to the next level. Davis is a quality linebacker in coverage, which will see defensive coordinator James Bettcher utilize him more on third-down over Goodson.
The New York Giants might have found their solution in coverage:
His impact could be significant, as limiting tight end production has been a struggle for Big Blue in recent years. Tae, in fact, has been used in dual linebacker blitzes during minicamp, which could actually indicate and even great role than expected.
Noticed that Ogeltree and Tae Davis blitzed! Can’t wait to see some double A gap blitzes from the MLB’s. Also, great throw pic.twitter.com/ZiBrFRocbp
— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) June 6, 2019
In just four starts last season, Davis racked up 33 combined tackles, two sacks, and one pass defended. As an undrafted rookie, his production wasn’t bad, and it should skyrocket in 2019.
Playing Tae alongside Alec Ogletree would allow Bettcher to utilize the MIC linebacker to blitz more and play closer to the line of scrimmage. Goodson, who isn’t refined in coverage, forced Ogletree to drop back which generally didn’t pan out. Having a linebacker that can follow running backs out of the backfield and lock of tight ends will promote a different style of defense and might even extract more value out of Ogletree.
Play 2: LB Tae Davis
Lone LB here in their Dime personnel, shows good pattern match skills picking up 1st WR coming underneath. Shows good timing, body control and athleticism. He will see more playing time. #GiantsPride #GiantTidbits #GiantsChat #WASvsNYG pic.twitter.com/4QrjrMiibE— Nick Turchyn (@CoachTurch) November 1, 2018
Check out this clip – you can see Davis read the receiver’s route and athletically make the play resulting in an incompletion. I expect him to see more playing time, if not overtaking Goodson for the second starting job.