New York Giants: Jabrill Peppers And Julian Love Form An Impressive Safety Tandem

The New York Giants‘ secondary has been a weakness for the team in recent years. New York has been investing heavily in its secondary to turn this weakness to a strength. New York spent three of their draft picks on defensive backs in the draft (four if counting Sam Beal).

The Giants’ pass defense ranked fifth-worst in the NFL this season, allowing 264.1 passing yards per game. The team clearly needs to continue upgrading their secondary. However, there is reason to believe the Giants are set on the back end.

Julian Love and Jabrill Peppers form an impressive safety tandem that should make fans hopeful for the Giants’ defense heading into 2020. If the Giants can get a couple more pieces to put around Love and Peppers, they could surprise many people next season with an underrated defense.

Jabrill Peppers and Julian Love Stats and Highlights

Not to mention that this might be the coolest last-name duo in the NFL, but Love and Peppers are both highly-talented, young players. Julian Love is 21-years-old and heading into his second professional season. Jabrill Peppers is 24-years-old and just finished his third season in the NFL.

Jabrill’s third season was full of ups and downs. He had some impressive performances and big, flashy plays. Unfortunately, those were mixed in with some disappointing games and a few missed tackles. Ultimately, Peppers’s season ended after only 11 games due to an injury. But when JP was on the field, there was a lot to like.

In the 11 games he played in, Jabrill Peppers totaled 76 combined tackles with 5 tackles for loss. He also added 3 forced fumbles, 1 interception, and 1 pass deflection. Jabrill allowed a quarterback rating of only 71.5 and gave up 0 touchdowns in coverage. But, as previously mentioned, Jabrill missed 11 tackles in 2019- a number he will need to cut down in 2020.

Julian Love quietly had an impressive rookie season. The Notre Dame alum displayed true versatility on the Giants’ defense. Love started in 5 games this season. He totaled 35 combined tackles to go along with 5 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 3 passes defended, and 1 interception. The rookie played 405 snaps down the stretch and performed well in the run game and in coverage (PFF).

The Giants’ rookie lined up all over the defense. He played in the box, over the slot, and at free safety. Pro Football Focus listed Julian Love as a player who can “provide optimism” for the Giants heading into 2020. Giants fans should agree with that statement.

Julian Love’s prior experience as a slot cornerback in college gives him advanced coverage abilities. This makes Love a reliable option at free safety for the Giants while they can rely on Peppers’s stout run-support at strong safety. These two dynamic safeties will have the opportunity to start alongside each other in 2020 and could emerge as one of the best young safety tandems in the league.