New York Giants need to shut down Jabrill Peppers for rest of season

New York Giants, Jabrill Peppers
Oct 6, 2019; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook (33) fumbles the ball against New York Giants free safety Jabrill Peppers (21) in the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

After New York Giants, strong safety Jabrill Peppers forced his way onto the field to return a punt, he popped up gingerly immediately after landing hard on his hip. Peppers was pulled from the game and was seen in a tremendous amount of pain in the locker room after the game.

Since being knocked out of the week 12 loss to the Chicago Bears, Peppers was diagnosed with a broken bone in his back, hindering him significantly from playing further this season. The Giants stated that he could return and that the injury was based on his pain tolerance. The broken bone shouldn’t put his long-term health in danger, making a potential return possible.

However, Big Blue would be smart to shut Peppers down for the remainder of the season to allow him to heal properly. At 2-9, the Giants will now feature a 27th ranked defense without one of their best playmakers, which will force Antoine Bethea into a strong safety role and rookie Julian Love into the free safety position.

The New York Giants will trust their youth:

This will provide Love with ample opportunity to prove his worth in the defensive backfield, and at a position of weakness since the signing of Bethea. Veteran Michael Thomas could also play a role in the secondary if Love struggles.

“We’ll have a combination with Love back there, Michael Thomas,” head coach Pat Shurmur said on Wednesday. “We’ll fill in. I thought Love did a good job with his first extended action last week. He’s displayed a lot of the things that we thought he might have. We’ll just try to build on that if for some reason Jabrill can’t make it.”

The transverse process injury is generally healed from rest and inactivity. I don’t expect to see Peppers fo the remainder of the season, which should inadvertently give the Giants a better look at the resiliency of their youth.