New York Giants place OLB Oshane Ximines on injured reserve

The New York Giants will not only be without outside linebacker Oshane Ximines on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, they placed him on injured reserve with a shoulder issue.

Examiners, who had a solid rookie season in 2019, racking up 4.5 sacks, 25 combine tackles, and nine quarterback hits, has struggled to get off in his second year as a pro. Through four games, he hasn’t recorded a sack and only has five total tackles. Interestingly, he has seen a decrease in snap percentage through four weeks, by about 4%.

Ximines will now be ineligible to play for at least three weeks while he recovers from his injury. It will open up a spot on the Giants’ active roster to add another player to the secondary or defensive line.

In the absence of Ximines, the Giants will likely utilize Markus Golden, Lorenzo Carter, and Kyler Fackrell as their primary rotational pass rushers. Golden has seen his share of snaps decrease since hitting 10.0 sacks in 2019.

So far this year, Golden has only six combined tackles, and one quarterback hit to show for a 26% snap count on defense. It seems as if the Giants retaining him was his only option, as other teams were not as giddy about his production last year. His ineffectiveness as a pass rusher has been notable, but he will see an increase in snaps as Oshane heals from his shoulder injury.

Fackrell is also questionable for Sunday’s contest, which would leave Golden and Carter as the Giants’ pass rushers at outside linebacker if he is unable to go.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Carter Coughlin and Cam Brown both earned some playing time against Dallas, just to mitigate fatigue at the position.