90-Man Roster Preview: Owamagbe Odighizuwa’s Future A Mystery

Just because you look the part doesn’t mean you can play the part. Owamagbe Odighizuwa is an absolutely chiseled 6-foot-3, 270-pound athlete who looks every bit like an NFL player. His build and athleticism, shown in the spider chart below, make him the absolute poster child for what the New York Giants look for at the defensive end position.

Now comes another cliche. Looks can be deceiving. Odighizuwa might have the look that would bring comparisons to Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul or Olivier Vernon, but he certainly hasn’t played up to that standard.

In two seasons after the Giants selected him in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft, Odighizuwa has played in 18 games, made four tackles, defended one pass and registered zero sacks.

Now, there are serious questions about Odighizuwa’s future following a curious offseason. He tweeted about needing to step away from football, then showed up for at least some of the early parts of the offseason program. He did not, however, attend any of the OTAs. Both head coach Ben McAdoo and defensive line coach Patrick Graham declined opportunities to speak about Odighizuwa, so we are in the dark as to his status.

Let’s talk about him some, though, as we continue our player-by-player profiles of the Giants’ 90-man roster.

2016 Season In Review

Odighizuwa was active for 14 games. He played 169 snaps with a grand total of one tackle and one pass defensed. He was surpassed by both undrafted rookie free agent Romeo Okwara and linebacker Devon Kennard as players used by the Giants when they wanted extra pass rushers on the field.

2017 Season Outlook

At this point, who knows? Let’s just hope the young man and his loved ones are OK. Forget playing time, if he shows up for training camp he has stiff competition to make the roster. Okwara, Kerry Wynn, Devin Taylor and fifth-round pick Avery Moss are probably all ahead of him on the defensive end depth chart. I hate to be callous, but I know this will sound that way. Reality is, whether he plays or not is unlikely to make much difference to the success or failure of the 2017 Giants.