FanPost

Giants DL performance under Graham and Spencer


Earlier this year there was a Fanpost about what Leonard Williams would have to do this year for Giants fans to be satisfied and want to bring him back long-term. We're halfway through the season so it's a good time to assess that. But I decided to do it for all 3 starting DLs. Below I give the numbers for the first half of 2020 for sacks/tackles/tackles for loss/QB hits for each player, and on the next line their career FULL SEASON highs for each (which can be from different years for each category):

Leonard Williams:
2020: 4/ 29/ 6/ 9
Best: 7/ 68/ 11/ 20

Dalvin Tomlinson:
2020: 1/ 33/ 5/ 5
Best: 3.5/ 59/ 7/ 9

Dexter Lawrence:
2020: 2/ 30/ 2/ 4
Best: 2.5/ 38/ 3/ 9

Career bests come from multiple years, e.g., for LW they are from both 2016, his Pro Bowl year, and 2018, which was almost as good. But it looks as though Williams is on pace to approximately match his career bests, and visually I seem to notice him more making plays when I watch the games. So at this point I'm inclined to say the Giants should pay him to stay and that he is not overpaid at his franchise tag salary.

The interesting thing is that the same can also be said for the other two starting DLs. I don't have snap counts so I can't say whether all three DLs are on the field more this year than in previous years, but it seems to me that Graham uses a pretty healthy rotation, with B.J. Hill in there quite a bit and with Austin Johnson getting some playing time too, so my guess is that the numbers are not overly skewed by changes in playing time from year to year. For example against TB, Williams/Lawrence/Tomlinson were on the field for 79%/61%/51% of defensive snaps.

My impression watching the games is that the Giants' DL is good but not great. But I think that depends on what the standard of comparison is. For example here are Aaron Donald's stats:
2020: 9/ 26/ 7/ 15
Best: 20.5/ 69/ 25/ 41

Obviously none of our DLs is Aaron Donald, and if we expect to get QB pressure mainly from the interior DL as the Rams do, none of ours stack up with the best, and we should move on from Williams and/or Tomlinson and look for the next Aaron Donald. I bet that guy is not out there. But if the Giants decide to get their pressure from the outside, then arguably we should use our #1 pick to draft the best EDGE rusher available and try to re-sign both Williams and Tomlinson, or at least Williams if we draft an EDGE who is more of a down lineman than an outside LB type (e.g., Rousseau vs. Parsons). It will be tricky given the expected NFL cap situation for 2021, but worth trying. If not, then B.J. Hill has been playing well this year and he might be OK as a starting 3rd DL to replace whichever of Williams/Tomlinson leaves. (I didn't include his numbers because his playing time has fluctuated so much from year to year.)

The other point to make is that given that all 3 starting DLs are on track to approach career bests in most categories, either Patrick Graham or DL coach Sean Spencer, or both, deserve some credit for doing the best they can with what they have.

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