Giants 2021 roster profile: Edge Oshane Ximines has much to prove

Fortunes change quickly in the NFL. There is a reason some say those three letters stand for ‘Not For Long.’ One minute you are a prized draft pick, a player with potential thought to be an integral part of a team’s future. The next minute, perhaps the next coaching staff, you are a relic from a previous regime and having to fight for your very existence on the roster.

This could be the situation third-year edge rusher Oshane Ximines finds himself in this season.

Ximines was a third-round pick by the Giants in 2019, the last time they looked to the draft for pass-rushing help. Dave Gettleman was the GM, but Pat Shurmur was the head coach and James Bettcher the defensive coordinator. Now, those last two jobs are held by Joe Judge and Patrick Graham.

Ximines, before going on IR with a shoulder injury after four games, played a limited role and did not seem to have earned the full trust of his new coaching staff.

What does the future hold for Ximines, who is starting the year on the Physically Unable to Perform list with a hamstring injury? Let’s take a closer look as we get near the end of our player-by-player profiles of the 90-man roster the Giants will bring to training camp.

The basics

Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 252
Age: 24
Position: Edge
Experience: 2
Contract: Year 3 of four-year, $3.452 million contract | 2021 cap hit: $1.089 million

Career to date

Ximines had 4.5 sacks as a rookie in 2019, but his pass rush pressure percentage of 6.1 was just 71st of 73 qualifying edge defenders, per Pro Football Focus. His win percentage of 13.0 was 57th. Ximines played 503 snaps, or 45 percent of the defensive snaps, as a rookie.

Last season, he played just 110 snaps over four games before landing on injured reserve with a season-ending shoulder injury.

2021 outlook

Have you ever read the children’s book ‘Cloudy with a chance of meatballs?’ Maybe I’m weird, but it comes to mind when I think about Ximines. That’s because as training camp begins I think the picture for him is ‘Cloudy with a chance of just about anything.’

Ximines could end up starting opposite Lorenzo Carter. He could end up as a sub-package player, perhaps a pass-rush specialist. He could end up pushed all the way off the roster by Azeez Ojulari, Elerson Smith, Ryan Anderson, Ifeadi Odenigbo, Cam Brown and maybe even Niko Lalos.

With all of that competition, Ximines has much to prove over the next few weeks.