Giants roster moves: Giants waive LB Tae Crowder

The New York Giants have waived linebacker Tae Crowder.

The moves comes as both something of a surprise and not terribly surprising at all.

Crowder has been a consistent presence — and even a starter — for the Giants since being selected as the 255 pick, or “Mr. Irrelevant”, in the 2020 NFL Draft. Crowder stepped in as the defense’s starting MIKE linebacker when Blake Martinez went down with a torn ACL in 2021. He has flashed in his time with the Giants, as recently as this season against Green Bay.

However, he has also had a bad habit of being out of position and defending grass instead of opposing players. As such he’s also seen his snap count shrink over the second half of 2022.

Just over two weeks ago he made his now-infamous “Free Me” tweet, which seemingly earned the ire of the Giants’ coaching staff.

Crowder was replaced by safety turned linebacker Landon Collins this past week, who was elevated off of the practice squad while Crowder was inactive. Collins made several impressive plays against the run in the Giants’ 20-12 win over the Commanders.

While we don’t know what the corresponding roster move is as of this writing, it seems likely that the Giants released Crowder to make room on the roster for Collins.