Can Giants’ OL Devery Hamilton earn a second season with the team?

A 90-man roster is always populated with former and future practice squad players. Those individuals are often a dime a dozen, coming and going from the roster without registering much of a blip. Devery Hamilton actually played some snaps for the New York Giants last season but was mostly a practice squad and reserve player. He is looking to carve out a role for himself, whether for the Giants or elsewhere.

By the numbers

Height: 6-foot-6
Weight: 311
Age: 25
Position: Offensive lineman
Experience: 1
Contract: One-year, $870,000 | 2023 cap hit: $870,000

Career to date

Per Over the Cap, Hamilton has zero accrued seasons, but the Giants’ roster has him listed as entering his second year. He was an undrafted free agent of the Raiders out of Duke in 2021 and spent a brief period of time on the Raiders’ practice squad.

Hamilton began his college ball at Stanford after initially committing to Michigan, where he earned Pac-12 All-Academic honors as a redshirt freshman and played in 12 games. He saw six starts as a sophomore split between both guard spots and left tackle. He was a second-team Pac-12 All-Academic honoree. As a junior, he started the first four games of the season before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. He then transferred to Duke for his redshirt senior year, where he started 11 games and earned a 73.4 Pro Football Focus grade.

After missing the Raiders’ team in 2021, Hamilton shuffled back and forth from the Raiders’ practice squad. In mid-October, he was released and landed on the Giants’ practice squad. After showing versatility to play guard and tackle during the preseason, Hamilton made the Giants’ opening roster last season but then was moved to the practice squad in November. He appeared in nine games last season for the Giants as a special teamer and also saw 37 snaps at tackle or as a jumbo tight end. The Giants signed him to a reserve/futures contract in January.

2023 outlook

Hamilton appears to be a candidate for the practice squad, either with the Giants or some other team. The Giants have a number of players along the offensive line who are probably better insurance for the Giants than Hamilton. Still, perhaps there will be some space on the Giants’ practice squad for him — or maybe he does enough to impress them and stick of his own accord.