Giants place LB Jarrad Davis on injured reserve; will miss season

We now know what a “long-term” injury for New York Giants linebacker Jarrad Davis means, as reported last week. The Giants on Tuesday placed Davis on injured reserve, which means that he will automatically miss the entire 2023 season.

Davis was slated to have a big role in the Giants’ defense as one of their possible starters at off-ball linebacker. He re-signed on a one-year deal for the veteran minimum after coming over from the Lions’ practice squad in 2023. However, an offseason knee surgery now knocks him out, leaving the Giants a roster spot short just a week before training camp.

Big Blue View’s Nick Falato offered several options to replace Davis, specifically Deion Jones, Myles Jack, 2022 Giant Jaylon Smith, Zach Cunningham, and Kwon Alexander. Internally, the Giants have 2022 draft picks Micah McFadden and Darrian Beavers; Beavers was previously set to compete with Davis for a starting role. McFadden may have received more roster security with Davis’ injury.

It’s important to note that Davis was considered a first-round bust. If the Giants actually like Beavers, they could potentially rely on their internal options in lieu of bringing in a more expensive replacement. Still, they could use some veteran depth to play beside free-agent acquisition Bobby Okereke, as linebacker was a big problem for the team in 2022.

Either way, this is a less-than-ideal scenario for the Giants’ depth, especially coming a week before training camp starts. After suffering the seventh-most adjusted games lost in 2022, this is already an ominous start to their 2023 quest for a repeat playoff berth.

Cornerback switch

The Giants also made a roster move at cornerback. Leonard Johnson was waived/injured and Darren Evans was signed to take his place. Johnson tore an ACL training for the 2022 NFL Draft and went undrafted. The Giants signed him as a free agent this offseason. Evans originally signed with the Giants as an undrafted free agent following the 2022 NFL Draft. He was waived at the end of training camp.