Brian Baldinger @BaldyNFL
.@giants @BobbyOkereke finally…Finally the G-Men have a MIKE LBer . It’s a decade or more…but Okereke never comes off the field. Easy to see why he is a priority signing.
https://twitter.com/BaldyNFL/status/1635817817139183617 - (
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I'm not sure I'd call an ILB with 300 tackles the past two seasons "a gamble."
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if he plays the way he played against nyg consistently that contract will be a steal. still a little surprised they didnt take one of the cheaper LBs since they were almost 1/2 off but i like the upside gamble.
I'm not sure I'd call an ILB with 300 tackles the past two seasons "a gamble."
10m aav/22mgtd/40m total on any player is a gamble. martinez had played like every snap and led the league in tackles for like 4 years straight. it looked like one of the best nyg signings in a decade for the first year and yet he ended up cut/retired before the deal concluded. its the nfl so every extra guaranteed $ is a gamble.
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In comment 16065008 Eric on Li said:
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if he plays the way he played against nyg consistently that contract will be a steal. still a little surprised they didnt take one of the cheaper LBs since they were almost 1/2 off but i like the upside gamble.
I'm not sure I'd call an ILB with 300 tackles the past two seasons "a gamble."
10m aav/22mgtd/40m total on any player is a gamble. martinez had played like every snap and led the league in tackles for like 4 years straight. it looked like one of the best nyg signings in a decade for the first year and yet he ended up cut/retired before the deal concluded. its the nfl so every extra guaranteed $ is a gamble.
This guy is a step faster than Blake. Liked blake a lot in 2020. Was bummed he got hurt in 21, D missed him a lot.
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In comment 16065008 Eric on Li said:
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if he plays the way he played against nyg consistently that contract will be a steal. still a little surprised they didnt take one of the cheaper LBs since they were almost 1/2 off but i like the upside gamble.
I'm not sure I'd call an ILB with 300 tackles the past two seasons "a gamble."
10m aav/22mgtd/40m total on any player is a gamble. martinez had played like every snap and led the league in tackles for like 4 years straight. it looked like one of the best nyg signings in a decade for the first year and yet he ended up cut/retired before the deal concluded. its the nfl so every extra guaranteed $ is a gamble.
Really... it is a gamble because he could get hurt... then all contracts are gambles. Before you can say yes exactly that is what I meant. That is stupid. This is a good contract for a very good player. It isn't a gamble. A gamble is taking a player that has been hurt every year or coming off a major injury etc. You probably didn't know he was a stud for two straight years... it is ok now you know.
This notion that NYG can't pay any players decent money is always a thing around here.
obviously, but injury risk is part of football and the more cap $ you spend on any individual player the more risk is tied up in an injury. on average something like 10 players exit every nfl game with some kind of injury. it is a risk baked into every contract (and draft pick) - even players who are iron men like martinez was prior to signing with nyg.
signing 2 players for 20m each instead of 1 player for 40m is an overly simplistic example of hedging risk but a practical one that played out over the last 2 days as 2 guys they were rumored to be interested in (edwards, pratt) got around 20m while they instead chose to sign okereke for 40m. i dont mind gambling on upside and choosing the better player but it carries more risk than diversifying. either path was an upgrade and nobody can predict the future so i have no issue with the path they chose it's just a little riskier.
This notion that NYG can't pay any players decent money is always a thing around here.
This notion that NYG can pay players more than market value because well the cap doesn't matter is always a thing around here!
Okereke has a huge wing span and is a lot faster than both of them. Even though he's not a "cover" ILB, I think he covers better than either Martinez or Pierce. He hasn't been asked to blitz much but he will be now and I expect/hope him to be a weapon in the pass rush too.
I think the Giants have had a slow defense for a decade.
An Art Stapleton quote from the Giants DC: Wink Martindale: "If you have a slow MIKE, you have a slow defense."
I am thrilled the Giants have added a fast ILB. I hope he's not the only one before the 2023 season starts.
If they keep them all, the Giants have 5 lottery ticket type picks in rounds 6 & 7. I hope they draft a few really fast projects with those picks at LB, WR & CB and if we get really lucky maybe the WR or CB could be a weapon returning kicks.
I think this Giants coaching staff is not going to have the sophomore slump we've seen with some of the recent failed catching staffs from the six years prior to 2022, but you can't coach speed. IMO the Giants don't have enough of it on either side of the ball. If I can see it, I'm sure the FO and coaches know it.
Okereke has a huge wing span and is a lot faster than both of them. Even though he's not a "cover" ILB, I think he covers better than either Martinez or Pierce. He hasn't been asked to blitz much but he will be now and I expect/hope him to be a weapon in the pass rush too.
I think the Giants have had a slow defense for a decade.
An Art Stapleton quote from the Giants DC: Wink Martindale: "If you have a slow MIKE, you have a slow defense."
I am thrilled the Giants have added a fast ILB. I hope he's not the only one before the 2023 season starts.
If they keep them all, the Giants have 5 lottery ticket type picks in rounds 6 & 7. I hope they draft a few really fast projects with those picks at LB, WR & CB and if we get really lucky maybe the WR or CB could be a weapon returning kicks.
I think this Giants coaching staff is not going to have the sophomore slump we've seen with some of the recent failed catching staffs from the six years prior to 2022, but you can't coach speed. IMO the Giants don't have enough of it on either side of the ball. If I can see it, I'm sure the FO and coaches know it.
i generally agree about skill set. the arm length is downright freakish for a 6'1 lb. he has longer arms than evan neal and a faster 10 second split than xavier mckinney. baldinger's breakdown shows how the tools translate, though we know the performance against nyg was so good it's a bit of an outlier for any player except luke keuchly.
i dont mind rolling the dice on higher upside players with better tools, and maybe part of the thinking re depth is that lb is an easier position to find serviceable players like jaylon smith and jarris davis off the street or mcfadden/beavers day 3. that's a good argument for spending on better upside as opposed to settling for more of a value player like tj edwards.
@Mario F. FYI - Okreke said this season that he wants his name to be pronounced in the traditional Nigerian dialect, so it would be pronounced O-care-ah-kay
Okereke will win the doubters over very quickly. This kid is a 26 year old true 3 down ILB.
Literally every game last season I said "this team desperately needs a good ILB." The middle of the defense was a major issue last season and now the Giants added a very good player to address that hole.