New York Giants Offseason: Reviewing the Defensive End Position

2017 Depth Chart

Olivier Vernon – 37 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles (signed through 2020)

Jason Pierre-Paul – 68 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles (signed through 2020)

Kerry Wynn – 19 tackles, 1 sack, 0 forced fumbles (unrestricted free agent)

Avery Moss – 14 tackles, 0 sacks, 1 forced fumble (signed through 2020)

Romeo Okwara – 3 tackles, 0 sacks, 0 forced fumbles (signed through 2018)

2017 Review

On the year, the New York Giants finished tied for 29th in the league with just 27 sacks. Although sacks can come from anywhere, the defensive end position is heavily relied upon to generate pressure and sacks, especially when you have as expensive of a unit as Big Blue has.

Olivier Vernon makes the big bucks but only recorded 6.5 sacks. The fact that Vernon only played 12 games certainly affected his sack total but you’d still like to see him take the quarterback down more often. OV has always generated pressure which is very important but he’s paid to sack the quarterback and ruin drives.

What really dropped down was Vernon’s total tackles. After recording 60+ tackles two years in a row, he had just 37 tackles last season. All in all, 2017 was not a bad season for Vernon but he’ll need to step up in 2018 if the Giants want to shake off their 3-13 season.

Jason Pierre-Paul played 16 games for the first time since 2014 and his 8.5 sacks were also the most since 2014. That sounds like an encouraging season but, like Vernon, when you’re one of the highest paid players on the team, your seasons need to be more than encouraging.

Will we ever see the 86 tackle, 16.5 sacks JPP of 2011? Probably not. However, the 77 tackle, 12.5 sacks JPP of 2014 seems reasonable. Pierre-Paul was not the reason New York lost 13 games but he could have done more to help them win more than three games.

Kerry Wynn made seven starts and recorded 53 tackles in 2015 and looked like a part of the Giants’ future. Since then, he’s been nothing more than a solid rotational defensive end. Wynn made three starts this year but totaled just 19 tackles. The best part of Wynn’s game has always been run stopping as he has just three career sacks in four seasons.

Avery Moss was a fifth-round pick but fell because of off-field issues, not his ability to play defensive end. As a rookie, Moss naturally had his ups and downs. He did make two starts due to injury and was the lone bright spot in the otherwise disgusting effort against the Rams when Moss recorded six tackles.

Romeo Okwara had hoped to build on his promising 2016 rookie season where he made four starts and recorded his first career sack against the mighty Dallas Cowboys offensive line. Unfortunately, injuries limited Okwara to just six games in 2017. He was placed on injured reserve after Week 6 and returned in Week 16 but with just three total tackles, Okwara was a non-factor this past season.