12 New York Giants Who Won't Return Next Season
12. Jihad Ward
Jihad Ward is set to become an unrestricted free agent, and if you watched the Giants in 2023 you don't even need me to explain why he's not coming back. Or if you watched them in 2022. Or if you watched the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021.
I'll grant you that Ward was pretty good for the Ravens in 2020, but he's clearly not the answer on the edge for the G-Men, and there's a reason he's already played for five different teams in his eight-year NFL career.
Ward tallied just 8.0 sacks on 676 pass-rushing snaps over his two seasons with the Giants, failing to make any sort of an impact in the area of the game in which he specializes. At least, that should be his specialty when you consider how terribly he defends the run (40.4 PFF run defense grade in 2023)
EDGE is obviously a hugely important position, and you really can't have too much depth there. But even if Ward were to take a discount to stay in New York, at this point he's just not worth it. The G-Men would be better served either going with a more reliable veteran or rolling the dice on a young player with upside. Ward is the worst of both worlds at this point.
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