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6 Giants Defenders on Thin Ice After Shane Bowen Hiring

The Giants hiring Shane Bowen as defensive coordinator could lead to some big shakeups.

By Jason Schandl

Dec 31, 2023; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants safety Dane Belton (24) returns an
Dec 31, 2023; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants safety Dane Belton (24) returns an / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
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4. D.J. Davidson

Let's stick with the interior defensive line, shall we?

D.J. Davidson saw a significant uptick in playing time in his second pro season in 2023, but that wasn't earned through any sort of merit of his own. It was more a matter of necessity due to a lack of depth. What were we gonna do, play Jordon Riley instead?

Davidson played 245 defensive snaps, even making a couple of starts to fill in for injured players. And in all that palying time he racked up just 13 total tackles, with 1 TFL.

Sometimes the stats don't really tell the story for defensive tackles, since part of their job is to just clog gaps and eat up blocks to allow linebackers to run free. But this isn't one of those times. Davidson was every bit as bad as those stats suggest.

PFF graded him out at 47.7 against the run, and Giants fans who were watching him closely would've seen him regularly getting pushed back from the line of scrimmage or being neutralized by a single blocker.

Addressing D-line depth is going to be a priority for Bowen, and that's not good news for Davidson.

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