Part 4 of a five-part series – a trio of Giants.
Longevity and the NFL are not brothers.
Call letters for the league don’t mean for long, but the feeling is clear and obvious to anyone involved in the most brutal sport of all. Careers come and go, contracts are not guaranteed and players sometimes enter the scene and leave with little fanfare and far too much haste.
Keeping a spot on the roster is usually helped by a player’s draft level, but there are no extended free passes. A dead season is alarming and two of them, to come in the successive years, are enough to grease the skates for an ouster. Add in the presence of new coaching staff and the urgency to impress now, not later, is growing exponentially.
Here are three giants who keep their jobs and their place on the list:
Nate Solder, attacking tackle
There is this thing with the players and their age. Before they are around 25 years old, including their age when they refer to them is positive. They are “only” 24, projecting a lot of potential to be discovered. Once they reach 30, the age might as well be an albatross, as long as they identify them. As in: “The Giants selected Andrew Thomas, 21, in the first round of the NFL draft (which is good for Thomas) as a possible replacement for Nate Solder, 32 (which does not bode well for Solder). “
Solder is entering his 10th season in the NFL and his first two games with the Giants have not been excellent. Not at all. It was serviceable in 2018 and less than that in 2019, when it cleared 11 bags – only two players were beaten for more. The Giants have been patient with Solder, a great human being who is durable and reliable. He must, however, play much better. His contract runs until 2021, but it is almost inconceivable that he will finish this unless he improves his performance.
BJ Hill, defensive tackle
Encouraging signs from Hill as a 2018 rookie have made a splash to suggest that he was a theft pick, arriving in the third round of the state of North Carolina. Hill’s dismal signs after last season put him squarely on the hot seat. Is it an important part of the defensive line rotation or just passing?
Hard to say. He started 12 games as a rookie and had 5.5 sacks, more than the Giants expected of him and giving real hope that he would develop into a consistent pass-rusher. Hill is an inside lineman and this push from the middle of the line was exceptional. Hill’s same love coaching staff embittered him in 2019, when he only started five games and only managed to get one bag. His efficiency against the race has actually improved, according to Pro Football Focus, but his opportunities have diminished, as the writing of Dexter Lawrence and the trade of Leonard Williams have considerably reduced Hill’s playing time.
At 25, Hill must show new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham that he deserves shoehorns on the field, even with Williams, Lawrence and Dalvin Tomlinson available.
Wayne Gallman, ball carrier
The revision of the list did not leave the Giants with many older veterans clinging to their livelihoods. Gallman, 26, is a young veteran and it is a year of decision for him. The arrow points down, but that doesn’t mean it should stay that way.
There was nothing wrong with Gallman. He arrived in Clemson’s fourth round with a championship pedigree, and as a freshman he rushed for 476 yards and averaged 4.3 yards per run. Perfectly acceptable. The Giants did not expect greatness from him; they thought it could be a solid complementary complement.
In his second year, Gallman was usurped by Saquon Barkley and, for all intents and purposes, that was it. His hasty attempts went from 111 to 51 to 29 and last season he was just an afterthought. It was a difficult break until after receiving his big chance – running for a touchdown and catching a pass for another – in a rare starting assignment to replace Barkley injured in a win over Washington, Gallman suffered a concussion the following game , reducing his opportunity while Barkley was away. The Giants have hired Dion Lewis as a veteran to support Barkley and Gallman must find a way to convince new offense coordinator Jason Garrett to give him the ball from time to time.
.
