Giants Now: Bobby Okereke has been ‘everything & even more’

Bobby Okereke has been ‘everything & even more’

It’s been a few months since the 2023 season wrapped up, and yet Bobby Okereke is still garnering praise from the media for his performance last year.

Pro Football Focus recently compiled a list of the most underrated player on every team, or the players that the analytics site believes “should get more recognition for their efforts.” For the Giants, the choice was the 27-year-old linebacker.

“Okereke was everything and even more that the Giants might have hoped for when they signed him as a free agent in 2023,” wrote PFF’s Zoltan Buday. “Not only did he play a career-high snap total, but his 1,128 snaps over the regular season ranked second among all linebackers. In addition, his 78.9 overall grade ranked 12th among linebackers.”

Okereke was voted a captain prior to the start of his first season with the Giants, indicative of his leadership within the locker room.

He followed that up by putting together a dominant 2023 campaign.

The 27-year-old recorded a team-high 149 total tackles, the third-most in Giants history and the ninth-most in the league this year, while setting new career-highs with four forced fumbles, 2.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, six quarterback hits and 10 passes defensed.

But the most impressive part of Okereke’s first season with the Giants was his durability. The fifth-year linebacker played every single one of the Giants’ 1,228 defensive snaps this season, making him and safety Xavier McKinney the only two players in the NFL to be on the field for every defensive snap.

“You go through and you’re always evaluating yourself and so I think our free agent process was good,” general manager Joe Schoen said following the conclusion of the 2023 campaign. “We brought in guys that fit our culture, they were good guys, they helped elevate their rooms and Bobby O’s one of those guys.”