Giants Now: PFF ranks Giants among top LB units

Pro Football Focus ranks Giants among top linebacker units

The Giants’ defensive front has garnered a lot of attention since the acquisition of outside linebacker Brian Burns, and rightfully so. But while the defensive line has gotten much of the praise, members of the media are now beginning to recognize the team’s group of linebackers.

Pro Football Focus recently ranked the top linebacker units across the NFL, in which the Giants landed all the way up at No. 5.

“The Giants are solid at their starting linebacker spots,” wrote PFF’s Gordon McGuinness. “Bobby Okereke’s 78.9 PFF grade ranked 13th at the position in 2023, and Micah McFadden came in at No. 46 in his second season in the league. They also have Isaiah Simmons, who hasn’t lived up to his billing as a top-10 draft pick but was a useful depth player for the team last year, earning an 82.7 PFF coverage grade on 203 snaps.”

Okereke, who was recently ranked by PFF as a top 10 linebacker heading into the 2024 campaign, performed well in his debut season with the Giants. The 27-year-old registered a team-high 149 total tackles, the third-most in franchise history and the ninth-most in the league last season, while setting new career-highs with four forced fumbles, 2.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, six quarterback hits and 10 passes defensed.

Perhaps more impressive than the stats in his breakout season was his ability to stay on the field. Okereke displayed tremendous durability by playing every single one of the team’s defensive snaps, making him and former Giants safety Xavier McKinney the only two defensive players in the league to to be on the field for every defensive snap last season.

As if all of his on-field production wasn’t enough, Okereke was also voted a team captain prior to the start of his first season with the Giants, indicative of his leadership within the locker room.

“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.”