Giants sign Shelton
Big Blue gives one-year deal to former Lion DT
The Giants signed free agent defensive tackle Danny Shelton on Monday to bolster a D-line that lost Dalvin Tomlinson to the Minnesota Vikings.
“Let’s Go Big Blue!” Shelton, 27, tweeted mid-afternoon during a visit to East Rutherford, N.J.
Shelton, a 6-2, 345-pound interior lineman, is in on a one-year deal, a source confirmed. He joins a D-line that includes Leonard Williams, Dexter Lawrence, B.J. Hill and the recently re-signed Austin Johnson.
Tomlinson and Lawrence each played 60% of the Giants’ defensive snaps last season in coordinator Pat Graham’s 3-4 scheme. Williams led all D-linemen logging 74% of snaps, while Hill played 34% of the time and Johnson was on for 21% of the workload.
So Tomlinson’s departure left a void at the top of the rotation. Shelton’s addition and Johnson’s return on a one-year deal are intended to help address that.
Shelton didn’t have respectable grades with the Detroit Lions last season. At best, he measured out as an average pass rushing tackle (64.0), with 10 pressures, one sack and three QB hits in 12 games, per Pro Football Focus.
By comparison, Tomlinson received a 74.6 pass rush grade with 28 pressures, four sacks and six hits in 16 games with the Giants. Tomlinson’s pass rush grade actually led the Giants’ D-line, although Williams racked up a team-high 11.5 sacks.
Shelton also had triceps surgery in early January for an injury sustained in Week 17. That happened in his first game back from a fourweek injured reserve stint due to a right knee ailment.
Shelton was released by the Lions on March 16 with a failed physical designation, but obviously the Giants were satisfied enough with his physical to sign him.
The Giants’ reluctance to pay Tomlinson is curious in the context of the team’s heavy spending since he left for just two years and $21 million with the Vikings. He was a homegrown former 2016 second-round pick and one of the team’s leaders.
But they made the decision to spend big to re-sign Williams and were in hot pursuit of edge Leonard Floyd before the Rams pass rusher opted to stay in L.A.
So with Tomlinson gone, they are supplementing their interior on the veteran value market, including Johnson’s $3 million deal and Shelton’s likely similar contract (he made $2.75 million with Detroit last year).
Shelton, a former Cleveland Browns 2015 first-round pick, played two seasons for the New England Patriots in 2018-19 while Joe Judge was Bill Belichick’s special teams coordinator. They won a Super Bowl in his first season with the team.
He then played last season for the Lions, where new Giants senior personnel exec Kyle O’Brien was part of the brain trust.
Pro Football Focus graded Shelton 51.1 overall, making him the No. 62 ranked interior D-linemen out of the 70 who played at least half of the NFL-high 882 snaps in 2020.
Shelton had one sack and 37 tackles in Detroit last year playing 44% of the snaps in 12 games. His run defense (44.9) and tackling (44.1) were subpar.
That was way behind Tomlinson’s 75.1 overall grade at No. 18, a few spots trailing Williams (No. 14, 79.8) and Lawrence (No. 15, 79.7).
Back in 2019 with New England, Shelton had three sacks and 61 tackles logging 49% of the snaps for Belichick and playing 23% of Judge’s special teams snaps.
So expect Shelton to contribute on the Giants’ special teams units, too. But mainly, what they need from him is reliable play in the middle of their defense, because that’s something they lost when Tomlinson left.