A GIANT HOLE
Carter expected to take over for Vernon on Big Blue defense
Olivier Vernon played 86 percent of the Giants’ defensive snaps in his 11 healthy starts last season. Then the Giants traded him to Cleveland and passed on drafting Kentucky edge rusher Josh Allen at No. 6.
So Lorenzo Carter’s charge is to inherit Vernon’s workload, replace his production, and lead an upgrade of the pass rush in the process. All in his second NFL season.
No pressure.
“It doesn’t matter what happened in the offseason with players or whatever. Coming into year two for me is big,” Carter, 23, the 2018 third-round pick out of Georgia, said this spring. “It’s a big jump. You’re not a rookie anymore. So you know what you have to work on.”
Giants GM Dave Gettleman did sign free agent veteran edge Markus Golden, hoping for a return to his pre-torn ACL form of 2016 (12.5 sacks). Gettleman drafted Old Dominion edge Oshane Ximines in April’s third round, as well.
The Giants’ careful management of Golden’s workload this spring, however, was a reminder of how fragile their hope for the former Arizona Cardinal might be. Meanwhile, Ximines is trying to digest a more complicated playbook than he’s used to, and vet Kareem Martin showed an average ceiling in 2018.
Carter, though, is the 6-5, 250pound physical specimen whom the Giants are hoping will bloom into a game-wrecker in his second NFL season.
He showed flashes of freakish playmaking as early as his rookie preseason with a couple of sacks in Detroit. In just 21 Week 3 snaps in a win at Houston, Carter recorded two tackles, 1.5 sacks (the half was nullified due to offsetting penalties), and two QB hits in 21 snaps.
He had a season-high seven tackles in a Week 10 win at San Francisco and showed an impressive ability to run in coverage
with running back Matt Breida on a second quarter incompletion.
Carter finished his rookie season with 43 tackles, four sacks, seven tackles for loss, 10 QB hits and four passes defended in 15 games. He played exactly 40 percent (441) of the Giants’ 1,097 defensive snaps.
This was a fair starting point for a rookie mentored throughout the year by veteran Connor Barwin. No one was expecting Carter to be Bradley Chubb, the Broncos’ 2018 fifth overall pick who recorded an eye-opening 12 sacks and 60 tackles playing 78 percent (844) of Denver’s defensive snaps.
Year two will be different, though. Carter is no longer just a young player to bring along. He is now going to be counted on. The good news is that he’s not satisfied with how he played as a rookie.
“I know I can get a lot better,” Carter said. “I feel like I had an OK (rookie) season. I know there is a lot of room for improvement.”
It’s also encouraging to hear defensive coordinator James Bettcher describe the growth he’s seen — and expects — in Carter.
“He is rushing with a plan,” Bettcher said recently of Carter’s offseason. “When you see him rush, a year ago he was trying to get off the ball as quick as he could and use his hands when he could. Now, you see a guy that is aware of how he wants to rush, aware of techniques that he wants to rush with.
“Guys that get in there as pass rushers, I have been in there and have coached them before personally, you see their best growth in the two and three years,” Bettcher added. “You start to figure out what they are as rushers. Whether you are Chandler Jones and a really bloody rusher or a speed counter guy. (Carter) is really starting to figure that out. He is building his pass rush toolbox right now.”
Carter has to get a lot better in large part due simply to Vernon’s absence from the roster.
Vernon played in only 11 games last year due to a preseason high ankle sprain, but he still recorded seven sacks, 30 tackles, five tackles for a loss, and a whopping 21 quarterback hits to reach his first Pro Bowl. Those QB hits were double the total of other Giants on the roster.
His presence impacted opponents’ game plans, and Vernon also strip-sacked Andrew Luck in Week 16 in the red zone. B.J. Hill’s fumble recovery would have changed the game, but the turnover was wiped out because Janoris Jenkins had tackled a receiver downfield.
Gettleman traded Vernon to Cleveland for right guard Kevin Zeitler, upgrading his offensive line but severely depleting his defensive front.
Excitingly, Bettcher added that Carter has been “practicing as hard as anyone on the field right now,” showing great “effort” and “finish.” The D-coordinator admitted, though, that you can’t really evaluate a pass rusher — or the Giants’ new pass rush as a unit — until the pads come on in training camp.
“I believe we can (have a good enough pass rush), and that will reveal itself when we get to training camp, when we get pads on and things start happening live and there are 50-50 downs,” Bettcher said. “Everyone wants to rush well on third down. It is all those 50-50 downs that are 50 percent run, 50 percent pass. That makes up the larger portions of the game. That is when you have to find out how good guys are as rushers.”
Carter will be on the field on a much larger percentage of those 50-50 downs this season, and he will be expected to produce pressure on the quarterbacks and sacks.
“Everything will fall into place,” Carter said of the need to increase his sack total.
The Giants hope opposing quarterbacks will be falling, courtesy of their second-year talent on the edge.