Getty The Giants can't lose a "do-everything" free agent this offseason.
Forget Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley. Safety Julian Love is the one player the New York Giants can’t afford to lose in 2023 NFL free agency.
That’s the verdict from Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus, who identified Love as a “do-everything defensive back” crucial to what the Giants do defensively on the back end. There have already been some projections about what it might take to keep Love at MetLife Stadium, with a five-year deal paying almost $8 million annually a popular choice.
Love has earned improved terms after upping his game at every level in coordinator Don ‘Wink’ Martindale’s creative and aggressive schemes during a breakout season.
4-Year Pro Has Become Integral to Giants’ Defense
The Giants won’t be able to retain Love on the cheap. Not after the four-year pro enjoyed a career year in almost every way.
Spielberger detailed how “Love earned a career-high 71.5 coverage grade in 2022 and lined up everywhere, with 271 snaps down in the box, 154 in the slot and 494 at free safety. He’s a Swiss Army knife on the backend who rarely misses a tackle. Among 43 safeties with at least 150 tackles over the past three seasons, Love’s 13 missed tackles are the second fewest.”
Being able to move Love around the formation increased the different pressure looks Martindale was able to show offenses. He made the most versatile member of the secondary a crucial part of his blitz-heavy system, with Love being sent on the blitz 16 times, the most in his career, per Pro Football Reference.
The additional blitzing helped Love notch the first full sack of his career, against the Carolina Panthers in Week 2:
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📺: @NFLonFOX
No. 20 was just as effective in pass coverage, allowing a career-low 68 percent completion percentage. Love also snatched a pair of interceptions, including this theft against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens in Week 6, highlighted by Nick Falato of SB Nation’s Big Blue View:
Julian Love baits Lamar Jackson for an interception after the muffed snap
Shifting Love from the deep third to underneath areas helped Martindale disguise coverage more regularly and effectively. All of the schematic nuances also helped Love develop his nose for the ball, a trait further evidenced by five pass breakups, one forced fumble and a recovery.
The statistics all show Love is a playmaker on the rise. At 24, he’s the type of talented youngster general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll want to build a sustainably winning team around.
That won’t happen if the Giants let core players walk this offseason.
Giants Can’t Be Distracted by Headline Deals
Agreeing a new contract for Love and extending the deal for All-Pro nose tackle Dexter Lawrence are underrated priorities facing Schoen the next few months. They are overshadowed by the focus given to the futures of Jones and Barkley.
A winning quarterback and a bluechip running back aren’t cheap assets in the NFL. Jones is expected to “command at least $30 million annually,” per an agent who spoke with Heavy’s Senior NFL Reporter Matt Lombardo.
Meanwhile, a source told Ralph Vacchiano of Fox Sports Barkley is thought to want around the $16 million per season Christian McCaffrey earns with the San Francisco 49ers.
Schoen faces a tricky balancing act involving who gets fresh terms and who is hit with the franchise tag. Whatever happens with Barkley and Jones, the Giants may need as much as $39,811,836 to make the the five-year contract Spotrac.com projected for Love work.
The deal would pay Martindale’s roving playmaker $7.9 million a season. It’s worth it for a safety who looks primed to join the league’s elite in the near future, preferably in a Giants uniform.
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