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The New York Giants can’t ever have enough quality pass-rushers when Don ‘Wink’ Martindale is calling the defense. Martindale loves to blitz, so he’d appreciate general manager Joe Schoen stacking the deck with another edge-rusher in free agency.
If that free agent was four-time Pro-Bowler Justin Houston, then all the better. The 34-year-old has 111.5 sacks to his credit and spent the 2021 season playing for Martindale with the Baltimore Ravens.
Houston’s CV makes him “an ideal fit” for the Giants, according to Heavy’s Senior NFL Reporter Matt Lombardo. He revealed how Houston is “a hot commodity as free agency enters its latest wave,” with sources crediting the player with attracting “significant interest.” While Houston’s “currently weighing his options,” Lombardo thinks the veteran makes sense for a Giants’ system where pressure is king.
There’s a lot of merit to the idea of the Giants bringing in Houston on a cost-effective, one-year deal. Starters Kayvon Thiobodeaux and Azeez Ojulari are talented, but both dealt with injuries in 2022, while backups Jihad Ward and Oshane Ximines combined for a mere five sacks.
The Giants’ pass rush could do with more oomph, and Houston is more than qualified to provide some.
Giants’ Defense the Perfect Setting for Houston
Although Lombardo also named the Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars as potential fits, no team offers a better setting for Houston’s skills than the Giants. Those skills include still being able to put heat on the passer, even as he enters his 13th season.
Houston finished last season with 9.5 sacks, including this one against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 8 that made history, per SportsCenter.
The dominant display against the Bucs was the second of three multiple-sack games in a row for Houston. He was able to wreck the pocket despite being blitzed just 10 times, compared to the 44 times he blitzed for Martindale, per Pro Football Reference.
Reuniting with Martindale and taking on a situational role would be perfect for Houston. He’s in the winter of his career, but he hasn’t lost his flair for creating pressure. He’d also be joining a Giants’ front seven loaded with game-wreckers.
All-Pro nose tackle Dexter Lawrence II leads a line also featuring Pro-Bowler Leonard Williams and Super Bowl winners Rakeem Nunez-Roches and A’Shawn Robinson. Every member of the group will occupy interior blockers and gift one-on-one matchups to edge-rushers on the outside.
Playing across from either Thibodeaux or Ojulari would also take attention away from Houston. Martindale probably wouldn’t be shy about putting all three on the field at once at times, especially if Ojulari and Thibodeaux stay healthy after they missed 13 games between them last season.
The combination of scheme and talent could help Houston record double-digit sacks for the first time since 2019. Either way, his experience and track record for production would be assets for a team looking to prove last season’s surprise return to the postseason was no fluke.
Depth Will Define Giants’ Playoff Chances
A playoff repeat is likely to hinge on how well the depth players perform. There’s ample talent among the core starters on both sides of the ball, but it’s a different story behind the first wave.
Nowhere is the difference more pronounced than at edge-rusher. Ward and Ximines both got deals to come back, likely because of their familiarity with Martindale’s schemes, but neither is going to scare an offensive tackle nor take over a game singlehandedly.
It means if the Giants are going to get more production to supplement Thibodeaux and Ojulari from the current rotation, it’s likely to come from rookie free agent Habakkuk Baldonado.
He flashed the core skills of a gifted pass-rusher during a productive career at Pitt that yielded 15 sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss. One of those sacks was generated by this smart and aggressive use of hands highlighted by CheeseHeadTV contributor Brian Maafi.
Baldonado possesses the raw tools to contribute as a rookie, but any undrafted player faces an uphill battle just to make the final roster. Using some of the $5,442,156 worth of salary cap space left to sign Houston would allow the Giants to acquire a proven commodity who could make an immediate impact.
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