The Giants spent the morning working out deals for several players in-house that needed extensions, and by the afternoon general manager Joe Schoen made his first free agent signing of the offseason.
The Giants came to terms on a three-year contract with defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches, according to Art Stapleton of North Jersey.com. There is an out clause after the first two years of the deal.
Nunez-Roches started 10 games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season and had 33 tackles and two sacks. Additionally, he took 49% of the snaps, five tackles for a loss and three quarterback hits.
The move gives the Giants more depth and an upgraded option at DT over Justin Ellis. Schoen made no bones about his feelings about his defensive line after last season.
“Not great,” he told NJ.com. “That’s a premium position. Again, you talk about allocating resources to a position — that’s important. We have to be better next year at stopping the run. I think some of that is our depth.”
The Giants had one of the worst run defenses in the NFL last season and they are looking to improve that any way they can next season. Pro Football Focus gave Nunez-Roches a 58.4 run-stopping grade and an overall grade of 56.6.
