6 New York Giants Veterans Now on Roster Bubble Following Draft
The New York Giants have accumulated a ton of talent to help bounce back from a six-win season in 2014, but not everyone can make the final roster at the end of preseason.
Cuts will be made, and a couple of them could end the Giants tenures of Big Blue veterans.
After the rush of free-agency signings, the team's roster was crammed. After the draft, it's jam-packed. The Giants will enter training camp 90 men deep. They'll have to trim the team down to 53 before taking the field for the regular season.
Based on the amount of players comprising each positional unit after final cuts were made last year, we can figure out which Giants veterans are on the roster bubble heading into 2015.
This slideshow will highlight six of them.
DE Robert Ayers
1 of 6
Although unlikely, there's still a chance that Robert Ayers won't emerge from a crowded pack of defensive ends this year.
Ayers is a former first-round pick (18th overall in 2009) who spent his first five NFL seasons with the Denver Broncos. He joined the Giants before the 2014 season and came in off the bench to record 5.0 sacks in 12 games.
His first year in New York ended prematurely when he tore a pectoral muscle and landed on injured reserve.
Last year, the Giants kept 10 defensive linemen—five of whom were defensive ends—on the 53-man roster. If they carry the same amount this year, two of the seven ends on the roster at the moment will need to be let go.
Jason Pierre-Paul, Damontre Moore and 2015 third-round selection Owa Odighizuwa are virtual locks to make the team. Ayers' biggest competition to nab one of the two remaining spots will come from free-agency acquisition George Selvie and Kerry Wynn, a surprise standout from late last season.
DT Cullen Jenkins
2 of 6
The Giants can keep defensive ends Robert Ayers, George Selvie and Kerry Wynn on the roster, but that decision would likely limit them to room for only four defensive tackles.
If this is the route the Giants choose, Cullen Jenkins should be put on notice.
Jenkins, 34, has 11 NFL seasons under his belt. After seven seasons with the Green Bay Packers and two with the Philadelphia Eagles, Jenkins joined the Giants as a free agent before the 2013 season. His impact dipped dramatically from 2013 to 2014, as a calf injury limited him to fewer than 20 tackles in 12 games played.
Even though Jenkins has been one of the team's two starters at the position since arriving in New York, Jay Bromley may be in position to supplant him this year. Johnathan Hankins will hold the other starting DT position, so Jenkins could be fighting for a role among the reserves after restructuring his contract this offseason.
The Giants signed 346-pound free agent Kenrick Ellis to play a part in the team's previously struggling run defense, leaving Markus Kuhn as Jenkins' primary competition for a spot on the 53-man roster.
If the Giants decide to carry just five defensive ends, all five tackles—including Jenkins—should comfortably make the team.
CB Jayron Hosley
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Since he was selected in the third round of the 2012 NFL draft, cornerback Jayron Hosley hasn't done much other than disappoint.
According to NFL.com, Hosley was viewed as a ball-hawking slot corner coming out of Virginia Tech, but the bite-sized defensive back (5'10", 178 lbs) has been chewed up so much in coverage that the Giants are sick of seeing it. He appeared in only six games last season, becoming a regular healthy scratch on game days.
In 2014, the Giants carried nine defensive backs—five of whom were corners—on the 53-man roster. Unless Hosley has a tremendous turnaround or New York suffers from a sudden rash of injuries, it's hard to see where he fits into the future plans.
Prince Amukamara and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie are the team's clear starting tandem, so they're guaranteed two of the five available roster spots.
Trumaine McBride is the only other cornerback with a particularly favorable shot to make the team.
After those three, Hosley will be in at least a five-way fight with Chykie Brown, Bennett Jackson, Chandler Fenner and Mike Harris for the two remaining vacancies.
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S Cooper Taylor
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A week ago, safety Cooper Taylor might have been eyeing up a starting job. Now, he's no lock to even make the team.
Taylor was a fifth-round pick out of Richmond in 2013. Although he has impressive size for the position at 6'4" and 228 pounds, injuries have kept him from making a noticeable impact. Last year, he missed the entire season with a sesamoid fracture in his left foot.
Of the nine defensive backs kept on the 53-man roster last season, only four were safeties. So, in a flash, Taylor could find himself on the outside looking in.
The Giants targeted Taylor's position in the draft, moving up in the second round to take Alabama's Landon Collins and later using a fifth-round pick to select Texas' Mykkele Thompson, a defensive back with experience at corner but who projects to play safety in New York.
Collins should step in and start right away, while Thompson could make for a valuable addition on special teams.
Nat Berhe will get a fair shake for the other starting job, leaving just one roster spot for Taylor to snag.
His biggest competition will likely come from free-agent acquisition Josh Gordy, but Bennett Jackson could also make a run for the spot if he attempts a transition from cornerback to safety. According to NJ.com's Jordan Raanan, head coach Tim Coughlin recently mentioned this as a possibility.
WR Kevin Ogletree
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The Giants must pare their current corps of wide receivers by half, and Kevin Ogletree is one experienced pass-catcher who could be getting the axe.
Ogletree, who entered the league as an undrafted rookie back in 2009, has extended his NFL opportunity into a respectable career. He spent his first four seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, then split a year between the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before signing with the Giants off the street after Victor Cruz's season-ending injury in 2014.
Although Ogletree was the first of New York's 2015 free agents to be re-signed, he caught only five passes for 50 yards last year, and the competition is only getting stiffer.
New York's 53-man roster from last season featured six receivers.
Odell Beckham Jr., Rueben Randle and Victor Cruz will eat up half of those available roster spots. Dwayne Harris cost the Giants $7.1 million in guaranteed money and Preston Parker is coming off a 36-catch season, so they're both likelier to make the team than Ogletree.
That leaves just one opening, and Ogletree will have a tough time wrangling it away from fan favorite and preseason superstar Corey Washington.
There's also 2015 sixth-round selection Geremy Davis out of Connecticut to worry about.
TE Adrien Robinson
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Tight end Adrien Robinson's presence on the roster bubble has nothing to do with what the Giants did in the 2015 NFL draft, as New York didn't select a tight end.
Robinson is just one more awful training camp/preseason away from cementing himself as a bust.
The Giants carried three tight ends on their roster in 2014, including Robinson as the team's third-stringer. Behind Larry Donnell and Daniel Fells, the fourth-round pick from 2012 only caught five passes for 50 yards last year—and that was five more catches and 50 more yards than he had in either of the previous two seasons.
Donnell and Fells should be the top two tight end options again in 2015, but it's probably time to move on from Robinson.
Whether the Giants take a shot on Jerome Cunningham or even recently signed undrafted free agent Matt LaCosse from Illinois—per Jordan Raanan of NJ.com—anybody has to be a better option than the supposed "JPP of tight ends."
All roster information courtesy of Giants.com.
Kevin Boilard writes about the New York Giants for Bleacher Report.
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