It’s not necessarily the splashiest of moves, but the New York Giants are bringing back one of the club’s better defensive players from a season ago.
The last time the New York Giants reached the playoffs was 2016. It was led by a defense rebuilt through free agency courtesy of then-general manager Jerry Reese. That unit finished 10th in the league in total yards allowed per game, were tied for third in the NFL vs. the run and surrendered only 284 points.
Over the past three seasons, Big Blue hasn’t come remotely close to recapturing that kind of performance on this side of the ball. In points surrendered alone, they gave up 388 in 2017, 412 the following year and 451 points this past season.
The 2019 Giants were 25th in total defense, finishing 20th in the league in rushing yards allowed while only four clubs gave up more yards through the air. But one bright spot for this defense this past season was linebacker David Mayo, who wound up playing for the Giants after being signed by the San Francisco 49ers last offseason and subsequently being released by that club in late August.
With New York, he played in all 16 games, made a career-high 13 starts and tied for second on the team with 80 tackles. It’s also worth pointing out that he was one of the higher-ranked linebackers in the league by Pro Football Focus (subscription required) and only three players at his position earned higher marks against the run.
Hence it was no surprise that Giants’ general manager Dave Gettleman, who drafted Mayo back in 2015 with the Carolina Panthers, just re-upped with the five-year pro.
A nice find for the #Giants, David Mayo gets a 3-year extension worth $8.4M, source said. His reward for earning and keeping a starting spot. https://t.co/KCXTzLdcSU
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 14, 2020
New head coach Joe Judge and new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham obviously have a lot of work do in inheriting a 4-12 team. Last week, the Giants said goodbye to linebacker Alec Ogletree, who like Mayo also finished with 80 tackles. And Gettleman has decisions to make on performers such as Leonard Williams and Markus Golden.
But retaining David Mayo was indeed a positive and his best football may be yet to come.