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The Giants send a clear message after swapping cornerback Eli Apple to the New Orleans Saints and Damon Harrison nose-tackle at the Detroit Lions in the last 24 hours.
It is now a reconstruction team focused on capital accumulation for veteran players, with an eye on playing with young talent in the second half of the season.
The two biggest winners in the pair of trades who released a pair of starting veterans are rookie free agent cornerback Grant Haley and second-year defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson.
Both should press for jobs to start on Sunday against the MetLife stadium against Washington.
Last week, in a first move announced by NJ Advance Media, the Giants promoted Haley from the training squad to the 53-player squad, after being one of the first unspoken free agent signatures of the team. team last spring.
Who could be the next giant to deal with?
Haley spent his first week training 53 men, working mostly outside the niche in practice, according to an individual familiar with the situation.
In three seasons at Penn State, Haley has mainly played the nickel corner half while also playing in special teams. During the training camp, the Giants worked the 5-foot-9 and 190-pound cornerback mainly outside with the defense of the second team. He should therefore start playing the role of B.W. Webb takes the place left vacant by the departure of Apple.
Meanwhile, Tomlinson should start in the middle of the Giants defense line, instead of Harrison.
Tomlinson has played a little over 57% of the Giants defensive catch this season and should play a bigger role. In the first seven games of the season, Tomlinson has already accumulated 21 tackles.
Bargaining Harrison seemed inevitable after the Giants had invested significant resources into the NFL project along the defense line in April, adding B.J. Hill in the third round and R.J. McIntosh in the fifth.
The Giants still have three weeks to decide if McIntosh is healthy enough and ready to go on the field before deciding to stop him for the final season due to an undeclared illness that cost him the training camp, the pre-season and the first seven games of the regular season.
By 2019 and beyond – and perhaps much sooner than it depends on McIntosh's health – the Giants' defensive line could be Hill, Tomlinson and McIntosh.
Matt Lombardo can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardoNFL
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