in the Giants’ subpackages"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections New York Giants NewsGiants Training Camp 2016Giants vs. Eagles 2015 Golden Tate Jerseys 2019 , Week 17New York Giants News2019 NFL DraftWhat does Oshane Ximines bring to the Giants’ defense?New,33commentsOshane Ximines should be an early contributor in the Giants’ subpackagesEDTShareTweetShareShareWhat does Oshane Ximines bring to the Giants’ defense?Ray Carlin-USA TODAY SportsThe New York Giants desperately needed help at the defensive EDGE position, and that was before they traded away Olivier Vernon. Early in the 2018 season, while Vernon was still recovering from a freak ankle injury suffered in practice during the preseason, the Giants fielded one of the very worst pass rushes in the NFL. With Vernon now gone for good, the Giants are hoping for Lorenzo Carter to develop and unleash his formidable athletic ability and that Markus Golden will be able to fully recover from his torn ACL and show that his 2016 production wasn’t a fluke. But even if both of those work out in the Giants’ favor, they still need more pass rushers and more depth aat the defensive EDGE position. The Giants passed up elite EDGE prospects at the top of the draft, but after a four-hour wait on Day 2 they selected Oshane Ximines out of Old Dominion. Let’s take a closer look at the Queens native and see what the first player ever drafted out of ODU can bring to the Giants’ defense.MeasurablesProsShows very good hand usage. Consistently uses his hands to keep blockers from locking in. Has a variety of pass rush moves. Good pop for a modestly sized EDGE.Experience rushing from a two or three-point stance. Rushed from the interior or as stand-up interior blitzer on nickel downs. Sets a firm edge in the run game. High motor player who gives maximum effort on every play. Multiple time team captain and reportedly a high-character young man.ConsFirst step isn’t sudden and shows some wasted motion. Shows some lower-body stiffness that limits him as a speed rusher. Has a strong tendency to lose track of the football on play-action and option plays. Doesn’t have great length, and his size limits him in certain situations.Frame appears close to maxed out. Numbers of note(Per Sports Info Solutions Rookie Handbook)Ximines started 48 of 49 games for Old Dominion. The lone game he didn’t start was Senior Day in 2016. Ximines’ broken tackle rate dropped from 10.4 percent in 2016 to 4.8 percent by 2018, while his tackle share and pressure share rose each year.Rushed on 91.9 percent of his snaps, and played 78.6 percent of his snaps in a 3-point stance. Had a pressure rate of 14.4 percent in 2018, with 11.5 sacks, 18 QB hits, 8 knockdowns White Jabrill Peppers Jerseys , 31 hurries, and 46 pressures. Prospect VideoWhat They’re Saying - Joe Marino (The Draft Network - Scouting Report) Does He Fit The Giants?Ximines (or X-Man, as Pat Shurmur called him), should be a solid fit as a rotational piece in James Bettcher’s multiple defense. He has the versatility to rush as a defensive end or as a linebacker, from both inside and outside alignments, depending on down, distance, and subpackage. Ximines is an average athlete, but compensates for it with good, active hands and a variety of pass rush moves to keep blockers from being able to lock in on his chest plate and gain leverage. His first step could probably be best described as “okay” at the moment — it isn’t bad, but it also isn’t a strength. He shows some wasted motion off the snap, particularly out of a three-point stance. He will be a more effective rusher at the NFL level if he is able to generate more explosive power and push off without losing energy along the way.As a 6-foot-3, 253-pound EDGE rusher, Ximines would typically expected to be a speed rusher Jabrill Peppers Jerseys 2019 , but between his first step and some lower body (hips and ankle) stiffness, he is forced to be more of a power rusher. Ximines has built his game around that, favoring both a straight bull-rush and a long-arm move to take advantage of his upper body strength and natural leverage. He does have an effective arm-over move as a speed counter for when tackles are expecting his power moves. All told, Ximines is a high-floor player who should be a good locker room presence and slot in fairly early as a rotational piece and a regular feature in third down packages. His athletic limitations might keep him from being a high-ceiling player, but even a steady contributor is still useful.When the Cowboys have the ball: A game of cat and mouse Any matchup against the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys is going to feel like a big one, especially when it gets the primetime Sunday Night Football treatment. It might seem like hyperbole to say the course of the rest of the season for these two teams hinges on this game, but it might not be so out there with both teams sitting at 0-1. Consider there’s an average difference of 2.5-wins and 31 percent playoff probability between teams that start the season 1-1 and those that start 0-2. That adds more stakes to this divisional matchup.When these teams were contenders in 2016, the Giants had one of the league’s best defenses and the Cowboys rolled out one of the league’s best offenses. Those units dropped off in 2017, but they’ll both look to get closer to 2016 as the 2018 season rolls on. Here’s what to watch on that side of the ball come Sunday night:Landon Collins’s alignmentOne of the things to watch in the new James Bettcher defense was how Landon Collins was going to be used. He might not exactly serve the moneybacker role the Cardinals set up for Deone Bucannon, but Collins was often hovering around the line of scrimmage in the season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. On half (16-of-32) of Collins’s first half snaps, he was within five yards of the line of scrimmage, but never between the hashes. He was typically between the hashes and the numbers, split between each side. On only three plays in the first half did Collins line up at least 10 yards from the line of scrimmage.Collins wasn’t much of a factor, though White Jon Halapio Jerseys , and most of his box score stats came in the second half. He was sent on a blitz three times per Pro Football Focus, but did not create a pressure.It’s likely the Giants remain in a single-high safety look against the Cowboys. In Week 1, Dak Prescott had and below average depth of target (aDOT) of 7.3 and his longest pass of the day traveled just 23.7 yards in the air from where he released it, the fourth-shortest long pass of the week, per Next Gen Stats. Prescott only tried three passes more than 15 yards down the field against the Panthers.Dallas doesn’t really have a deep threat that would warrant keeping another safety back in coverage, which should allow the defense to continue trusting the cornerbacks in man coverage.Blocking the boxBecause of the lack of talent at wide receiver and because the presence of Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys are going to want to run the ball. The Giants are going to want to stop the run. Earlier this week Landon Collins said, “we really just have to focus on stopping Zeke鈥?we do that, put the ball in Dak’s hands, I think we have a better shot at winning.”It would be a similar game plan to what the Giants ran against the Jaguars. Per Next Gen Stats, the Giants had eight or more men in the box on 57.1 percent of T.J. Yeldon’s rushing attempts, the third-highest rate for a running back with at least 10 carries in Week 1. But we know box usage is heavily influenced by offensive personnel and the Jaguars spent much of the game in heavy formations running with the lead.Dallas didn’t have that luxury against the Panthers. The Cowboys played catch up and Elliott saw an 8-man box on just 13.3 percent of his carries, the sixth-lowest rate for a back with at least 10 rushing attempts. Dallas wants to come out heavy and run the ball, but without the lead they don’t always have that opportunity. Prepare for play-actionWhat could make Dallas dangerous is knowing that defenses know they want to run Jon Halapio Jerseys 2019 , come out in those heavy run formations, and run play-action. It’s something the Cowboys didn’t do nearly enough of as a run-heavy team last season — just 22 percent of pass attempts last year included play-action, 19th in the league per Sports Info Solutions charting from Football Outsiders. They used it on 24 percent in 2016, at that time the third-highest rate in the league (smart teams are realizing more play-action is good for the offense).With a defense overly committed to stopping the run, play-action is a great way to create passing lanes, open receivers, and easy throws. It’s also something the Giants have been susceptible to in the past. No team had play-action used more on them last season than the Giants and one of the downsides to Bettcher’s aggressive looks at the line is that it can leave space for big gains off play-action if the defense doesn’t react right away. Last season the Cardinals allowed 9.0 yards per play on play-action, the fourth-highest number in the league, but they allowed 5.4 yards per play on non-play-action passes, the third-lowest rate in the league.The Jaguars used this aggression against the Giants in Week 1 with play-action and misdirection setting up Giants defenders to be out of position. If the Cowboys are smart, they’ll go to that well often, but there’s already been talk about Scott Linehan’s future as offensive coordinator in Dallas, which shows you “smart” isn’t exactly something that would describe that offense at the moment.Causing confusionFor years, the strength of the Dallas offense has been the offensive line. But that isn’t really the case right now. Travis Frederick is sidelined indefinitely with a serious illness and Zack Martin dealt with a knee injury throughout training camp. With a reworked and not 100 percent line in place White Curtis Riley Jerseys , the Cowboys had some communication issues up front against the Panthers.The Giants could easily exploit this by loading the line of scrimmage and disguising which defenders have what responsibilities — a hallmark of the Bettcher offense. Stunts along the defensive line could also test the communication skills across the offensive line. This is something the Giants could easily do to manufacture a pass rush, especially if Olivier Vernon is not available to play again. If the Giants can create some pressure just backfield penetration by confusing the offensive line, everyone else on the defense will have an easier job.The ghost of Jason WittenWith Jason Witten retired and in the Monday Night Football booth, he’s no longer a concern for New York Giants linebackers. For his entire career, Witten was a monster against the Giants, even as he slowed down significantly in the latter years. Without Witten, the Cowboys aren’t exactly deep at tight end. Geoff Swaim and Blake Jarwin combined for three catches for 18 yards on five targets against the Panthers.More good news for the Giants, they didn’t give up a touchdown to a tight end in Week 1 — well, not officially. Austin Seferian-Jenkins did score a touchdown against Alec Ogletree, but the play was called back because of an illegal hands to the face penalty against Andrew Norwell. Officially the Giants only allowed 25 yards to Jaguars tight ends and finished ninth in VOA (DVOA without the opponent adjustments) against tight ends in Week 1, per Football Outsiders.