Okay, so the New York Giants don’t need a linebacker. But they do need an edge rusher, and the fact that Joe Judge hired a defensive coordinator in Patrick Graham who can run a 3-4 means Daniel Bituli would have a chance to succeed in this defense. He has a chance to be a great steal by this franchise in a later round in the NFL Draft.
We can look beyond Graham as well. As we mentioned with Jauan Jennings, a few people on Judge’s staff would be familiar with Bituli. Former Vols head coach Derek Dooley was the Missouri Tigers’ offensive coordinator last year, and now he’s an offensive specialist with the Giants. He saw first-hand what Bituli could do, as Bituli had 12 tackles, 10 solo and a sack at Mizzou.
The most notable guy, though, to give Bituli a shot would be Kevin Sherrer, who was Tennessee football’s inside linebackers coach the past two years. He is now the Giants’ inside linebackers coach, so if anybody is going to give Bituli a fair shake, it’s him. After all, he directly coached Bituli, so he knows exactly what he’ll get out of the guy and be a great advocate for him.
In fact, Sherrer is the biggest reason the Giants are on this list. But overall, the mindset of the Giants under their new leadership is a reason to believe in Bituli getting a fair shot here. He may not be ready to play right away, as he is a guy whose experience and fundamentals will get him through, and he needs to develop. But this will be a great place for him to do that.