Breakout Player Profiles: Linval Joseph, DT, New York Giants

Throughout the summer I’ve been highlighting some players I think could have a breakout season. So far the players have been the likes of Navarro Bowman, Gerald McCoy, C.J. Spiller as well as others. Today, I look towards a guy who was rather unimpressive in his rookie season: Giants defensive tackle Linval Joseph.

Joseph is a massive defensive tackle who played at the lower level East Carolina in college. In college, Joseph struggled with his weight, but when he was on the field made a tremendous impact. Joseph was a late riser heading into the draft as he was getting some underground recognition as a guy who could sneak into the back of the first round, especially to a 34 team looking for a nose tackle. Joseph had the size after all to take up blocker at 6’4 328 pounds, with 10 inch hands and 34.5 inch arms.

Joseph’s scouting report from nfl.com/combine

Joseph is a big body who could line up at nose tackle in a 3-4 front or interior defender in a 4-3 scheme. He is somewhat one dimensional as a run defender. He flashes ability to anchor well when he keeps his pads down but can be very inconsistent in this area. He has strong arms and hands to control blockers but can be slow to shed to the pile. He has decent quickness between the tackles but lacks range outside the box. He flashes power to collapse the pocket as a bull rusher but needs to expand his pass-rush package to become more effective in this area. Joseph has enough size and strength to push for a starting role along the defensive line, but weight and durability concerns likely will affect his draft status.

Joseph first made his mark by jacking up 39 reps on the bench press at the combine while also running a 5.09 40 yard dash with a 30 inch vertical and a 1.75 yard 40 10 yard split. When teams looked at his junior season and realized he had 60 tackles with 13 for a loss and three sacks, they were officially intrigued. Joseph was called “the fastest rising player in the N.F.L. draft by Mel Kiper Jr, especially for 34 teams like the Chargers or Jets.

But Joseph wasn’t drafted by a 34 team, he was drafted by the New York Giants. Last season, Joseph struggled to get on the field for the Giants partly because the team felt his technique wasn’t good enough yet and largely because he was behind Barry Coefield and Chris Canty on the depth Chart. Rocky Bernard also saw snaps at defensive tackle and of course the Giants played Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre Paul, and Mathias Kiwanuka (early in the season prior to his injury) at defensive tackle as well, which limited his reps. In limited game time action he had 8 tackles on the season. How can I be calling an 8 tackle defensive tackle a breakout player? His strength, and athleticism are intriguing and he’s surrounded by talent along the Giants defensive line, but gone is Barry Coefield. Mathias Kiwanuka has moved to SAM linebacker, and to top it off Osi Umeinyora could be headed elsewhere. What was once a logjam along the defensive line for the New York Giants as suddenly turned into a great opportunity. The Giants are expecting Joseph to take a quantum leap this year, and I am as well. I think fans will start to notice Joseph.

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