The New York Giants are in the midst of trimming their roster to 53 men, which means some tough decisions are being made.
Among the biggest surprises of the day is the impending cut of second-year defensive lineman Elijah Chatman, who also took snaps at fullback over the final two preseason games.
The issue for Chatman is his lack of production in special teams. He was limited in that role a season ago and didn’t take a single snap on specials during the preseason.
“Special teams is huge, particularly for the players that don’t start, and I’d say position flexibility comes into that as well,” head coach Brian Daboll said on Monday. “We’re just trying to give some more roles out for players to be able to showcase what they can do. Again, when we evaluate the roster, we evaluate each position. There’s a lot of things that go into it and our job is to try to put the best roster we can together.”
Chatman was praised for his work as a fullback despite low Pro Football Focus grades, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to secure a spot on the initial 53-man roster. Now all the Giants have left are some broken facemasks.
“Chat’s a true pro,” Daboll said earlier this month. “He’s got speed, quickness, explosion. I know he’s a smaller player, but he’s got some good speed and quickness in there, and we thought we’d utilize him some as a fullback because he did some of that at SMU. There’s evidence of it, and the plays he was in there; it was good to get him in there.
“I think every time he’s been in at fullback for us, whether it’s practice or in a game, he’s broken his facemask. He’s a tough guy. We’ll keep working with him, keep trying to improve him, and give him some different roles to create as much value for the team as he can.”
Chatman’s lack of size (5-foot-1, 278 pounds) also limited his defensive role. He’s a strong candidate for the practice squad.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: New York Giants cut emerging two-way player in surprise move
Reporting by Dan Benton, Giants Wire / Giants Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
