00:05His new Giants defensive tackle, DJ Reader, really the answer to the void left by Dexter
00:11Lawrence being shipped to Cincinnati. That is kind of a loaded and complicated question. I mean,
00:17he was signed to be one of the answers to fill that void, but out of all of the interior
00:22linemen
00:22that the Giants had in that D-line room, I think he's the best answer so far. I mean,
00:27when you take it to the board and you compare his 2025 numbers to Dex's numbers, they're somewhat
00:34comparable. Dex had 34 tackles, a half a sack, an INT, eight quarterback hits, and four tackles for
00:41loss. Reader finished the season with 28 tackles and four quarterback hits, no sacks and no TFLs.
00:49Again, somewhat comparable, but the stat I need you guys to keep an eye on is the reason they brought
00:55him in, and that's double team rate percentage. Dex faced a 71% double team rate. Reader recorded
01:03a 71.7% double team rate. Keep blockers off the linebackers and edge rushers and clog up the middle.
01:11So let's go into the trenches and break down his scheme value in Denard Wilson's defense
01:16in today's Blue Rush Free Agent Profile.
01:22DJ Reader, welcome to the Giants. You hope that he's able to cause all types of chaos in the
01:28trenches and to allow these linebackers to play free. Let's watch him against the Kansas City Chiefs,
01:35who is going to see a lot of these plays in training camp and OTAs because Matt Nagy,
01:41new offense coordinator comes from this Andy Reid tree. He was the offense coordinator for the
01:46Kansas City Chiefs. We all know Andy Reid called the plays, but I mean, there's familiarity there
01:51in terms of potential schemes and run fits and run blocks and all that good stuff. But we're
01:58focusing on 98 right here, who's head up with a really good center in Reed Humphrey. I forget his
02:05first name, but Humphrey right here. And again, the focus on this, y'all, is to show how he is
02:12effective when it comes to taking on double team. We talked about the double team rate percentage,
02:17but it's not just like he was double teamed and then just washed out of there. He was actually
02:23able to make some plays to slip, power through some of these double teams, and then still make
02:29some tackles. So let's watch this first play. Got a little orbit motion there. Not worried too much
02:35about that. Look at that. Goes through, slips through, makes the play. Let's back this up just
02:41a little bit because let's break this thing down, man. I'm in the trenches. Look, this is the double
02:45team block right here between the center and the guard. We got some sort of stretch play or outside
02:50zone type run. You'll see that a lot in the NFC East now that he is a giant. But here's
02:57the purpose
02:57of this. Humphrey has to reach this outside, latch on, and hold on until his help gets here,
03:06this left guard. Now, what that's supposed to do is when they work together on this combo block,
03:13and once he feels that 76, this left guard, has kind of taken control or got or taken control or
03:22he's
03:23fitted against Reader, Humphrey can now go up and block the middle backer here, and I believe that's
03:30Jack Campbell. But because Reader is causing so much chaos and violence on this double team,
03:40he can't now slip up to the mic. You see where this ball is supposed to go. You see the
03:46right guard
03:47here do a great job of walling off his man here. Pacheco has a two-way go here. He can
03:54easily put
03:55his right foot into the ground and get north-south on the cutback, but that's not where the play was
04:00designed to go. He trusts his center to wall this off and get up to the mic and get body
04:08on body. Now
04:09you have, I believe, a receiver here to get up to the second level and get a body on body.
04:15And now this
04:16play is supposed to hit right here through this A-gap, and he's supposed to be up on this second
04:22level one-on-one with the safety. But no, Reader doesn't allow that because now you, not only do
04:28you see him take on the double team and push Humphrey off, but he gets skinny and he slips it.
04:37Slips it, falls through, and falls in on the tackle. So you see where this ball was supposed to go.
04:44So
04:44imagine if this left guard was able to get himself in phase and get leverage with Reader,
04:51and then Humphrey was able to get to the second level on that, uh, that Mike linebacker and a Jack
04:57Campbell. Now you've got, oh, that's Travis Kelsey. You've got Travis Kelsey on the third level on the
05:02safety. This ball is supposed to hit right through here, and now you've got Pacheco one-on-one, but he
05:08can't. Remember when I said that right foot could have gone into the ground and him go north-south?
05:13The reason why he didn't do that because he trusts his offensive line. So watch this right foot,
05:20watch this next. He could have easily put that right foot in the ground and went north-south,
05:25but he knows where the play is designed to hit. But now you see the hesitation step there,
05:31because now you see the leakage of DJ Reader. And not only did he, he, not only did he hold
05:39up
05:39the double team from making it up, from getting up cleanly to the, uh, to that Mike backer,
05:46but he slips through and he's able to make the tackle. Look at that. And you know, Pacheco is an
05:53angry runner. He runs through arm tackles, but when you're what? 6'3", 320 plus? Nah, bro. That's a big
06:01dude.
06:01Get him down to the ground. 78's hype. He didn't get the tackle, but you can see 46 right there.
06:11All right. Let's come on over to the NFC East because the NFC North played NFC,
06:17NFC East teams in 2025. So he has some familiarity with some of the schemes that are going to be
06:22ran
06:22against him. Uh, when he comes and he plays teams like the Eagles, the command, and the commanders and
06:28the Cowboys. Uh, we got Eagles Lions here. Uh, Eagles offensive line wasn't as good as it was in
06:35recent years. This isn't Jason Kelsey right here, but at the end of the day, you got to beat the
06:40man
06:40that's in front of you. So let's watch the play. Then we'll rewind it and break it down.
06:48Chaos in the middle. Chaos in the middle. Look at that quick first step. Look at that first step.
06:55I don't know what he's reading, if he knows where the ball is going because of, uh, uh, stances by
07:03offense line. This is a 10 year vet in the NFL. They, he can read things that we don't see
07:09here on the
07:09all 22 or the tight part of the fit or the all 22, all 22. So smart dude, right? Watch
07:16that first
07:17step. Look at the first step, how he goes from slightly shaded to head up automatically. I get he,
07:24it's like, he knows that that double team is coming. Now he's ready to take this thing on one-on
07:29-one
07:30with a one-on-one with the center. And now watch the, watch how when that double team comes now,
07:36he's not playing with high pads. If he plays with high pads, he loses his power. He loses his leverage.
07:42He gets low enough and he's, and that's where his power kicks in because now look, now he's got that
07:49right foot into the ground. He's in a power position and he's actually pushing this center back. He's
07:55controlling the line of scrimmage. So with this double team here, instead of that center going up
08:01to the mic, this time it's supposed to be the guard that now can get up to the second level.
08:07You can see that guard looking right. I don't know why his eyes didn't go to Jack Campbell,
08:11but it's looking to Anzalone. I guess that's just where this plays the board, the plate is on. That's
08:15where they're supposed to take them. But you see DJ, uh, DJ reader here holding it up. And it's actually
08:22taking another guy to try and come in and try and help to get hands on now. Yeah, this back,
08:27this Mike Backer and Anzalone, he gets reached. The left guard does come off to, to reach him,
08:33but that should free up Jack Campbell. If he needed to run the alley or run or shoot the gap
08:38to meet Saquon right here, uh, in that, in that B gap, uh, yeah. And that B gap over there,
08:45but no, he takes on the double team. He's winning. He's getting some sort of pressure at the line of
08:51scrimmage causing a pow. And now Saquon has to do the jump step. This guy wins his,
08:57his one-on-one Jack Campbell is free enough to get to reach, uh, to, to, to meet Saquon right
09:04here.
09:05But DJ reader is in, you can see him here. You see that hand right there. He's in on that
09:11play.
09:12You need to be, you need a nose tackle or defensive tackle that's going to plug up the middle of
09:19the
09:19trenches, especially when Giants run defense was just horrible. Guys were getting up to the second
09:26level, uh, uh, in terms of the combo blocks, running backs were having one-on-ones, uh, against
09:33guys on the third level. It was just, it wasn't a good run defense, but yeah, you lose Dexter Lawrence,
09:39but now you've got guys that are coming in where they know their role. You may not be a pro
09:44bowl
09:44caliber type player, but you know, your role is to come in and create havoc in the trenches to free
09:52up your backers. All right. We watched this giants game and he gave this giants offensive line a fit.
10:00And you know, there's no knock on the giants offensive line. Remember giants were what top
10:04five rushing team, top five run game team last season. So, I mean, the offensive line was pretty,
10:11it was, was pretty solid, had pretty solid play last year, but who is this? Uh, that's the left
10:16guard, right guard. I think that's Greg brand roten, who is a free agent right now, but watch DJ reader
10:23here. And this is, this is just raw power and muscle y'all raw power and muscle takes it on
10:30one-on-one.
10:31Boom. You want that block. So I know I talked about how effective he's been able to be when it
10:37comes to
10:37the slipping double teams. You don't want a guy that kid, that's going to get blocked one-on-one.
10:43You want a guy that's going to be able to still control the line of scrimmage and be able to
10:47cut
10:47this, uh, to, to cut this play off to meet Tyrone Tracy there. Because if he does, let's say Van
10:53Roten does reach him and he gets blocked. Now he's one-on-one with 44. I can't see who he
10:59is,
10:59but that's a wide hole for him to leak through. And maybe this guy, uh, maybe, uh, JMS John Michael
11:06Schmitz leaks up to this second, to this second level. So look at the difference in, in double
11:11teams right here and how this guy's playing the double team versus how DJ reader played the double
11:18teams in the two plays prior to that. So you can see a difference. This is not what you want.
11:22These guys, they're controlling it. They control it. They've now opened up this hole. Not how,
11:27then that's not how DJ reader was able to play it and slip through it on the prior plays. But
11:33on
11:33this one-on-one, he definitely wins this one-on-one tackles Tyrone Tracy, uh, at the line of scrimmage.
11:41Last but not least, the Dallas Cowboys. Here we go. One of the better offensive lines in the NFL.
11:46So, uh, here's a reader right here. Let's watch the play. Boom. Again, double team takes it on,
11:57gets the block right here. Watch the double team. Now, now in prior plays, you usually see him kind of
12:06slightly shaded up against the center. This is the first time we truly see him, uh, in that, in that,
12:12uh,
12:12uh, like it, uh, in that, in that a gap right there. So now it's easier for that double team
12:23for this guy,
12:24because we're talking about leverage. This left guard wants to get this right and wants to attack
12:29this right shoulder. This center wants to attack this left, this left shoulder right here. And these
12:34two or should be able to push him back. They are in, they should be in control because they're in
12:40position. They have the leverage, but again, DJ reader low on his first step. When he sees the
12:47ball snap, he gets, he's, that's the vet in him. Doesn't just come up high and allows these guys to
12:53get into his pads. He's low. He fires off the ball and he actually, he's actually initiating the contact
13:00here, knowing that this double team is coming. Again, six, four, three 20 plus. He's in a power
13:08position to take this thing on. Now this is two versus one right here. They're getting him a little
13:13bit. Like you can see where the line of scrimmage was. And maybe he's what, what a yard, uh, maybe
13:19like a half a yard or so, uh, or getting driven back a yard, a half a yard or so
13:24off the football.
13:25But again, look what this is allowing this linebacker to do. He is still free. He still should be able
13:33to fold over the top and meet. I think this is Williams meet this running back here in this gap,
13:40in this hole, which look, he's, which he's, he's able to do. I mean, this guy comes off late,
13:45but again, reader is able to slip it, not allow them to not allowed him to control,
13:52to control him and get up to the backer, slips it and makes a play.
13:58You see in the vision, you guys see the value, draw the double team, clog up the middle and let
14:05the linebackers run free. All that beef in the trenches, pause, help the Lions defense finish
14:11the season as the 14th ranked run defense in the league. And they only gave up 4.37 yards per
14:17carry.
14:18Compare that to a Giants defense with Dexter Lawrence that ranked 31st in the league and gave
14:25up an embarrassing 5.3 yards per carry. And I'm not here to say that's entirely Dexter's fault,
14:32but he was the anchor on that defensive line. This is a solid signing for the Giants. Got
14:38themselves a 10 year vet, 32 years old, but he's still durable. He played every regular season game
14:44in 2025 for the first time since 2018. That's 578 defensive snaps and that's his highest since 2019.
14:54It's D-line by committee for this Giants defense, but John Harbaugh has vowed to get the run game
15:00fixed. Signing DJ Reader was a step in the right direction.
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