Two Giants sustained major injuries during last night’s preseason game against the Jets. As Paul Schwartz of the New York Post was among those to report, linebacker T.J. Brunson suffered a torn ACL, which will bring an end to his season (Twitter link). Safety Joshua Kalu suffered a torn pectoral muscle, and his season could be over as well.
Brunson, a 2020 seventh-rounder, played in five games for Big Blue last season, though all but two of his 55 snaps came on special teams. If he had stayed healthy and made the team, he probably would have spent the majority of his time on the Giants’ third unit again, but Jordan Raanan says he was doing some good things in his pursuit of a roster spot (Twitter link). Given New York’s general lack of LB depth, Brunson might have had a shot to get some burn on the defensive side of the ball.
Raanan suggested that Kalu, a 2018 UDFA who got into 28 games with the Titans over the course of the past three years, also had a good chance of earning a job. Like Brunson, Kalu has spent most of his time as a pro as a special teamer, but he did appear in a career-best 91 defensive snaps for Tennessee in 2020. He has 26 total tackles, one forced fumble, and one pass defensed in his career.
In other Giants news, head coach Joe Judge said his club is likely to add an offensive lineman or two this week (via Dan Duggan of The Athletic on Twitter). The team lost 2021 signees Joe Looney and Zach Fulton to retirement, and even though Ted Larsen was signed on Friday, New York is still a little thin up front.
I know it’s easy to say and hard to do, but the NFL woulf really be well served investing heavily into research aimed towards finding preventative practices that help prevent major muscle tears, namely ACLs.
Think about what the L in ACL stands for and read what you wrote
I mean the NFL could just stop playing football and then have 0 ACL tears…people these days live so scared, nfl players are absolute monsters who are tough as bricks and know what they are getting into, you cannot stop injuries in a sport played so hard and violent, while having a major knee injury is awful it’s not the same thing as gettin 38 concussions
I didn’t watch the game but are there some inherent problems with the field at Met Life Stadium? I seem to recall the 49ers being upset with conditions there last season when they had some players injured.
49ers and I think another team did, if I recall it, which could be incorrect, but it stemmed from the soccer being played and no new turf being laid after. I’m not sure if each team has their own grounds team or there is a stadium based team. regardless it is absurd and embarrassing for all those involved complaints were even made. I’d fire every senior person of that grounds team as they are the decision makers.