The New York Giants will have to make decisions on 22 free agents this offseason, including veteran safety Julian Love.
The Swiss Army knife was a key defender for Wink Martindale this season, starting the season at safety and playing an important role throughout. He was also voted a captain by his teammates.
General manager Joe Schoen has made it no secret they’d like to have Love back in 2023 and beyond. The two sides even attempted to negotiate a contract extension during the bye week but were unable to come to terms.
“He’s a guy — I know he mentioned it — that we talked to in the bye week. And we weren’t able to get something done with Julian,” Schoen said during his year-end press conference. “Julian knows how we feel about him. We had a good exit interview with him yesterday. Again, as we start to get into the offseason planning, we’ll talk to the coaches. We’ll see where he fits in. And if we can get something done, that’ll be good.”
Pro Football Focus views Love as irreplaceable. In fact, they’ve named him a free agent the Giants “can’t afford to lose” — even over quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley.
Not quarterback Daniel Jones, not running back Saquon Barkley, but do-everything defensive back Julian Love is our answer here. Jones had a much improved 2022 campaign that he finished out well through the wild-card round — before he was completely flummoxed in the divisional round against the Philadelphia Eagles — but Giants general manager Joe Schoen has been here before with Tyrod Taylor in 2017 on the Buffalo Bills.
The similarities are actually quite uncanny. Taylor earned a slightly higher passing grade in 2017 than Jones did in 2022, with a 76.4 mark compared to Jones’ 76.0. Taylor had 14 touchdown passes and four interceptions, whereas Jones had 15 and five, respectively. Lastly, Taylor threw for 6.7 yards per attempt to Jones’ 6.8. But we digress.
Love earned a career-high 71.5 coverage grade in 2022 and lined up everywhere, with 271 snaps down in the box, 154 in the slot and 494 at free safety. He’s a Swiss Army knife on the backend who rarely misses a tackle. Among 43 safeties with at least 150 tackles over the past three seasons, Love’s 13 missed tackles are the second fewest.
The Giants aren’t going to go with Tyrod Taylor over Daniel Jones, so that argument should fall on deaf ears. They’re also not going to prioritize Love over Jones or give Love a massive contract that somehow prohibits them from re-signing Jones. That’s just wasted breath and keystrokes.
That being said, Love is an extremely versatile and consistent player who fits everything head coach Brian Daboll looks for. And for that reason, the Giants do need to find a way to keep Love in the fold.
