Giants 53-Man Roster Cuts Reveal Shakeup in Linebacker Depth Chart

Tuesday's deadline for 53-man final roster cuts caused a flurry of roster moves for all 32 franchises around the league. This included the New York Giants, who saw a shakeup of their linebacker depth chart after cutting Devonte Downs from the rotation.

Downs, a fourth-year linebacker with 36 career games played (eight starts), is on the outside looking in for New York's depth chart. The offseason addition of Reggie Ragland from the Detroit Lions played a major role in Downs' loss of his roster spot.

New York Giants Cuts Today

Of his 36 career starts, Downs recorded 8 starts for the Giants last season. In those 8 starts and 16 total appearances, the 25-year-old linebacker recorded 33 combined tackles (25 solo) and 1 quarterback hit.

The Giants signed Ragland to a one-year, $1.13 million contract back in March after stints with the Lions and Kansas City Chiefs. Seeing two fewer starts, Ragland recorded 52 combined tackles (30 solo) including 4 tackles for loss and 1.0 sacks. New York's current depth chart shows Ragland as the No. 2 middle linebacker option behind Blake Martinez.

Another factor in this shakeup is Carter Coughlin's offseason transition to linebacker. The former seventh-round draft pick opted into more of a permanent linebacker role after spending last season as an EDGE rusher. He recorded 1.0 sack in just 18% of defensive snaps played.

The Giants enter the 2021 NFL season as 2.5-point home underdogs against the Denver Broncos, according to NFL odds on FanDuel Sportsbook.

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Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.