The New York Giants felt they were getting something special when they selected Georgia edge rusher Azeez Ojulari with the 50th overall pick in the Round 2 of this year’s NFL draft.
Ojulari was projected to be a first-round selection by many experts until a rumor of an old knew injury scared many teams off of his causing him to tumble down the draft order.
The Giants themselves passed on Ojulari twice before secreting him.
In his first game as a Giant, Ojulari showed exactly why he could be special, beating New York Jets left tackle Mekhi Becton to make a stop in the run game.
It was the only tackle the rookie would make in the game but it sent a message — he is a player to be dealt with.
“For any of those rookies, it’s their first time in game action in the NFL. So, to get out there against any other player in the NFL and make some kind of a play, that’s something that you’ve gotta build on,” head coach Joe Judge said. “There are things we have to clean up with him, but there’s some things that he flashed tonight that were very encouraging to build on. I liked his attitude going into the game, I thought he had good intensity. You could see it in his eyes, he was focused going in.”
“They called a play and I just tried to play my technique the best that I can,” Ojulari said the play against Becton. “He’s a big guy and I just tried to shed off of him and make a play. Just playing football.”
And he did. Hopefully for Ojulari and the Giants it will be the first of many.
Ojulari was also excited to finally play in an NFL game against fresh competition.
“It was great. Finally got the opportunity to go out and compete against a different team. It was just great. It was a learning curve for me just continuing to go out there and get better. It was phenomenal,” he said.
Ojulari was projected to be a first-round selection by many experts until a rumor of an old knew injury scared many teams off of his causing him to tumble down the draft order.
The Giants themselves passed on Ojulari twice before secreting him.
In his first game as a Giant, Ojulari showed exactly why he could be special, beating New York Jets left tackle Mekhi Becton to make a stop in the run game.
It was the only tackle the rookie would make in the game but it sent a message — he is a player to be dealt with.
“For any of those rookies, it’s their first time in game action in the NFL. So, to get out there against any other player in the NFL and make some kind of a play, that’s something that you’ve gotta build on,” head coach Joe Judge said. “There are things we have to clean up with him, but there’s some things that he flashed tonight that were very encouraging to build on. I liked his attitude going into the game, I thought he had good intensity. You could see it in his eyes, he was focused going in.”
“They called a play and I just tried to play my technique the best that I can,” Ojulari said the play against Becton. “He’s a big guy and I just tried to shed off of him and make a play. Just playing football.”
And he did. Hopefully for Ojulari and the Giants it will be the first of many.
Ojulari was also excited to finally play in an NFL game against fresh competition.
“It was great. Finally got the opportunity to go out and compete against a different team. It was just great. It was a learning curve for me just continuing to go out there and get better. It was phenomenal,” he said.
Giants' Azeez Ojulari breaks down his beatdown of Mekhi Becton
The New York Giants felt they were getting something special when they selected Georgia edge rusher Azeez Ojulari with the 50th overall pick in the Round 2 of this year's NFL draft. Ojulari was projected to be a first-round selection by many experts until a rumor of an…
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