With Odell Beckham Jr., Landon Collins, Damon Harrison, Olivier Vernon and countless others no longer with the New York Giants, one of the primary concerns surrounding the team heading into organized team activities was their perceived lack of leadership.
Outside of Eli Manning, Janoris Jenkins, Alec Ogletree and Zak DeOssie, the Giants seemed suddenly thin in terms of locker-room leaders, but they remained confident the situation would sort itself out.
The addition of Antoine Bethea certainly helped, but it’s his safety counterpart, Jabrill Peppers, who was acquired from the Cleveland Browns as part of the Beckham trade, that has rapidly stepped into the role of influencer.
“I think really good players thrust themselves into those roles just by the nature of being a good player,” head coach Pat Shurmur told reporters on Tuesday. “He is very vocal. Sometimes you don’t have to be very vocal and you can be a leader.
“You can look to him and see that he has that about him. He has a great presence. If you are around him on a day-to-day basis, you can see that he will quickly become one of the guys where you say, ‘OK, he’s got it.’ He loves playing football and has a lot of fun doing it and a lot of fun competing. I think that is part of his charm and what makes him special. He is so darn competitive. It shows up naturally.”
Bethea has also come away impressed with Peppers after just a few weeks, adding that he feels there will be a good connection between the two once Week 1 arrives.
“Peppers, he likes to play down in the box, get his hands on guys, he can cover. I can play on the back end, and do a multitude of things. I think we can play off of each other very well,” Bethea said. “I think it’s going to be a good connection between the two of us.”
If Peppers is able to step into Landon Collins’ role both on and off the field, sans the media blitzes that often led to chaos, it will be another feather in Dave Gettleman’s cap.
