Jarrad Davis made an instant impression with his new team after the Giants picked him up in late December last season, so much so that he was re-signed this past March and was expected to start at an inside linebacker spot.
That plan has gone awry. Davis will be out for a prolonged period of time after he recently had knee surgery, and the Giants will have to find another option to move in on defense alongside Bobby Okereke, their big-ticket, free-agent acquisition.
Davis, 28, was a 2017 first-round draft pick of the Lions.
He spent the 2021 season with the Jets, then returned to the Lions.
The Giants, desperate for help at inside linebacker, signed Davis on Dec. 28 off Detroit’s practice squad.
Davis actually started in Week 17, when the Giants played their backups in their regular-season-ending loss to the Eagles.
Davis showed enough to get the call to start both of the Giants’ playoff games, playing 56 percent of the snaps on defense against the Vikings and 90 percent of the snaps the next week in the season-ending loss to the Eagles.
The Giants brought Davis back on a one-year deal worth $1.18 million.
He often lined up alongside Okereke with the first-team defense during the team’s spring work on the field.
Without Davis, the Giants are left with Micah McFadden and Darrian Beavers as options at inside linebacker.
McFadden started seven games last year as a rookie.
Beavers, a 2022 sixth-round pick out of Cincinnati, was impressive enough last summer to actually gain consideration as a starter, but he tore his ACL in the second preseason game and missed his entire rookie year.
