Dennard Wilson's "positionless" Giants defense, explained
The Giants' defensive coordinator wants a scheme where players line up all over the field. Here's what that's meant in practice, from the defensive line to the secondary.
Dennard Wilson wants the Giants' defense to be positionless. Asked at an Aug. 25 press conference what he likes about defensive lineman Chauncey Golston's ability to move around the front, the defensive coordinator laid out the idea directly: "Just watching Chauncey through the years, he's a very versatile defensive player. For us, we look at our defense as positionless. The more you can do, the more opportunities you get to play." He added: "Chauncey's just like some of the other guys; we can move him around and put him in different spots."
The identity took shape in the offseason
The philosophy predates the word. At the start of the offseason program on April 9, Giants.com described Wilson's defensive identity in four words: unpredictable, dynamic, decisive, unapologetic. Wilson's own language matched that description. "We're going to be playing nasty," he said. "We're going to play physical. We're going to play violent. We're going to live on the edge, play on the edge, but we're not going to hurt the team. We're going to be suffocating to the point we impose our wills on people." That day, he also pointed to edge rushers Brian Burns and Abdul Carter as examples of the versatility he wanted to build around: "Plus, they add the versatility, you can move them around."
The roster was built for it
With Dexter Lawrence traded to Cincinnati, the Giants added DJ Reader in free agency and drafted Bobby Jamison-Travis in the sixth round - the only two defensive linemen on the roster SI.com's Stephen Lebitsch described as "pure" nose tackles in a May 7 report. Everyone else in that room, including Shelby Harris, Leki Fotu, Roy Robertson-Harris and Golston, was described in the same report as capable of playing more than one spot up front.
How it's shown up on the defensive line
Golston has moved into first-team defensive reps over the past several weeks. Through the first week of the preseason, he had the fourth-best overall defensive grade on the team (82.9) and tied for the team lead in pressures over that stretch, according to Patricia Traina of SI.com. At the Giants' Aug. 20 joint practice with the Dolphins - an unofficial, practice-only setting - Miami Dolphins On SI publisher Alain Poupart posted that Golston had three sacks in team drills, a count Traina relayed but that wasn't an official statistic.
How it's shown up in the secondary
Safety and nickel corner Ar'Darius Washington has taken first-team reps at both spots this spring. Defensive pass game coordinator Donald D'Alesio described him to Big Blue View's Ed Valentine on Aug. 7: "He's a chess piece. He's gonna play safety, he's gonna play nickel, he can play dime if we need him to. That's the beautiful thing about Ar'Darius. In a pinch, he can go play any position on the back end that we need him to."
At cornerback, Greg Newsome II has worked reps in the slot in addition to his usual outside spot during the West Virginia phase of camp, according to Dan Duggan of The Athletic, relayed by atozsports.com's Joe DeLeone. Duggan reported the order of first-team cornerback reps went Newsome, Deonte Banks, Paulson Adebo and Colton Hood. GiantsGator has not independently confirmed that rep order and is citing Duggan's reporting directly.
How it's shown up at linebacker
Outside linebacker Brian Burns has described the front-seven group of himself, Tremaine Edmunds, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Abdul Carter and rookie Arvell Reese as functionally interchangeable. "Me, Tremaine, Arvell, KT and Abdul all look the same," Burns said on the Giants Huddle podcast, as reported by Giants.com on July 18. "And we can all drop, all rush, so it's just like you don't really know who's doing what."
How outside evaluators describe it
The scheme has also drawn notice from outside the building. An anonymous NFC executive described the Giants' defense to The Athletic's Mike Sando in early May: "They are going to run a lot of exotic fronts where they are positionless chess pieces, so you don't know who is rushing." GiantsGator has not independently viewed Sando's original piece, which sits behind The Athletic's paywall; the quote here is drawn from atozsports.com's direct citation of it. It's an outside evaluator's read on the scheme, not Wilson's own description of it - but it lines up with what Wilson, his staff and his players have said about the approach.
What's still unproven
Wilson has not given a detailed, position-by-position breakdown of the plan in any press availability found in this reporting. His own comments on Aug. 25 describe an open competition, not settled roles: "...we're trying to see what they can do, what they do well, who's the best 11, who's the best 13, or whatever, to line up and play. We give everybody a fair opportunity, and if you're not a starter coming out on that first 11, we still consider you a starter because at some point you're going to play."
Wilson's own use of "positionless" has applied specifically to the defensive line. Extending it to the secondary is a connection drawn by his staff's comments and beat reporting, not language Wilson himself has used for that group.
Whether the scheme produces the kind of pre-snap confusion Burns described gets tested for the first time once the games start counting.