Giants Rookie Arvell Reese Tied for Fifth Among Inside Linebackers in Tackles for Loss, Passes Defensed
The No. 5 pick has played 438 of the Giants' 441 defensive snaps. His tackle rate is at the median for the 59 inside linebackers with 200 or more snaps, and he leads the eight rookies in that group in tackles for loss and blitzes.
Scheduled for Oct. 28 and published Thursday, Oct. 29. All figures run through Week 7; the Giants are on their bye.
Arvell Reese makes tackles at almost the same rate as Tremaine Edmunds, who played beside him for the first six games, and at the league median for inside linebackers. His five tackles for loss and four passes defensed are each tied for fifth among the 59 players listed at inside or middle linebacker with at least 200 defensive snaps. No Giants defender with 300 or more snaps has a higher tackle-for-loss rate.
He has also barely left the field. The No. 5 pick has played 438 of the Giants' 441 defensive snaps, missing three in Week 2.
Reese, game by game
| Week | Opp. | Snaps (team) | Tkl | TFL | Sk | QB hits | PD | INT | Press. | Blitzes | Tgt / Cmp / Yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DAL | 58 (58) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 / 3 / 20 |
| 2 | at LAR | 59 (62) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 / 1 / 4 |
| 3 | TEN | 60 (60) | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 / 3 / 13 |
| 4 | ARI | 66 (66) | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 / 7 / 28 |
| 5 | at WAS | 62 (62) | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 2 / 2 / 19 |
| 6 | NO | 72 (72) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 5 / 3 / 7 |
| 7 | at HOU | 61 (61) | 7 | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 4 / 3 / 15 |
| Total | 438 (441) | 56 | 5 | 1.5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 40 | 26 / 22 / 106 |
Tackle rate: even with Edmunds and the league median
Edmunds played every defensive snap of the first six games. The Giants placed him on injured reserve Oct. 24; he was listed with a shoulder injury on the team's Week 7 injury report. Over those six games the two inside linebackers tackled at nearly the same rate.
| Player | Snaps | Tkl | Tkl per 100 snaps | TFL | Sk | PD | INT | Press. | Blitzes | Tgt / Cmp / Yds | Yds per tgt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reese | 377 | 49 | 13.0 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 35 | 22 / 19 / 91 | 4.1 |
| Edmunds | 380 | 50 | 13.2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 18 / 17 / 152 | 8.4 |
The league comparison points the same way. Among the 59 linebackers listed at inside or middle linebacker who have played at least 200 defensive snaps, the median rate is 12.7 tackles per 100 snaps. Reese is at 12.8, 27th of 59. His raw total of 56 ranks 13th, because only nine of those inside linebackers have played more snaps.
Tackles for loss, passes defensed and blitzes
- Tackles for loss: 5, tied for fifth among the 59 inside linebackers. The median is 3.
- Passes defensed: 4, tied for fifth. The median is 1. Three came in Week 4 against Arizona, along with his interception.
- Blitzes: 40, fourth among the 59. The median is 18. He blitzed 25 times in Weeks 5 and 6 combined; Edmunds blitzed 13 times in six games.
- Pressures: 5 for the season, two of them in Week 7.
- Coverage: 4.1 yards per target, fifth-lowest among the 54 of those inside linebackers targeted at least 15 times. Quarterbacks have completed 22 of 26 throws at him; the average target came about 2.5 yards past the line of scrimmage.
His missed-tackle rate is 5.1% (three misses), below the group median of 6.7%.
Against the rookie class
Eight rookies listed at inside or middle linebacker have played at least 200 defensive snaps. Reese leads the group in tackles for loss, sacks and blitzes and shares the lead in passes defensed and pressures with Washington's Sonny Styles, the No. 7 pick. Four rookies tackle at a higher rate.
| Player | Team | Pick | G | Snaps | Tkl | Tkl per 100 | TFL | Sk | PD | INT | Press. | Blitzes | Yds per tgt (tgts) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Hill Jr. | TEN | 60 | 7 | 490 | 68 | 13.9 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 8.5 (31) |
| Arvell Reese | NYG | 5 | 7 | 438 | 56 | 12.8 | 5 | 1.5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 40 | 4.1 (26) |
| Jacob Rodriguez | MIA | 43 | 6 | 370 | 61 | 16.5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 6.5 (32) |
| Sonny Styles | WAS | 7 | 6 | 361 | 46 | 12.7 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 27 | 6.5 (25) |
| Josiah Trotter | TB | 46 | 6 | 348 | 62 | 17.8 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 25 | 5.1 (22) |
| Jaishawn Barham | DAL | 92 | 7 | 306 | 34 | 11.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 7.0 (18) |
| Kendal Daniels | ATL | 134 | 7 | 300 | 40 | 13.3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4.8 (29) |
| Harold Perkins Jr. | ATL | 215 | 7 | 266 | 32 | 12.0 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 3.7 (32) |
The NFL's Pepsi Rookie of the Week page lists Reese as the Week 4 winner, for the Arizona game.
Against the rest of the Giants' defense
Brian Burns and Abdul Carter lead the group in pressures per 100 snaps, and the cornerbacks and safeties have most of the passes defensed and interceptions. Reese leads the regulars in tackles for loss per snap and is second to Edmunds in tackles per snap.
| Player | Pos. | Snaps | Tkl per 100 | TFL per 100 | Press. per 100 | PD | INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arvell Reese | ILB | 438 | 12.8 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 4 | 1 |
| Abdul Carter | OLB | 388 | 4.6 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Tremaine Edmunds | ILB | 380 | 13.2 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2 | 0 |
| Jevon Holland | S | 380 | 7.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 5 | 3 |
| Greg Newsome II | CB | 341 | 7.3 | 0 | 0.3 | 6 | 1 |
| Kayvon Thibodeaux | OLB | 326 | 4.3 | 0 | 1.2 | 0 | 0 |
| Andru Phillips | CB | 310 | 7.7 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 2 | 0 |
| Deonte Banks | CB | 309 | 6.5 | 0 | 0.6 | 10 | 1 |
| Brian Burns | OLB | 116 | 3.4 | 0 | 4.3 | 0 | 0 |
Week 7 without Edmunds
Micah McFadden, who had played two defensive snaps in the first six games, played all 61 at Houston beside Reese. Reese's snap share did not change, and neither did his coverage load: four targets, against an average of 3.7 in the first six games.
| Player | Snaps | Tkl | TFL | Sk | QB hits | Press. | Blitzes | Tgt / Cmp / Yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reese | 61 | 7 | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 4 / 3 / 15 |
| McFadden | 61 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 / 5 / 32 |
His blitz count fell from 13 and 12 in the previous two games to five on Houston's 31 dropbacks, and his two pressures were a season high. He split a sack of C.J. Stroud with Darius Alexander with 14 seconds left in the first quarter. One game does not show whether the drop in blitzes came from Edmunds' absence or from the opponent.
"He's been phenomenal since the day he got here," general manager Joe Schoen said of Reese at his bye-week news conference Oct. 27.
Edmunds cannot return before the Nov. 29 game at Indianapolis. The Giants play at Philadelphia Nov. 8.
How we counted: nflverse snap counts, player stats and Pro Football Reference advanced defense files, downloaded Oct. 30, through Week 7. Inside linebackers are players nflverse lists at inside or middle linebacker with at least 200 defensive snaps; some off-ball linebackers listed as outside linebackers are not in the group. Pressures, blitzes, targets and missed tackles are Pro Football Reference's charting.