2024 New York Giants Roster Bubble Series EP #61: FB/TE Jakob Johnson

Intro [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] what is going on New York Giant fans welcome back to another roster Bubble Series video hope you guys are doing well hit the like button comment and subscribe turn on post notifications so you know when a live stream pops or video drops appreciate you coming back share this out do good stuff hope you guys have been enjoying the content the Recaps the roster Bubble Series videos and some of the other stuff we've been doing we're going to do another roster Background Bubble Series video for you guys today and if you haven't been to these videos before take a player that's on the cust being cut we talk about the background the competition ways they win Spa on the roster ways they can lose the spawn on the roster and a prediction at the end so today we're going to talk about yakob Johnson fullback SL tight end that was signed by the New York Giants just today so what is this background well he's been in the league for a few years was out of Tennessee in 2018 and signed with the stugart Scorpions which is an American football team from St stutgart Germany I'm probably pronouncing that wrong but yakob Johnson is actually from Germany he's from stutgart benen I'm not even going to pronounce the second part I mean part German but I'm not even going to butcher it anyway so he was with them for a year then the Patriots took him on for a couple of years 2019 2020 and 2021 then when Josh McDaniels and Carmen brillo and some of the other Pats guys went over to Las Vegas that's where yob Johnson went for two years and now he's a New York Giant so minus being in Germany he's pretty much had a similar career path to J lanor and it's funny because on Twitter he said I signed with the Giants and then Germaine goes please stop following me I think it's funny but some statistics it's not much because as a fullback he's more asked to do run blocking and specials uh but last year he had a reception for 12 yards apologies if you heard that uh in the background that was my non do not disturb computer notifications uh but he Stats had a reception for 12 yards he appeared in 13 games five starts 17 games the year prior nine starts year prior with New England 17 games so he's pretty healthy when he's asked to be on the field he had 186 snap snaps last year for Las Vegas on offense 139 snaps on specials the year prior 301 offensive snaps uh and then 151 special teams snaps in 2022 so my question is this right before we get into the competition and all the meat and potatoes and all that sort of stuff is why was he not signed till now kind of like my question with Joshua Kelly is yakob Johnson's not oh my God he's a star but he's he's a name that's known across the NFL he's not the best fullback but he's a notable fullback there's a lot of NFL offenses that use fullbacks that they need fullbacks and yakob Johnson was has been on the market since free agency you started so here is where I got some PFF grades from a Reddit user not the most reliable source of information but I'm not paying PFF $119 a year just to get grades uh for those curious yakob Johnson played under 19% of snaps on offense with a PFF grade of 46.1 which ranked last out of the 10 qualifying fullbacks in the league guessing Patrick Ricard Kyle yuse uh Michael Burton I think that's his name either the Broncos or the Chiefs whatever he had an 81.9 PFF Grades pass blocking grade on 12 snaps but just a 49.3 run blocking grade which is tough on the plus side he did have a 76.5 special teams grade 74 snaps which was third on the team behind Michael Mayer 76.7 and 47 snaps and defensive lineman Isaac relle 89 .9 33 snaps I think yakob was mainly used on kickoff and punk coverage so let's Bridge into the competition here he's got Jack stole Chris maner and Lawrence kadon it's going to be interesting to see how they configure this tight end group because you already know Theo's there you already know Daniel Bellinger's there but are they going to keep a blocking tight end they going to keep a receiving tight end they're going to keep four tight ends three tight ends I don't know who they're going to keep it's all dependent probably on these next two preseason games but stole not much of a rece very good blocker manerz probably an elite blocker at our standards and kager who's a converted wide receiver solid pass catcher but he's not a very good blocker sto can play specials Manards can play specials and kager could play specials but the problem with kager right now is he's injured I think he's got hamstring injury or some sort of a lower body injury so that's where yakob Johnson comes in and there's also the debate that I'm not going to get into on this topic and in this video is whether the Giants brought yakob Johnson in for tight in depth or that Daniel Bellinger is incapable of being a fullback or the Giants decided that they want to run the ball more I don't know I'm not here to answer that question so how can he win a Run Blocking spot on the roster this late well health is number one he's been relatively healthy over the course of his career number one aside from Health he's got to improve his run blocking Carmen Brillo did a entire video on YouTube he ran a clinic but there's like a a 2-minute 46 um video on YouTube where he talks about the Run game he talks about crack toss which is a certain play and he talks about different guys he also talks about the fullback being involved and I would like to think that the Giants definitely sniffed out yakob Johnson before moving on other free agents in March because of the braillo connection because the Giants needed another tight end/ SL fullback and he needs to get better at run blocking based on the PFF grade not great and in 2022 to my knowledge I could be wrong the Raiders were a better run blocking team than pass blocking but in 2023 they were a better pass blocking than run blocking team so interesting balance but not in favor of yakob Johnson based off last year now in past protction he got a very good grade as we saw 12 snaps I think it was let's see 81.9 that's very good now I don't know if he was put out as oh it's just a running back situation where he's in the back field or it's okay he's positioned as a tight end in line or along you know the offensive line helping out the tackles and stuff I don't know what position he was in but you got a good grade for it so pass protection is going to help because the Giants need reliable pass protectors sometimes the the running backs can't do it Bellinger had some Miss blocks last year they're not putting Theo Johnson in that position and you know Chris mans he could be in that position but you like to see yakob Johnson do it extend his craft a little bit more and then the third one which we talked about earlier on an extended uh thing is his special teams usage I view him right now as a Special Teams personal protector for the punter a lot of fullbacks do that Shane Smith did that a couple other guys Penny did that they also penetrate the punt team I remember Elijah Penny and Michael Thomas blocked the punt from Andy Lee against the Cardinals and end up getting a touchdown out of it so in this new scheme with Michael griel let's see if yakob Johnson can be very good on special teams get a very good grade with the Raiders on specials last year let's see if he could keep that going this year where he can make the roster how can he lose Health number one number two if his run blocking lacks if his run blocking lacks that is probably the biggest detriment to his path to the roster because brilla likes him the Giants liked him enough to bring him in and he he that would be the just in general be the biggest disappointment because last year again it was an uneven balance of okay well they're better in pass Pro than they are in run blocking and again that wasn't great for yakob Johnson because you see how his Market pretty much crashed and other fullbacks went elsewhere so if his run blocking lacks as a fullback you're giving the position to either stole manherz or Bellinger you're losing where you pretty much have an advantage where across your entire career you're known as okay this guy's a very good run blocker now poor special teams play I think that'd probably be second because he had very good grades for that last year um yeah he had very good grades for that last year and the Giants need quality special teamers and they don't need starters and Backup backup backups playing special teams so that's what I attribute that to and pass protection lacking that's pretty much number three taking Health out of the entire equation but I think that would be pretty much a cherry on top but not the meat and potatoes of why he wouldn't make the roster so right now I'm going to say he does make the roster my perspective on it could definitely change because he could have a very shitty preseason which could be a microcosm of what he did last year in terms of run blocking or he could have a very good preseason but also how do the rest of the tight ends play outside of Johnson and Bellinger is manher still blocking guys and putting their asses on the ground is still gonna get good there's a lot of variables so right now I'm gonna say yakob Johnson makes the roster like comment subscribe turn on post notifications so you know when a live stream pops or video drops appreciate you coming back peace out guys see you later and stay cool [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]