Darius Alexander Picked as Giants Rookie Who Could Exceed Expectations

“On the field, Alexander plays with authority, using his strength to penetrate gaps and disrupt plays right from the snap,” the analysis said. “His versatility allows him to line up at various positions along the defensive front, and he has demonstrated the ability to shed blocks and apply pressure from the inside.”

“The Giants' lack of depth on the interior of their defensive line got exposed when Dexter Lawrence went down last season. In Alexander, the Pro Bowl defensive tackle would have a talented running mate to take under his wing.”

Like many of their draft choices this year, the Giants certainly got some solid value from the pick of Alexander, who came in as one of the highest ranked prospects at the position. 

Pro Football Focus ranked him as the No. 49 guy, and Joe Schoen crossed paths with the Second-Team All-MAC product at No. 65 after tagging another defensive stud in Abdul Carter at No. 3 overall. 

Alexander, who held the third-highest run defense grade for interior defenders at the FBS level last season, was a complete menace in both phases of the defense in his last two years with Toledo. 

He compiled at least 33 total pressures dating back to the start of the 2023 season and excelled at applying early pressure to fluster the opposing offense's plans. 

Along with his 76 total tackles in college, Alexander also amassed 77 stops at the line of scrimmage, and his single-season high of 23 put him in the top 20 players. He also kept his average missed tackle rate at around 10% in the same span, making him a prime roadblock for any rushing game to do dividends against him. 

The rookie will join Lawrence for what should be a much better run-stopping effort for the Giants, who ranked in the bottom third of the league in major opponent rushing metrics, including 24th in average yards per attempt. 

The Giants will need those numbers to shift greatly in their favor if they want to perform better this fall. They already play in an NFC East division that features a handful of talented running backs, and they will see a few more from their teams on their extremely tough slate. 

Once Lawrence went down, the Giants’ previous crew of raw rookies just couldn’t mirror the same level of dominance, as only one player, the undrafted novice Elijah Chatman, was able to finish with a grade above 68.0. The only person to record at least 10 stops was Rakeem Nunez-Roches, and three others each finished with missed tackle rates above 10%. 

It is not out of the realm of possibility that Alexander battles it out with the veteran Nunez-Roches for the second starting spot alongside Lawrence this summer. If he can even replicate some of the numbers he had at Toledo over the last two seasons, it’ll be hard for the Giants to say no to throwing him into the pack early and often to juice their run response. 

As they say, the game of football is won in the trenches, and the Giants simply have not done enough of that to see the positive results on the scoreboard. Having Alexander around shows they’re committed to changing that narrative and punishing ball carriers who try to test their grizzled interior.

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