Giants safety Julian Love participates in team drills during training camp...

Giants safety Julian Love participates in team drills during training camp in East Rutherford, N.J., on Aug. 9. Credit: Noah K. Murray

Julian Love has always been seen as a valuable player in the Giants’ secondary. Since he arrived as a fourth-round pick out of Notre Dame in 2019, his many coaches have touted the intelligence, toughness and versatility he has brought to the field. He could line up at deep safety or strong safety or cover in the slot. One time he even started a game at outside cornerback.

But as much as coaches and coordinators appreciated all that he could provide in those regards, no one was able to figure out how to use him on a regular basis. He’d have certain packages and see spot time as a starter when others were injured at various positions, but he never had a truly defined role.

Sometimes the ability to do too many things at the same time can be a curse that way. Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen can play the guitar and harmonica at the same time and be hailed as musical geniuses; if they added cymbals clapping between their knees and a squeezebox pumped with their elbows, they’d become clownish one-man bands.

It’s why this year, Love wants a job. An actual job. He doesn’t want his responsibility to be wait and see who gets hurt and go fill in for them without any letdown. He has spent his career thus far as the cliched next man up. He’s ready to be up.

“You’ve seen too many times that I’ve been in the wings waiting for a spot,” Love told Newsday. “I want to be the guy who is incorporated in the game plan. I’m going to do the most with my opportunity this year.”

He finally may have found the coach who can give him that chance.

Love has spent this summer as a foundational part of Wink Martindale’s defense, taking just about every snap with the first-team defense and performing at a high level. He’s been breaking up passes, sticking his nose in on run stuffs and even blitzing quarterbacks for would-be sacks.

The versatility that made Love such an ideal backup for the first three years of his career finally is being utilized in a starting role and valued as a key personality trait in the entire scheme. Poets and philosophers have spent centuries trying to define love; Martindale and his exotic schemes may have the mind best-suited to define Love.

“Those guys who you can move around are fun to coach,” Martindale said of Love. “The number one thing is how smart he is, how football smart he is. He understands little things and it’s a valuable piece to have when you’re putting a defense together in this league.”

As recently as the end of last season, Love and Xavier McKinney were the kids in the safety room. A position group led by Jabrill Peppers and Logan Ryan was top-heavy on personality and experience. Now, though, Love and McKinney are the veterans who are not just the starting duo for the Giants but also the tone-setters on the field and off. McKinney even calls the defensive plays with the radio in his helmet, and when he isn’t in the huddle (as he was not for the second series of last week’s preseason opener), Love takes over that responsibility.

“I can echo a call with the best of them,” Love said.

Perhaps the most notable shift in the deployment of Love this summer, though, has been having him attack quarterbacks. He seems to rack up two or three sacks per week in practices, production that bodes well for a player who comes into this season with a career total of a half-sack.

He often can be seen inching up toward the line of scrimmage, sometimes closer to the ball than the linebackers. And though he has not yet made contact with a passer in training camp — quarterback hits are verboten — he typically sails past them with his arms raised to let everyone know he would have come away with the takedown.

Sometimes he even continues running past the quarterback to, as he calls it, “buzz the tower” of coach Brian Daboll standing nearby, just to make sure he is aware of the play.

“It’s fun,” Love said of being down in the box mixing it up with bigger players closer to the action. “I’m always at my best when I’m around the ball. On those third down and sub packages, I’ve always kind of been in that role but just deeper, so being the guy up front kind of like how Jabrill has been used in the past is fun. Early downs I’m just happy to be back there at safety holding it down and then I get to move up and do some fun stuff on third down.”

It’s not entirely new.

“It’s something I did back in high school,” he said. “I missed that about the game, really. That’s why I’m like, ‘Don’t take me out of this position, I want to capitalize.’  ”

That’s what this season is all about for Love. He’ll be a free agent this coming offseason, and while every team needs utility players who can serve as multifaceted backups and serve on special teams, the big contracts go to starters.

Whether that deal winds up coming from the Giants or elsewhere, Love wants to sign his next contract as a player with a specific position and a toolbox to go with it, not just a spare tire that stays in the trunk waiting to see if it is ever needed.

Love ended another kind of free agency this past offseason. He got married.

“I was a little locked into that,” he said. “We were doing a lot of the pre-wedding stuff, which was exciting. I loved every part of it. It was a perfect day, the honeymoon was perfect. Work-life balance, I’m 100% locked into that stuff.”

Football, however, was never far from his thoughts.

“When it’s not time to pick flowers [for the wedding], it’s time to visualize what I want for myself in the season and set goals for myself,” he said.

“Everybody knows I’m a pretty selfless guy. I try to do whatever I can to help the team improve. But now I’m excited to have the opportunity to take my game to the next level.”

The one-man band days are over. The cymbals and accordions and bass drum strapped to his back have been put away.

It’s time to see if Love can make some real music.

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