Olivier Vernon not worried about switch from defensive end to linebacker

Giants defensive end Olivier Vernon at voluntary minicamp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center on April 24, 2018. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The toughest part of Olivier Vernon’s transition so far has been just getting to the right place.
“Sometimes they’ll say, ‘D-line over here,’ and I’ll stop for a second,” Vernon said on Tuesday at the team’s voluntary minicamp. “I don’t go there anymore. That’s one thing I’ve got to get adjusted to a little bit. Right now, I’m in a different room. Just trying to digest everything.”
Vernon, who has spent his career as a defensive end, is now a linebacker in James Bettcher’s new scheme for the Giants. He’ll still be called upon to do a lot of the same things he’s done throughout his NFL career — stop the run, attack the quarterback — with a mix of a few more skills like dropping into coverage. He’ll be doing it more from a two-point stance.
“It’s nothing really different for me, I’ve done that in the past,” he said of the on-field responsibilities. “Right now, it’s just different play calls, different terminology. So that’s basically it. I stood up and was in a three-point when I was here and when I was in Miami I stood up.”
Bettcher has hinted that he envisions Vernon playing a role similar to the one Chandler Jones played for the Cardinals in recent years. Jones led the NFL with 17 sacks in 2017.
“He was still down there rushing and getting after the quarterback when it came down to the schemes and stuff like that, using him and dropping him and stuff like that,” Vernon said. “So we’ve just got to see . . . We’re two different players. Chandler Jones is his own player, I’m my own player. He had a great season last year and that just happens. He was doing what he had to do, they had a great defense and right now, we’re just trying to get everything down pat, chemistry as well. And we’ll see where it goes from there.”
And for a while, Vernon will have to keep reminding himself where he’s supposed to go.
More Giants




