Giants LB Oshane Ximines has made a good impression on Brian Daboll
Oshane Ximines, Giants linebacker, speaks with the media after a day of training camp held at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J., on Aug. 9, 2021. Credit: James Escher
Oshane Ximines did the only thing he could do for the last nine weeks of the 2021 season.
He kept showing up.
Ostensibly benched for a costly penalty that negated an interception late in a winnable game against Kansas City in Week 8, he went from playing an important role in the team’s outside linebacker rotation to not playing at all. He was inactive just about every week after that loss, and in the two games in which he did get a uniform, he made it onto the field just once, for a single defensive snap in the regular-season finale.
“It was frustrating,” Ximines told Newsday, noting that he was never given an explicit reason for his disappearance from the game plans. “I just came in and did my job.”
Had last year’s coaching staff returned, there is a pretty good chance Ximines wouldn’t have.
Instead, Joe Judge and his crew were swept out and the new regime kept Ximines around. His best revenge may be that he not only survived as a Giant but has become an important piece for them this summer.
With both projected starters at outside linebacker missing time because of injuries at various points all spring and summer — and with Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari in the trainer’s room working through their issues in hopes of returning for Week 1 — Ximines has become the go-to backup taking those missed reps in practices and preseason games.
Eight months after the Giants seemed to want nothing to do with Ximines, they need him dearly.
Said Ximines, “Things happen fast in this league.”
And his new coach, it seems, has much more of an appreciation for him than his old one did.
“I think he’s done a good job,” Brian Daboll said. “He’s been ready to go. He’s been available. He’s been improving. He’s a big-bodied guy. Got heavy hands. Does a good job of setting the edge. I think he’s picked up the defense well.”
None of which means Ximines will make the team when the roster is trimmed to 53 players on Tuesday. While Thibodeaux (sprained MCL) and Ojulari (calf strain) might not be available for the opener on Sept. 11, they will be back in that ballpark. Jihad Ward is coming back from his injury, too, and might play in Sunday’s preseason finale, a sign that he is almost fully healed from his undisclosed ailment.
Until he gets that tap on the shoulder to move on, though, Ximines will continue doing what he did last year when he wasn’t playing at all. He’ll keep showing up.
“That’s the name of the game, man,” he said. “You just have to be ready.”
Shepard makes impact
Sterling Shepard didn’t participate in the joint practice with the Jets and won’t play in the preseason game against them on Sunday, but the wide receiver already has made an impact on the team in his handful of practice reps since coming off PUP and returning to the field.
“To see him back on the field brought a smile to my face,” Saquon Barkley said. “It actually hurt me when he got hurt in that game [tearing his Achilles in December]. I remember the play, and I was just like ‘Oh, man. It can’t be. It can’t be.’ But to see all the work he put in and to finally get back on the field, it’ll just make the offense better. It’ll just make the team better because of his personality, his character, his leadership and his energy.
“If anyone has anything to say about Shep, the first thing we talk about is just the way he’s able to light up a room no matter what’s going on. So that’s big, and that’s important. And I’m excited for him this year, too.”
Added safety Xavier McKinney: “His energy is like no other. He brings a great energy, a great spirit every day. He’s just one of those guys you just love to be around, so it is definitely good to see him back out there moving like himself.”
Giant steps
Besides Shepard, Thibodeaux and Ojulari, the list of players not expected to play in Sunday’s preseason game against the Jets because of injuries includes: OL Ben Bredeson, OL Shane Lemieux, OL Joshua Ezeudu, OL Garrett McGhin, WR C.J. Board, LB Elerson Smith, S Dane Belton, CB Rodarius Williams and K Graham Gano.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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