Giants' Rakeem Nunez-Roches 'Nacho' average nose tackle
Buccaneers defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches celebrates a stop during an NFL game against the Bengals on Dec. 18, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. Credit: AP/Peter Joneleit
His preferred nickname?
Nacho.
His personality?
Off the charts.
New Giant Rakeem Nunez-Roches described himself as someone “bringing a whole lot of energy, a whole lot of excitement, a whole lot of teamwork. Just hard work and effort. My personality is my personality. Everything I do, I work hard for. I try to give it all I got.”
The 6-2, 306-pound nose tackle offered this appraisal of the Giants’ current defensive line, led by Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams: “I respect their game. Those are some dogs right there. [I am] coming here to help and contribute. Do some great things. Stopping the run is what I do, do it in my sleep. I just want to help those guys in that aspect. Anything I can do to help them, take the load off them, that’s what I’m here for.”
Nunez-Roches signed a three-year, $12 million contract, including a $4.3 million signing bonus. He is guaranteed $7.4 million.
Nunez-Roches, a sixth-round draft pick of Kansas City in 2015 who played the last five seasons for Tampa Bay, said he is looking forward to working with Giants defensive line coach Andre Patterson, who is highly respected around the league.
The Giants also introduced former Colts wide receiver Parris Campbell to the media via Zoom.
Campbell signed a one-year, $4.7 million contract with the Giants. The deal includes a $1.5 million signing bonus and $2.9 million guaranteed, according to Spotrac.
Finally healthy, the 6-foot, 207-pound Campbell played in all 17 games last season. He had 63 catches for 623 yards and three touchdowns while working with three different starting quarterbacks. In his first three seasons with Indianapolis, he had a total of only 34 receptions and two TDs because of injuries.
“Being able to bounce back from each and every injury that I had, I really grew as a man, as a person, as a player,” Campbell said. “It allowed me to grow in so many different areas because I [saw] part of myself that I didn’t know I had. I was able to fight and bounce back so many different times.”
It meant a lot to him to be able to stay healthy for the 2022 season.
“Last year to be able to play a full 17 [games], that was all I ever wanted to do,” Campbell said. “To be able to do that, I was blessed, grateful. The injuries I had, it was things that were, like, freak accidents. You really couldn’t draw it up. They weren’t avoidable, to me. I just had some bad luck but was able to play all 17 last year. I was extremely blessed.”
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
