5.9k Share this
Jihad Ward is hoping to earn the nod from Wink.
The Giants signed Ward as their first edge rusher added during free agency, thinking that reuniting the former second-round draft pick with defensive coordinator Wink Martindale might generate cost-efficient production at a position of significant need.
“I wanted to go somewhere they’re going to make me feel loose, and Wink is one of those coaches where basically he’s going to make me extend my career being the best that I can be,” Ward said Monday from Giants headquarters. “Wink is one of the coaches that did a hell of a job with me when I was a Raven, so I’m here now and ready to win some games.”
By totaling four sacks over 21 games for the Ravens in 2019-20, the 27-year-old Ward earned a one-year $2.5 million free-agent contract with the Jaguars. He added two more sacks and 17 pressures on 457 defensive snaps — his most since 636 as a rookie with the Raiders — in 17 games.
“I can bring a lot to the team,” Ward said. “The most important thing I can bring to the table is just trying to win games, dominating the edge and then dominating the D-line. I believe that I can be one of the best up there and one of the top-tier D-linemen. So, when you play the Giants, the D-line is going to be one that’s mentioned.”
The Giants’ primary investments on their defensive line are a pair of tackles — former first-round pick Dexter Lawrence and former Pro Bowler Leonard Williams — who account for $31.5 million on the 2022 salary cap. Edge rusher has been a wasteland (Markus Golden’s 10-sack season in 2019 excluded) ever since Jason Pierre-Paul was traded and the Giants switched to a 3-4 base front in 2018.
Martindale inherited outside linebackers Azeez Ojulari and Quincy Roche after promising rookie seasons. But if Martindale is going to install his style — his Ravens led the league in blitz percentage in three of the last four seasons — then depth and fresh legs are important.
“Basically, just coming in with that aggression,” Ward said of Martindale’s philosophy. “You don’t know when we’re going to come. That’s his type of style. We’re going to come at you.”
Sounds easy. It’s not. Even for Ward, who says he can line up at any position across the front.
“The only thing is with the rest of the D-line that’s here, we’ve just got to basically understand its different types of fronts,” Ward said. “It’s quite difficult for us, and we’ll change the scheme up based on whatever the personnel is. It’s going to be a lot of [creating] confusion and versatility.”
Ward grew up as an Eagles fan in Philadelphia, but his football development started at the now-defunct Global Institute of Technology, located on Manhattan’s Seventh Avenue. He took the bus, ferry and subway from his housing to pick up equipment to practice — all worth it when his junior-college film was noticed by a recruiter at Illinois.
“It was part of being a grown man,” Ward said. “That’s the way I describe it. It took me three hours every day to go to school, so it’s quite different now that I have a little bit of funds. Everything’s more difficult when you have no money. So, when I come back here, I just think about those times like, ‘Damn, I really made it out of here doing two years of that.’ I’m going to forever like it here, though. I’m glad to be back.”
Source: NYPOST
