The Giants aren’t sitting still after their Sunday night win over the Cowboys. With the Rams on deck in Week 2, New York has already made another roster move that points straight at what it expects from Los Angeles.
Wide receiver and special teams contributor Dalen Cambre is back on the practice squad, while defensive lineman Josh Tupou has been elevated for the matchup. It’s a clear sign the Giants want more size in the middle, not extra help at receiver.
That switch makes sense given how the Rams play. Los Angeles leads the league in Duo rate, an approach that leans heavily on double teams at the line of scrimmage.
Tupou, at 6-foot-3 and 350 pounds, is built for that kind of job. Cambre isn’t.
New York brought Tupou in earlier this offseason because the defensive tackle group needed bodies. The room was stripped down, with Rakeem Nuñez-Roches in Tampa Bay, Dexter Lawrence traded to Southwest Ohio, and Roy Robertson-Harris lost for the season with a torn Achilles.
There’s also a familiar connection here. Tupou spent the last two years with John Harbaugh in Baltimore, appearing in six games while spending most of his time on the practice squad. That background clearly helped his case.
If the Giants are going to slow a Rams team coming off a season-opening loss to the 49ers in Australia, they need help against the run. Kyren Williams and Blake Corum are difficult tackles, and New York would much rather have Tupou absorbing blocks and freeing up Tremaine Edmunds and Arvell Reese than let those backs get loose at the second level.
The move will probably cost one of the younger defensive tackles a spot for the night, though the exact answer should come Monday night.
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John Harbaugh Is Already Changing How The Giants Prepare
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The Giants have also shifted their practice schedule to match the trip, another sign that Harbaugh is trying to eliminate as many small disadvantages as possible in his early days on the job. It is the kind of change that can look minor from the outside, but in a league where fatigue and recovery matter, the hope is that a better-prepared team shows up in its second game under Harbaugh with a little more energy when it matters most. [Read more 🡒]