LAS VEGAS — They talked.
And Bobby Okereke is excited to hear about the Giants’ defensive plans for 2024.
“I had a great conversation with him,” Okereke said Friday. “I’m very excited.”
This is good news for the Giants. One of the team’s leaders and essential players is initially feeling positive about newly hired 37-year-old defensive coordinator Shane Bowen.
Okereke had the best season of his career in his first year with the Giants, but angry comments between head coaches Brian Daboll and Wink Martindale mean the Giants need someone new to run their defense. I was disappointed.
It was difficult for Okereke, but ever the consummate professional, he sought out Bowen and soon the early stages of a relationship were formed.
“Based on the conversations we’ve had, I’m really excited about how quickly we gelled,” Okereke said while touring Super Bowl Radio Row. “We sat there and talked about ball for about 10 minutes and talked about my experience, playing with Matt Eberflus in a Cover 2 system, playing with Gus Bradley in a Cover 3 system, and obviously the blitzman system. I talked about playing with Wink.
“I’m excited to immerse myself in what they’re doing and what we’re doing now. I’m excited to start playing football again.”
Okereke was a free agent revelation to the Giants after spending four years with the Colts.
As the brains of Martindale’s defense and a midfield player, Okereke has no passes defensed (10), forced fumbles (4), sacks (2.5), lost tackles (11), and quarterback hits (6). and snaps (1,128 — 100% of the defensive workload).
He recorded a team-high 149 tackles, the second-most tackles of his career.
And now Okereke has to wind it up again and learn a new defense.
He believes Bowen’s system, which has led the Titans’ defense for the past three years, will be completely different from Martindale’s hyper-offensive blitz style.
Okereke said: “We’re going to simplify it. I think everyone will understand exactly what we’re going to do. There’s not too many wrinkles and we’re going to play very fundamentally sound football. I’m going to play.” “We’re probably going to run a lot of 3-4, 4-3, quarters, Cover 2, Cover 5, so we’re all excited.”
Will this end up being a good thing for the defender?
“I think that’s a very good thing,” Okereke said. “That was my experience in the first few games of adapting to the Wink system. We were able to incorporate a lot of the tools we learned in the previous system into the Wink system. Everyone went through the same adjustment. I think it will give me better form.
“A lot of the tools, the fundamental teachings that we got from Wink are ingrained in us, they’re part of our tool belt, and now we’re able to incorporate them into different defenses with different styles of play. That just helps. .”
Martindale, 60, was unable to land a defensive coordinator job in the NFL, and on Friday he was hired by Michigan to run the defense for new head coach Sherrone Moore, who replaced Jim Harbaugh (currently with the Chargers). I was hired by the university.
Mr Okereke said he was “maybe a little surprised” to see how the relationship between Mr Daboll and Mr Martindale had deteriorated.
“We obviously knew there was some tension there,” Okereke said. “We have two alpha coaches, but we don’t always get along.
“I never would have expected Wink not to be our coach at the end of the year, but I’m very happy that he got the job at Michigan and I’ve talked to Shane and I’m really looking forward to it. I think everything will be fine” outside. ”
Coach Okereke is heartened by the retention of position coach John Egorgwu.
He believes Martindale has made him a better player.
“Me and Wink are going to have a lifelong relationship,” Okereke said.
