Giants Country

Giants RB Tyrone Tracy, Jr. Receives Repeat Honor Amid Impressive Rookie Campaign

The Giants rookie running back flashed for the third time this season against the Carolina Panthers and earned his way back into a notable honor roll.

Stephen Lebitsch

Nov 10, 2024; Munich, Germany; New York Giants running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. (29) carries the ball on a 32-yard touchdown run against the New York Giants in the second half during the 2024 NFL Munich Game at Allianz Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Nov 10, 2024; Munich, Germany; New York Giants running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. (29) carries the ball on a 32-yard touchdown run against the New York Giants in the second half during the 2024 NFL Munich Game at Allianz Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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New York Giants rookie running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. might have left Germany feeling down about the one flaw in his latest performance. Still, the football minds watching from back home aren’t joining him in whittling down the overwhelming positives of a breakout NFL debut. 

In the Giants’ recent 20-17 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers in Munich, Tracy was electric as he barreled through a porous Carolina run defense to record 18 carries for 103 yards and a touchdown and powered the team’s ground attack to a near comeback. 

His rushing efforts helped New York initiate a rally from a 10-0 deficit. It included the flashy 32-yard gash in the third quarter, which notched his third score of the season and second for more than 30 yards in consecutive weeks while forcing an extra few minutes of football for the international contingent.

On the other side of his heroic contributions, the Giants’ fifth-round pick would, unfortunately, deal with his first learning moment at the professional level when he coughed up the pigskin on the opening play of the overtime window. 

The Panthers took his first turnover three plays in the other direction and forced him to watch in grief as Eddy Pineiro nailed the game-winning kick to send his team home with their fifth straight and most humiliating defeat in recent memory.

Despite his scarring mistake, many in the media have continued to look highly upon the campaign the young man has been building as the Giants’ new leading rusher, so much that Tracy was reinstated to The 33rd Team’s weekly list of top non-quarterback rookie performances after Week 10, one of three running backs to make the group and two with their second appearance alongside Tampa’s Bucky Irving.

Tracy’s first nomination to the recognition came three weeks ago after the Giants’ 17-7 primetime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals when he combined for 157 total yards and his first touchdown at home to enter the league’s history books. 

His outing against Carolina mirrored that on the rushing side, giving New York some semblance of action on offense, and it now puts him at three 100-yard games in just under a dozen starts in the backfield.

It’s been those same performances that have launched Tracy to the pedestal of the rookie class for a player who once had a wide receiver background in college and was 20th in the league with 545 yards and an average carry of 5.1 yards that leads the team’s position group entering the bye week. 

No one understands the weight they’ve carried in who he is as a ball carrier better than his teammates who’ve watched the young buck develop into a budding star every Sunday.

“I told him that play doesn't define you. That one play doesn't lose us the game,” wide receiver Malik Nabers said about his teammate and his advice for overcoming the adversity of an early miscue as a novice in the NFL, something he had to learn from in Week 2 with his infamous dropped pass on fourth down against the Commanders that halted a game-winning drive.

The Tracy draft selection wasn’t welcomed so warmly at the start. Still, he has quickly become a fan favorite and a potential future stalwart after Saquon Barkley’s free-agent exit to Philadelphia. He took over the reins when Devin Singletary was down with a groin injury in Week 5 and stole the starting spot with an 18-carry, 129-yard outing in Seattle that led the Giants to their first victory of the season. 

After that game, Tracy has given the Giants backfield four more contests with at least 16 attempts and 50 yards on the ground. He earned his season-high day in Pittsburgh on Monday Night Football when he charged 20 times for 145 yards and a 45-yard touchdown run to keep the team engaged with the Steelers and their powerful rushing attack. 

As the season wears on, Tracy will continue to be battle-tested by some of the best run defenses in the league. Still, it could help breed him into that stout, aggressive barnstormer that the Giants have been seeking since the days of Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw’s duo. 

He is already forming one with Daniel Jones, who has 265 yards sitting third on the team’s leaderboard and will likely cap off his rookie debut with one of the most accomplished stat lines in his class. 

Before he can do that, he just needs to put the untimely fumble behind him, and he has plenty of time and support that will encourage him to make up for it down the road. It might have been the mistake that cost the Giants a win, but without Tracy, they might not have notched the others for an even scarier campaign.

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Stephen Lebitsch
STEPHEN LEBITSCH

“Stephen Lebitsch is a graduate of Fordham University, Class of 2021, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communications (with a minor in Sports Journalism) and spent three years as a staff writer for The Fordham Ram. With his education and immense passion for the space, he is looking to transfer his knowledge and talents into a career in the sports media industry. Along with his work for the FanNation network and Giants Country, Stephen’s stops include Minute Media and Talking Points Sports.

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