New York Giants Training Camp Preview: DT Rakeem Nunez-Roches

Does the trade of Leonard Williams last season open up a larger role for Rakeem Nunez-Roches on the Giants defensive front in 2024?

Jan 7, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants linebacker Azeez Ojulari (51) celebrates with defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches (93) after recovering a fumble during the second half against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

New York Giants defensive tackle Rakeem Nuñez-Roches spent his first year in the Big Apple in the shadows of the team’s interior duo of Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams. With the latter gone after being traded midway through last season and with his replacement, A’Shawn Robinson, who signed as a free agent with Carolina, the Giants will be looking for a replacement to start alongside Lawrence.

Nuñez-Roches will be among those that compete for the role. A consistent contributor for every franchise he’s played for in 10 seasons, Nuñez-Roches marked his fifth consecutive season with at least 16 games played as a member of the Giants in 2023. The presence of the team’s heavy hitters in Lawrence and Willams, kept his work modest, mainly in scattered cleanup snaps when one of the big guys needed a breather. 

With Williams in Seattle, the Giants need one of their defensive tackles to replace him and upgrade the defensive front that ranked toward the bottom in several rushing categories. Of the candidates, Nuñez-Roches could be the player with the most experience and energy for the job. 

A Belizean-born player out of Southern Miss, Nuñez-Roches began his NFL career in Kansas City after being drafted 217th overall by the Chiefs in 2015. From that season until 2017, he started off as a practice squad addition and didn’t earn significant duties until his third year, when he played in all 16 games and recorded 24 tackles and 0.5 sacks.

In 2018, Nuñez-Roches signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he was mostly used as a rotational defensive player. He appeared in 16 or more games for four straight seasons, notched 77 total tackles, two sacks, and one forced fumble with recovery, and helped the Buccaneers defeat his former team in the Chiefs, 31-9, in Super Bowl LV.

Nuñez-Roches has built up ten seasons of waiting for his opportunity but has thus far been mostly a run defender as he lacks production in the pass-rush department. 

What he lacks in sheer size and brute strength that has defined his teammate in Lawrence to dominate against single blockers, Nuñez-Roches could make up for it and find his place in the Giants defense with his unrelenting motor and sharp pre-snap instincts. 

He excels at sniffing out the direction of a play, finding his gap, and shooting upfield. It is difficult for him to slow down once he is in an open lane pursuit of the ball carrier. 

Above all, he has mostly been a good tackler in space and can be plugged into any given gap along the defensive front, two elements the Giants need from their interior seven if they want to set the tone and find success on that side of the ball. 

Going back to his college days, he has learned how to play with the heart of a champion for teams that didn’t always win, and that leadership and underdog mentality will help his case this summer. 

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RAKEEM NUÑEZ-ROCHES, DT

Height: 6-2
Weight: 305 lbs.
Experience: 10 Years
College: Southern Miss
How Acquired: FA-23

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2023 in Review

Playing in 16 games during his inaugural season with the Giants, Rakeem Nuñez-Roches was active for 461 snaps—the third-highest total of his career—but the work was scattered until the aftermath of the Leonard Williams trade. 

Nuñez-Roches played in a mix of run and pass-rushing snaps with a slight advantage towards the latter, forcing 19 total pressures and 12 stops for the third-highest total of his NFL tenure. 

However, he had a tougher campaign on the tackling front at times, posting an 18.2 percent missed tackle rate, his second-highest number, while notching 26 tackles, 0.5 sacks, and one pass deflection.

Despite earning the third-most snaps and tackles on the Giants’ defensive tackle position, Nuñez-Roches had to wait until the second half of the year to earn more reps. He had just one game with at least 30 snaps in the first nine weeks of the season compared to six games on the other side of the midway point. 

Nuñez-Roches best performance came in Week 17 against the Rams, when he had four total tackles and a half sack in the Giant’s close loss. Injuries were prevalent at that point in the season, but the veteran’s increased work could have been a sign of the team’s desire to see what he could bring to an increased role next year. 

While he has a chance to do that on defense, Nuñez-Roches was also a good contributor on special teams. He played 113 snaps for punt return and both field goal units. He has a history of blocking kicks going back to college, which will make him useful in 2024 for another unit struggling to compete with the rest of the league. 

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Contract/Cap Info

Nuñez-Roches is entering the second year of a three-year, $12 million contract. The arrangement includes a $7.465 million guaranteed, of which $5.465 million was guaranteed at signing. Since he stayed on the roster past the fifth day of the current league year, $2 million will be applied to his 2024 salary. 

Thus, if the Giants don’t elect to retain Nuñez-Roches for the 53-man roster this season, the Giants will be hit with a $3,433,333 dead money charge for 2024 and another $1,433,334 for 2025. On the other end, they will save $900,000 in cap savings from a potential transaction. 

2024 Preview

The New York Giants already have themselves one of the best defensive centerpieces in the NFL in Lawrence, who is coming off consecutive All-Pro seasons and aiming to feast for his fourth consecutive 50+ tackle outing in 2024. 

Nuñez-Roches will likely compete with fellow 10-year run stuffer Jordan Phillips, who came in during free agency and has a history with the Giants' current regime from his days as a Buffalo Bill in 2018-2019. 

Nuñez-Roches has value as a depth piece thanks to his versatility, toughness, and energy in his game, making him an attractive piece. His role in last year’s defense was to absorb blocks, but even so, he was handled much too often by single blocking and rarely took advantage of gaps to attack.

This physical but undersized 9-year vet was not a difference-maker in last year’s defense. Will that change this year? Our best guess is that Nuñez-Roches will continue in his spot-duty role in this new iteration of the Giants' defense.

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