Giants’ Brian Daboll happy to add ‘explosive, athletic’ Isaiah Simmons

On Thursday, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen pulled off an unexpected trade, acquiring Isaiah Simmons from the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for a seventh-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

The addition of Simmons gives Wink Martindale another versatile player to work with, although early reports suggest the veteran will work specifically at linebacker.

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Whatever Simmons’ role ends up being, head coach Brian Daboll is happy to have him.

“He could do a lot of different things. Explosive, athletic. That’s why he was picked where he was picked,” Daboll told reporters. “Again, we’ll get him here and see how he looks and start teaching him our stuff, but excited to have him.

“We thought there’s some upside there. Again, we’ll put him in, we’ll ask him to do probably quite a bit of things just to see what he takes to. A guy that’s, again, athletic, explosive, has good size. I’ve seen him do some multiple things”

Simmons has underwhelmed in Arizona, largely due to the constant system changes and out-of-position use. With the Giants, he’ll find some stability under Martindale and in a system that seems more fine-tuned for his athletic gifts.

One added benefit for Simmons is the familiar faces he’ll see when he arrives in East Rutherford.

“He’s got some familiarity with some of our players. (Dexter Lawrence), worked out with Saquon (Barkley) out there in Arizona, worked out with Isaiah Hodgins. So, good to have him in. We’ll get him going and try to get him up to speed,” Daboll added.

Simmons has roughly two weeks to get the playbook down before the Giants open the regular season against the Dallas Cowboys.