Giants reunite Jihad Ward with ex-Ravens DC Wink Martindale

Jihad Ward is hoping to earn the nod from Wink.

The Giants signed Ward as their first edge rusher added throughout free company, pondering that reuniting the previous second-round draft decide with defensive coordinator Wink Martindale may generate cost-efficient manufacturing at a place of great want.

“I needed to go someplace they’re going to make me really feel free, and Wink is a type of coaches the place mainly he’s going to make me prolong my profession being the perfect that I could be,” Ward stated Monday from Giants headquarters. “Wink is without doubt one of the coaches that did a hell of a job with me after I was a Raven, so I’m right here now and able to win some video games.”

By totaling 4 sacks over 21 video games for the Ravens in 2019-20, the 27-year-old Ward earned a one-year $2.5 million free-agent contract with the Jaguars. He added two extra sacks and 17 pressures on 457 defensive snaps — his most since 636 as a rookie with the Raiders — in 17 video games.

Ravens defensive finish Jihad Ward (53) sacks Giants quarterback Daniel Jones in 2020.

AP

“I can deliver so much to the crew,” Ward stated. “An important factor I can deliver to the desk is simply attempting to win video games, dominating the sting after which dominating the D-line. I consider that I could be the most effective up there and one of many top-tier D-linemen. So, while you play the Giants, the D-line goes to be one which’s talked about.”

The Giants’ main investments on their defensive position are a pair of tackles — former first-round decide Dexter Lawrence and former Professional Bowler Leonard Williams — who account for $31.5 million on the 2022 wage cap. Edge rusher has been a wasteland (Markus Golden’s 10-sack season in 2019 excluded) ever since Jason Pierre-Paul was traded and the Giants switched to a 3-4 base entrance in 2018.

Martindale inherited outdoors linebackers Azeez Ojulari and Quincy Roche after promising rookie seasons. But when Martindale goes to put in his fashion — his Ravens led the league in blitz share in three of the final 4 seasons — then depth and contemporary legs are necessary.

Defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale appears to be like on from the sideline with the Ravens final season.

AP

“Mainly, simply coming in with that aggression,” Ward stated of Martindale’s philosophy. “You don’t know after we’re going to come back. That’s his kind of fashion. We’re going to come back at you.”

Sounds simple. It’s not. Even for Ward, who says he can line up at any place throughout the entrance.

“The one factor is with the remainder of the D-line that’s right here, we’ve simply bought to mainly perceive its various kinds of fronts,” Ward stated. “It’s fairly troublesome for us, and we’ll change the scheme up based mostly on regardless of the personnel is. It’s going to be a number of [creating] confusion and flexibility.”

Ward grew up as an Eagles fan in Philadelphia, however his soccer growth began on the now-defunct World Institute of Know-how, positioned on Manhattan’s Seventh Avenue. He took the bus, ferry and subway from his housing to select up tools to apply — all value it when his junior-college movie was seen by a recruiter at Illinois.

“It was a part of being a grown man,” Ward stated. “That’s the best way I describe it. It took me three hours each day to go to highschool, so it’s fairly totally different now that I've a little bit little bit of funds. All the pieces’s tougher when you don't have any cash. So, after I come again right here, I simply take into consideration these occasions like, ‘Rattling, I actually made it out of right here doing two years of that.’ I’m going to ceaselessly prefer it right here, although. I’m glad to be again.”