Next up in the Giants’ position overview series is linebacker. The Giants had a solid collection of veteran linebackers last season, but the group lacked playmakers. Two key members of last season’s linebacker corps, Keenan Robinson and Kelvin Sheppard, are free agents, while starting outside linebackers Jonathan Casillas and Devon Kennard are back.
Robinson was a major upgrade as an athletic linebacker in coverage. Casillas was a three-down linebacker and strong leader. Kennard shed the injury-prone label by playing every game and he displayed versatility by playing on the line in passing situations.
The Giants lacked playmaking at the linebacker position.