Free Agency Rundown Episode II: Of Safeties and Long Snappers

I think the Giants are reading The Oracle….either that or I’m just THAT good at predicting them. Trust.

They for sure have to be one of the 50 people who read episode 1 of the Free Agency Rundown and one of the 123 unique users who have visited this website since its creation (125 including me from 2 different devices). Shoutout to the fact that I still don’t know how to let people get on some sort of email list. Grass roots word of mouth movement. We moving it slow and sweet like cold honey.

Ok I may have been a touch preemptive on my first rundown post, I obviously jumped the gun on not including the Mooney signing (which was like the day after the first rundown), and I said I thought we were basically done, whatever. I also said we still needed secondary help and I thought we would sign/draft another DB, and we did, so count the bucket, and I was also right about us getting serious as a franchise on special teams as evident by two signings this week which I go full deep-dive into. So credit where credit is due to me but also hand up that I got * a little too excited * before we were fully done with the meaningful signings. There’s a new shogunate in town for the G-Men and we’re all still feeling each other out.

Anyways, while I did already cover most of the bigger names already we just got another batch of free agents this week and a couple of them are worth talking about. Let’s keep it fast and loose until the long snapper part:

Elijah Campbell - S (MIA)

Well well well, if it isn’t a veteran depth safety right before we’re “definitely going to draft Caleb Downs.” (I’m ruined if we do draft him). Btw, you will google this guy’s name and you will see he is listed as a “DB” - general defensive back, because he has done both CB and S over his ~7 year career, but The Oracle is here to tell you that he is going to play safety for us unless things get bad with injuries. This guy is not a “star” by any means but he’s also not a dud. He’s going to be a backup safety for us and get regular playing time. He has been relegated to some special teams reps in his day and actually spent 2019 and part of 2020 playing in the XFL but he has started in the NFL at safety in the last 2-3 years…remember the XFL? Is that still around?

Cam Jones - LB (NYJ)

I hate to put “NYJ” next to anything besides 32 in a standings list. Technically Cam here was an undrafted rookie to the Chiefs in 2023 and he has a Super Bowl ring as a result. He only has two career starts over 44 games (Chiefs 2023/2024, Jets 2025) and he has 24 tackles on defense and 17 on special teams. Nothing really to see here but linebacker depth. I don’t think he makes a splash but a good linebacker name if he somehow becomes a beast.

Calvin Austin III - WR (PIT)

This is an interesting one. First thing I thought of when I heard this was “gadget play.” I gotta say I don’t really see a role for him in the offense otherwise between Leek Mooney and Likely as the main guys with *gags* Isaiah Hodgins and Darius Slayton filling in the cracks. Do you remember the hot second a couple years ago we had that veteran receiver who was from either the Bills or Arizona and he caught like 2 deep balls for us and then left? That’s kind of what I’m seeing happening here. What was his name I can’t even remember. EDIT: it’s John Ross. I’m thinking of John Ross. That’s what I see here as the most likely outcome.

Best case, he beats out a WR4 spot or we build in some designated formations where he is the WR3 or even the 2, in which case I am expecting that we run jet sweeps or reverses to him out of that formation - probably some slingshot motion from the wing and back, maybe out of or to* the backfield. BEST-best case, he impresses and becomes a standard WR3 but idk…I think what he more likely will be is our new kick returner. I love my some Gunny-O, but he is simply a white boy and is hella concussed, and Calvin Austin has that SPEED. Austin’s last kick returner touchdown was actually against us in 2024 so maybe we have good karma built up there.

Sam Roberts - DL (ATL)

Good depth at the d line I like some vet talent getting in there to keep the young talent on their toes and also plug a gap when we need him (I know nothing about this guy).

We also re-signed OL Joshua Ezeudu (did I say him already?) LB Zaire Barnes (absolute DOG, breakout year you will hear his name) and S Jason Pinnock (I believe in him).

Zach Triner - LS (various teams)

That’s RIGHT folks, the moment you’ve allllllll been waiting for! Do not adjust your monitor - Weezy F Baby and the LS stands for long snapper. We say goodbye to five-year-tenured Giant long snapper Casey Kreiter who is off to Arizona of all places and kind of good luck and see ya later to him…I feel nothing for any Giants long snapper other than Zak DeOssie (the goat), and he takes some blame for our special teams woes the last several years.

Anyways, the fact that this new Zach is also named Zak is perhaps auspicious and that’s exciting. But to be honest I don’t really know what to make of this guy Triner. His career chart looks like this:

What that shows is a great career with Tampa Bay including a Super Bowl victory and then I believe FIVE (5) teams in the last two seasons? Don’t love that. Maybe he is a more expensive option in the highly complex and nuanced long snapper market? Maybe because he has earned that? Yea let’s go with that. He’s simply too expensive for these peasant teams who are drowning already and can’t spare a dime to pay for elite talent on the special teams side. But we sure as heck can.

(I get the sense that I do not understand the long snapper market as it relates to free agency. It seems to have some “kicker carousel” elements to it but is also “stickier” like how punters are generally around for multiple years on a single team whereas kickers you kind of plug and play more regularly?)

Long snapper btw in the literary sense is the position most inspired by Lenny from Of Mice and Men given that you are NOT allowed to blast him in the back of the head while he’s looking away from you at the line of scrimmage. Can’t touch him. He tend the football. But I digress….

If you’re keeping score at home - thats now a new kicker, punter, (possibly) kick returner, and long snapper. We have BURNED last year’s ENTIRE UNIT to the GROUND. I’m all for it. Let’s bring in a couple of veterans who know what they are doing and leave the clown show antics in the past. When Jaxson Dart (how the f*ck is The Oracle turning this into a Dart rant???) took over, in about his second or third game we were faced with a third-and-medium-long/long in a tight spot. I caught myself turning to my buddy and saying “don’t worry, we convert these now.” Which is a feeling that I have not had in YEARS - Confidence in the offense at any level. We have a quarterback who can extend plays, doesn’t shit his pants (looking at you DJ), and makes a little magic happen. He is Top Gun back there making pilot shit happen, and with a couple of receivers and options he can throw it to who can catch it (this is even more true this next year than last).

That is all I want for Christmas this year is to have * base level confidence * in our special teams. And now, cautiously, I have it. It’s going to make life so much better and games so much more winnable.

We STAY winning the offseason so far. Can’t wait to draft Love in a month.

-Giants Oracle