Giants hope UDFA DL Elijah Chatman is ready for a leading role

Chatman excited the fans during the preseason — can he do it again now?

Undrafted free agent defensive tackle Elijah Chatman endeared himself to the New York Giants fan base during the preseason with excellent production and incredible hustle that enabled the undersized 5-foot-10, 278-pound rookie to make the 53-man roster.

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Now, with the Giants bumbling their way through a 2-10 season and the defensive line ravaged by injuries, Chatman has another chance to give Giants fans something to feel good about.

Dexter Lawrence is out for the season. So, too, is Armon Watts. Rakeem Nunez-Roches has been ruled out of Sunday’s game with neck and shoulder injuries. D.J. Davidson has a shoulder injury and is doubtful. Jordon Riley has a knee injury and is questionable.

Chatman is the last fully healthy man standing on the Giants’ defensive line. Aside from Cory Durden, who was just poached off the Los Angeles Rams’ practice squad a few days ago and practice squad players Casey Rogers and Elijah Garcia.

Chatman has a sack, 10 tackles (one for loss) and two quarterback hits in limited duty this season.

“I feel like I’m ready,” Chatman said this week. “I feel like Coach Dre (defensive line coach Andre Patterson) has done his best to prepare me and the other players to do our best in the game.”

Chatman is a unique player. A short, lighter, but exceptionally powerful and athletic player at a position usually manned by gargantuan bodies several inches taller and 40 or more pounds heavier.

Patterson said this week that Chatman needs to continue to learn to lean into the gifts he does posses.

“He’s gotten better every single week. Like it is with every rookie player, it’s trying to convince them to be themselves on every play,” he said.

“Sometimes they outsmart themselves. They see other guys do things on film and go ‘oh, I want to try to do that.’ Well, that’s not you. You’ve got to continue to be you and the gifts that God gave you as a player. That’s not unique to Chat, don’t get me wrong. That’s every young player.

“That’s been the biggest thing with him. He’s a competitor. He fights hard. He’s tough, he’s physical. He’ll go out there and put his best foot forward.”

Who is Chatman as a player?

“Explosive, powerful and quick,” Patterson said. “Sometimes he just gets into being explosive and powerful, and leaves the quick part out of it. He needs all three of those elements to be the player that he can be.”

Chatman has been learning the NFL game throughout the season.

“I’ve learned a lot of things that have been helping me so far. I can just say mentally, I’ve improved the most mentally,” he said. “How to prepare, what the offense is doing, what runs they are doing, how they pass it, all types of things. I feel like I’ve gotten better in everything that makes up being a defensive lineman.”

Chatman has been used primarily as a pass rusher this season. He has played 147 snaps as a pass rusher and only 64 as a run defender, per Pro Football Focus.

“He’s done that. He proved that he can play the run through the preseason,” Patterson said. “There’s been other games throughout the course of the season where I’ve rolled him in there on base downs with Nacho (Nunez-Roches). He’s not just a third-down guy.”

Chatman said the Giants been “slowly developing” him as a run defender.

Is he ready now to handle a full load?

“I’ve got to (be ready). I don’t have a choice,” he said.