Is Peebles an option for the Giants’ defense?
Most agree that the New York Giants could, or should, add a defensive tackle in this year’s draft.
If the team agrees, then the question becomes what kind of tackle should they pursue? Much of the conversation has surrounded massive nose tackles who can absorb blocks and clog the middle of the offensive line. The Giants’ defensive scheme, however, is predicated on four-man pressure, with elite athletes attacking individual gaps to disrupt behind the line of scrimmage.
If the team wants to improve their speed up front — as opposed to their bulk — they could look at a player like Aeneas Peebles out of Virginia Tech. Peebles is undersized, measuring 6-foot, 289 pounds, but also highly explosive.
Could the Giants value Peebles’ disruptive potential more highly than those on the outside expect?
Prospect: Aeneas Peebles (16)
Games Watched: vs. Vanderbilt (2024), vs. Rutgers (2024), vs. Miami (2024)
Measurables
Height: 6-foot, 3/8 inches
Weight: 289 pounds
Arm length: 31 3⁄4 inches
Hand size: 10 3/8 inches
Strengths
Best traits
- Explosiveness
- Leverage
- Competitive toughness
- One-gap penetrating
Aeneas Peebles is a compact and explosive defensive tackle prospect.
Peelbes is undersized compared to the NFL’s standards at 6-foot, 289 pounds. However, he uses his frame to his advantage by playing with excellent leverage, particularly at the start of the play. Peebles typically times the snap very well and has an excellent reaction time. Combined with an explosive first step, he is often one of the very first players moving at the snap of the ball.
He fires out of his stance low and hard, typically getting under blockers’ pads and stressing them with his speed off the ball. He’s at his best when attacking individual gaps, and is able to gain good ground into the backfield as long as he’s able to keep himself clean.
Peebles has solid play strength despite his less-than-ideal weight, and is able to combine that with good leverage to make himself very difficult for blockers to dig out of gaps. He understands how to leverage the ball and force cutbacks or string plays out and allow his teammates to flow to the ball. Peebles also understands his role in schemed pressure, forcing and controlling double teams when he crashes inside as a part of twists or blitzes.
Weaknesses
Worst traits
- Size
- Hand usage
- Long speed
Peebles relative lack of size is the first thing that will jump out about him. Not only is he short and relatively under-weight for a defensive tackle, he has short arms. That overall lack of length can show up when blockers are ready for his explosive first step, and he can struggle to shed. It can be a bit too easy for linemen to access his chest plate and lock in their blocks, controlling Peebles and taking him out of the play.
That’s compounded by an over-reliance on a swim move as his primary pass rushing technique.
Peebles uses an arm-over as his primary pass rush move, and while it’s effective against blockers who aren’t ready for his speed, it exposes his chest to blockers who are ready. Additionally, the arm-over raises his center of gravity, compromising the leverage which is his primary strength as a blocker. Peebles can also be vulnerable to being knocked off his rushes by incidental contact round the line of scrimmage. That’s particularly true when he gets caught with his pads rising in the middle of a pass rush move.
Game Tape
(Peebles is the Virginia Tech defensive tackle wearing number 16 and one long pant on his left leg)
Projection
Aeneas Peebles likely projects as a rotational defensive tackle in a one-gap scheme.
Peebles will likely be looked at as a nickel lineman to start his career, rotating onto the field in obvious passing downs. His explosiveness should make him extremely disruptive at the NFL level, particularly for a defense that can scheme him one-on-one matchups. He would likely fit best as a 3-technique, 4i-technique, or a 5-technique, but shouldn’t be asked to hold double teams often as a pro.
While Peebles should be disruptive early in his career, he’ll need some development as a technician to reach his ceiling. His future team would be well-served to hone his pass rush repertoire, building on his use of counter moves as well as better tailoring his pass rush moves to his natural strengths. As things stand now, Peebles is relatively easily neutralized when blockers stymie his initial swim move.
He should be a consistent threat – even if not an every-down player – once he can quickly defeat blockers’ hands.
Does he fit the Giants?
Potentially, yes.
Final Word: A late Day 2 or early Day 3 value.
