The Giants worked out free agent Eddie Goldman on Tuesday, but they at the moment are signing a special defensive tackle. The team has agreed to a cope with Josh Tupou, Art Stapleton of NorthJersey.com reports. The move will reunite the ex-Raven with head coach John Harbaugh.
The 6-foot-3, 350-pound Tupou spent many of the past two years on the Ravens’ practice squad. He appeared in six regular-season games in that span and recorded eight tackles and a sack.
Since Tupou entered the NFL undrafted in 2017, the vast majority of his experience has include certainly one of the Ravens’ AFC North rivals, the Bengals. As a member of the organization through 2023, the Colorado product was teammates with defensive tackle D.J. Reader for 4 years. The Giants signed Reader earlier this month.
Tupou played just seven games in his first two seasons, but he took on a much larger role within the Bengals’ defense starting in 2019. He began seven of 16 games that yr and notched a career-high 27 tackles. While Tupou opted out of 2020 over COVID concerns, he returned to play a full 17-game slate the subsequent yr and pick up nine starts during an AFC title-winning season for Cincinnati. He played just 11 games in 2022, but Tupou registered 19 tackles and the primary two sacks of his profession then. In total, he has 94 tackles and three sacks in his 71-game, 23-start profession.
For the Giants, the Tupou signing comes lower than per week after Roy Robertson-Harris tore his Achilles in practice. Robertson-Harris’ season is already over, adding one other query mark along the Giants’ interior line. He was a full-time starter last yr, as was Dexter Lawrence, however the Giants traded the latter to the Bengals for the tenth overall pick in April’s draft. They are going to expect Reader and fellow established free agent signing Shelby Harris to assist pick up the slack. Tupou, 2025 third-rounder Darius Alexander, Zacch Pickens, Leki Fotu, Sam Roberts and rookie sixth-rounder Bobby Jamison-Travis represent several of their other options.