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How the Giants 2019 draft class has fared (so far)

The bye week is here.

The Giants enter the break having suffered six consecutive losses and sit at 2-8 and in third place in the NFC East. Despite the recent stretch, the Giants have received some strong performances from several of the team's rookies.

Numerous members of the Giants' 2019 draft class have stepped into big roles. The following is a breakdown of how each Giants' draft pick has fared through the first 10 games.

QB Daniel Jones: 1st round (6th overall)

187-for-297 (63.0 completion percentage) for 1,984 yards, 15 touchdowns, 8 interceptions, 88.0 Passer Rating. 32 rush attempts for 208 yards (6.5-yard avg.) and 2 rushing touchdowns.

It's been a promising beginning to the career of the rookie quarterback. Through his first eight starts, Jones is averaging 245.9 passing yards to go with 25.4 rushing yards per game. In his most recent outing, Jones completed 65.0% of his passes for 308 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions against the Jets. He has been nominated several times for the Pepsi Rookie of the Week award, as well as a nomination for the FedEx Air Player of the Week, and has earned his way into the NFL record books. Following his strong outing in Week 10, Jones is now the only rookie quarterback to have three games of at least 300 passing yards, two touchdown passes and zero interceptions in NFL history, and is just the fifth rookie quarterback ever to have at least two games with four passing touchdowns. It hasn't been a perfect start to Jones' career, as the rookie quarterback has racked up eight interceptions and eight lost fumbles.

"He'll go through all the situational football [over the bye week], he'll look at the things he's done well," coach Pat Shurmur said. "He's thrown 15 touchdowns, he'll look at the eight interceptions, and look at the fumbles. You basically go through everything that you've done, and you try to sit back, take a breath, and try to do the things you need to do to correct them, which we've been working on all along. You are just able to sit back and do it in total."

DT Dexter Lawrence: 1st round (17th overall)

26 total tackles (13 solo), 2.5 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 5 quarterback hits, 1 forced fumble, 61.7% defensive snap count, 35.7% special teams snap count.

Lawrence has been a dominant force up front for the defense. Through his first 10 games, the rookie defensive tackle has collected two and a half sacks along with two tackles for loss, five quarterback hits, a forced fumble and a blocked extra point. The 21-year-old has consistently gotten pressure on the quarterback, while also performing well against the run.

Lawrence enters the bye week with the highest overall grade on the team from Pro Football Focus (PFF), earning an 82.8 overall grade. In addition, the first-round pick has an 88.0 run-defense grade, which ranks sixth among all interior defensive linemen this season, while ranking 10th among all qualifying interior defensive linemen in overall grade. As PFF states, "You'd be hard-pressed to find a first-year player who has been as consistent as Lawrence has been over these last 10 weeks."

"Dexter has come along and done some good things here," defensive line Coach Gary Emanuel told reporters recently. "Dexter's been pushing the pocket pretty well. He's getting some interior push in the pocket… I think in order to play in this league, you have to have a switch that you can flip when you get on the field because it's a very physical game. It's a tough game. The nature of the position is a tough position. So yeah, Dexter is a fun-loving guy, but when he's on the field, he's all business."

CB DeAndre Baker: 1st round (30th overall)

38 tackles (29 solo), 3 passes defensed, 93.3% defensive snap count, 13.7% special teams snap count.

The young corner has seen a ton of playing time, playing on at least 96% of the team's defensive snaps in each of the team's last nine games. Baker's 38 tackles rank eighth on the team, while his three passes defensed are tied for the fourth-most on the Giants.

"He's coming along," defensive backs coach Everett Withers said last week. "Coming along. Guys progress as they progress and they work as they work. I think early, he didn't quite understand the sense of urgency and detail in the things that you have to do. Sometimes when you're in college, you go play corner on one side and that's all you do. You just go play that one guy. So, he had a lot of details he had to work on."

OLB Oshane Ximines: 3rd round (95th overall)

20 tackles (8 solo), 2.0 sacks, 3 tackles for loss, 4 quarterback hits, 1 pass defended, 48.3% defensive snap count, 69.3% special teams snap count.

The X-Man's 2.0 sacks are the fifth-most on the team, trailing only Markus Golden, Lorenzo Carter, Dexter Lawrence and Dalvin Tomlinson. Ximines is just a half-sack behind Lawrence for the most sacks by a Giants rookie. Ximines has also been able to rack up three tackles for loss, four quarterback hits and a pass defended, all while playing just under 50.0% of the defensive snaps.

CB Julian Love: 4th round (108th overall)

2 solo tackles, 0.5% defensive snap count, 46.5% special teams snap count.

Love has played in nine games this season, primarily on special teams. The rookie fourth-round pick has taken only a handful of defensive snaps but has appeared on 46.5% of special teams snaps. Through the first half of the season, Love has registered just two tackles, but Shurmur has indicated the rookie could see more playing time on defense moving forward.

LB Ryan Connelly: 5th round (143rd overall)

20 total tackles, 1.0 sack, 2 interceptions, 2 tackles for loss, 2 passes defensed, 1 QB hit, 71.7% defensive snap count, 27.8% special teams snap count.

Connelly suffered a torn ACL against the Redskins in Week 4, cutting his rookie year short. Prior to the injury, the fifth-round pick had been putting together an outstanding first season in the NFL. Connelly took over for the injured Alec Ogletree in Week 3 and registered the defense's first turnover of the season when he intercepted a Jameis Winston pass. He followed that by picking off Case Keenum in the first quarter of the team's Week 4 win against Washington for the unit's second turnover of 2019. Connelly also picked up a sack against Washington, making him the first Giants linebacker with an interception and sack in the same game since 2007.

"It's unfortunate, but he's got a real bright future and he'll come back from this," Shurmur said. "He was doing a lot of really good things for us. He's a young player. Part of being a pro sometimes is coming back from injury. If he approaches this the way he has approached playing in the game, he'll be back to full strength here soon."

WR Darius Slayton: 5th round (171st overall)

27 receptions for 394 yards and 5 touchdowns, 9 kickoff returns for 189 yards (21.0-yard avg.), 76.6% offensive snap count, 5.4% special teams snap count.

After missing the first two games of the season with a hamstring injury, Slayton has seen his playing time increase as the season has progressed. The rookie wide receiver has been on the field for at least 84% of the team's offensive snaps in each of the last five weeks, including playing at least 93% of offensive snaps in four of the last five games, which has led to some solid production.

Slayton is coming off his second two-touchdown game. The 22-year-old caught 10 passes against the Jets in Week 10, resulting in 121 receiving yards and the two scores. Slayton has been targeted 33 times over the last five weeks, totaling 18 receptions for 237 yards and four touchdowns. He is the first Giants receiver with a pair of two-touchdown reception games in a season since Odell Beckham Jr. in 2016, and the first Giants rookie to do it since Beckham in 2014. His five touchdown receptions are tied for the league lead among all rookies.

Slayton also served as the team's primary kick returner for two games last month, returning nine kickoffs for 189 yards (21.0-yard avg.).

"I think since he's been back from his hamstring injury, every time he gets on the field, his reps continue to get more and more and more, and he's getting more confident," wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert told reporters last month. "He was extremely confident at the end of last spring when we ended for the summer and when we came back he pulled his hamstring so early and it was tough to get back. But since he's been back, his confidence has continued to grow. So, as his confidence continues to grow, he's making more plays, and when you make more plays, you have a tendency to feel—well, I like having playmakers on the field, so it's hard to get him off the field when he's making plays and getting separation."

CB Corey Ballentine: 6th round (180th overall)

6 tackles (5 solo), 1 quarterback hit, 1 pass defended, 10 kickoff returns for 256 yards (25.6-yard avg.), 19.4% defensive snap count, 55.0% special teams snap count

Ballentine has played in eight games, and for the first half of the season, it was primarily on special teams. The sixth-round pick has returned 10 kickoffs for 256 yards, averaging 25.6 yards per return. But over the last two weeks, Ballentine has seen a lot more playing time on defense, serving as the team's slot corner. He played on 77% of the team's defensive snaps in Week 9 and 68% in Week 10. Ballentine has registered six tackles, one quarterback hit and one pass defended.

"I think Corey's a guy that's fast, he's got speed," defensive coordinator James Bettcher said last week on why Ballentine has started to see playing time in the slot. "The thing I really like about Corey since he has gotten here is you walk around the meeting room and you look at his notepad and this guy is taking meticulous notes. He's trying to be really locked in. Something that some young players take a while to figure out is the classroom aspect of playing the game in the NFL. I think it was just time for him to get an opportunity. Trying to find a way and where to put him on the field, and that was the position that we felt moved the least amount of people to get him on the field. He deserved an opportunity."

OT George Asafo-Adjei: 7th round (232nd overall)

Asafo-Adjei suffered a concussion at the start of training camp and was placed on season-ending injured reserve at the beginning of September.

DT Chris Slayton: 7th round (245th overall)

Slayton was waived by the Giants at the end of the preseason before signing to the team's practice squad prior to Week 1.

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