New York Giants

DT Jay Bromley knows he needs to sure up run defense to see the field in 2015

Published Jun. 11, 2015 10:16 a.m. ET

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The New York Giants have a history of producing productive defensive tackles outside of the first round of the draft. Over the course of general manager Jerry Reese's tenure, the Giants have provided examples of that statement with defensive tackles Barry Cofield, Linval Joseph and now Jonathan Hankins. Second year defensive tackle Jay Bromley hopes to be the next player to join that group, but he knows that he will first need to prove that he's not a liability in the run game.

Bromley played just 113 uninspiring snaps in 2014. He understands that his run defense simply wasn't good enough to earn him playing time.

"I felt that was my thing [that held me back]. It was a big thing, me not being able to play the run as effectively as the older people around me," Bromley said, per Jordan Raanan of True Jersey. "That was the main reason I didn't see as much time as I wanted to. Knowing that, it made me go into the offseason thinking I'm not going to give [the coaches] an out."

In order to improve against the run, Bromley needs to get stronger. This is something that escaped him heading into his rookie season, because it was never something he had to address in his past playing at Syracuse.

"Sometimes you get away with things because I'm blessed with enough athleticism to get away with stuff sometimes, but in the overall grand scheme of things, I had to be stronger," Bromley said.

Bromley began training harder than he ever has this offseason, and he even spent one week down in Florida training with teammate Jason Pierre-Paul. Bromley is satisfied with the results of his new routine.

"I felt like I got a lot stronger this offseason," Bromley said. "Even now going out there with the team I feel my technique was a lot better than it was last year, playing the run especially."

Bromley has an opportunity to seize more playing time in 2015. During OTA practices so far, defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins has taken snaps at defensive end. If the Giants decide to use Jenkins at defensive end on some snaps in 2015, this will leave open a nice void for Bromley to potentially fill. The Giants added defensive tackle Kenrick Ellis this offseason, but they didn't do much else to address defensive tackle in free agency or the draft. Ellis projects best as a one-technique defensive tackle, behind Hankins, and Bromley has always projected to play the three-technique defensive tackle position.

(h/t True Jersey)

Photo Credit: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports