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Jabrill Peppers is headed to season-ending injured reserve with knee and ankle injuries.

Jabrill Peppers is done for the year.

The Giants have placed Peppers on injured reserve due to a ruptured ACL and high ankle sprain. He exited Sunday’s win over Carolina due to the health-related issues.

This is a significant blow to a Giants defense that finally came together this past Sunday. Through much of the first six games, this unit looked nothing like the strong Giants defense of 2020. But in Week 7, Peppers and the rest of the group allowed just three total points and shut down the Panthers for much of the afternoon.

Moving forward without Peppers

The Giants will likely field Xavier McKinney and Julian Love a significant amount — they were already doing this with the former over the last month or so. McKinney, a second-year safety out of Alabama, played 100% of the defensive snaps in Weeks 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Peppers wasn’t earning as much playing time as McKinney anyway — the highest percentage of defensive snaps Jabrill saw in a game this year is 80 (against both Washington and the Rams).

Love’s playing time has been up and down, but he’ll potentially earn his fair share of reps in Peppers’ absence.

Peppers’ future in East Rutherford

Peppers was a potential trade piece ahead of the Nov. 2 NFL trade deadline. The Giants, who are 2-5, could’ve sent him away for a fifth-round pick at the absolute best. They wouldn’t have received much more than that due to the fact he’s injury-prone and a limited box safety (he struggles in coverage).

But obviously, because of this injury, you can kiss any sort of trade scenario goodbye.

It’s really a shame — the Giants shouldn’t extend Jabrill at the end of this year, so earning some sort of draft capital in return for him would’ve been a beneficial move.

If they do somehow keep him within the organization past 2021, it would be via the franchise tag. But inking Peppers to a multi-year deal, especially given his limited capabilities, wouldn’t benefit the organization from a long-term perspective.

Additional Moves

The Giants also waived cornerback Josh Jackson and wide receiver David Sills. They traded cornerback Isaac Yiadom to the Packers for Jackson back during the preseason.

New York is also picking up defensive back J.R. Reed from the Rams practice squad and released defensive tackle Woodrow Hamilton from its own practice squad.

Ryan Honey is a staff writer and host of the Wide Right Podcast.