The Giants selected Mathias Kiwanuka in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft as a defensive end out of Boston College.
So naturally in his second year, he was shifted to linebacker. The Giants had a glut of linemen and, well, as coach Tom Coughlin said, “The more you can do…”
Then Kiwanuka started all 16 games in his third season, when he recorded a career-best eight sacks. But since then, he primarily has played at linebacker, though always honing up at end. It was daily cramming, going from one defensive meeting room to another.
Now, with longtime defensive end Osi Umenyiora in Atlanta, Kiwanuka faces the luxury of staying at defensive end and shedding the everyday worry about what’s happening with the linebackers. He couldn’t be happier. OK, there’s always hit-the-Powerball happy, but you get the idea.
“It’s definitely easier because you’re not worried about what’s being said in the other meeting room, trying to track coaches down in their off time to get all the rest of the information,” Kiwanuka said. “Whatever this team wants me to do, I’ll do it. As long as we get some wins out of it, I’m good for it.
“It’s great. It’s fun. That’s the position I was naturally born to play, I feel. So I’m just having fun being back out here.”
Kiwanuka is penciled in as the starting right defensive end as Jason Pierre-Paul recovers from back surgery, and is part of the three-end rotation that includes Justin Tuck.
“That’s where I feel like the ease in the transition has always come from,” Kiwanuka said. “When I was a linebacker I’d put my hand on the ground on third down. I was still going back and forth, so it wasn’t like this was completely foreign to me. It was just spending more time with one group of guys.”
So he is an end. At least for now. Coughlin sees an upbeat attitude from Kiwanuka.
“Absolutely. Just the way he carries himself,” Coughlin said after practice Friday. “He’s worked very hard and it looks like his confidence level is way up there because he’s got his hand on the ground.
“I know he’s enjoying it. It’s going to benefit all of us, him moving back there.”
And he’s there to stay, not returning to linebacker?
“Hopefully that won’t be the case,” Coughlin said. “Never say never.”
“There’s no doubt about it this year,” Kiwanuka said with a smile. “It’s a year-to-year basis around here and we’ll see how it goes, but for this year that’s where I’ll be.”
Kiwanuka predicts all-around improvement for himself and the Giants, who ranked 25th against the run, 28th against the pass and 31st overall defensively last season.
“It will have a huge effect. When you can sit in one meeting room and focus on one task, it puts you at a much better competitive advantage to watch film, to study, to work on your own technique, to get your stats up,” Kiwanuka said.
“The main thing for us as a group, as a team, is to make sure that not only do we make it to the playoffs but we have a successful season in our eyes, which is a Super Bowl championship.”