Jabrill Peppers suffers rare injury occurrence, placed on Injured Reserve

The New York Giants have placed safety Jabril Peppers on long-term injured reserve, ending his 2021 season. In an unlikely series of unfortunate events, Peppers suffered a high ankle sprain in the third quarter of the Giants 25-3 victory over the Carolina Panthers. Unfortunately for the 26-year-old safety, that was not the only injury he suffered on that play. Afterward, the Giants announced that he ruptured his ACL on the play, as well. Both injuries happened to Peppers’s right leg. 

Peppers career

Peppers was the 17th pick of the first-round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns out of Michigan. With the Wolverines, he racked up several awards at linebacker and as a return specialist. In his final year at Michigan, he was a unanimous All-American, recipient of the Lott trophy and Paul Hornung Award, Big Ten player of the year, and linebacker of the year. He left Michigan with 125 tackles, 18.5 for a loss, one forced fumble, and an interception. He also had three rushing touchdowns on offense and one punt return for a touchdown. 

With Cleveland, Peppers had two productive seasons. He was moved officially to strong safety in his second year there. But in 2019, he was a part of the blockbuster trade that sent Odell Beckham Jr. to Cleveland. The Browns packaged him guard Kevin Zeitler, a first and third-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft for Beckham and defensive end Olivier Vernon. 

His time in New York

In his three years with the New York Giants, he has recorded 197 tackles, 127 solo, 3.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, two interceptions, and one defensive touchdown. 

The loss of Peppers is a significant blow to the Giants or coming off their second win of the season against the Carolina Panthers. The New York safety was having a down year and lost his starting position to Logan Ryan. Ryan is considered to be a better coverage safety than Peppers which was a key reason for the move. But although he lost the starting position, he still has ample playing time on the field. Peppers will finish this season with 30 tackles, 19 solo, one sack in two tackles for loss. 

Peppers is currently in the last year of his rookie contract and was essentially auditioning for a new deal. Unfortunately, it will make it difficult for him going forward to restructure a new deal coming back from two major injuries.