The Giants are currently 6-2 and a lot of their success during the first half of the season can be attributed to the defense. One of the main contributors has been safety Julian Love, who is currently well beyond pace to have the best season of his NFL career.
Through just eight games, Love has recorded 37 solo tackles, 21 assist tackles, one sack, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, one interception, and two passes defended. His career-high for total tackles came last season when he had 66 over 17 games, and he's already matched or passed his personal best in nearly every other statistical category.
The 24-year-old out of Notre Dame picked the right time to have a dominant season, as he's set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Love was asked by reporters after practice Tuesday if he had any contract extension discussions over the bye week and how he feels about potentially staying in New York.
"I'll say this, I love playing here," Love said. "I really enjoy the people here. It's been a blast the past few years. And I respect the hell out of [Joe] Schoen and everybody upstairs. So yeah, if something could get done, I'd love to get it done. But, the bye week was kind of that time to figure things out and be involved in it, and right now I'm letting them handle it and my agent handle it. Kind of focusing on now this bigger role for me and do my thing. It is what it is right now."
Love was then asked if he would like to finish his career with the Giants and noted that he and his family have enjoyed their time in the New York/New Jersey area, but understands it's still a business at the end of the day.
"Yeah the term 'once a Giant, always a Giant' is something that has been appealing," Love said. "I've been around some greats, Zak DeOssie, Eli Manning, just to name a couple. And so yeah, it is appealing, I love it here. My family, my wife, we enjoy it here. So yeah, it's something that's appealing to me, but at the same time you have to do what's best for you, so that's kind of the line I have to walk."
Following an unexpected injury to fellow safety Xavier McKinney, Love's role will expand over the next few weeks. The safety said that he and McKinney had a strong relationship communicating during games, and now others will have to step up an be more vocal on the field.
"Yeah, so I have the mic in practice, I've had it since OTA's," Love said. "I feel comfortable relaying the plays and communicating. We had a good system, me and Xavier, he's communicating the plays and I'm communicating everything else for the defense. Now it's on the other guys to raise their level of communication and get that line flowing. Because it's smooth for me and Xavier, we're on a very personal level, the way we can communicate openly. It's going to take some other guys to step up, but I feel comfortable in my role."