The New York Giants are signing veteran defensive tackle Leki Fotu to a one-year contract, a move first reported by Jordan Schultz.
Fotu is the second defensive tackle the Giants agree to a deal with on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, they added 11-year veteran Shelby Harris.
Fotu, 6-foot-5, 317 pounds, is a 27-year-old originally drafted in the fourth round of the 202 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. Fotu spent four seasons with the Cardinals, and has played for the New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders,
and Houston Texans over the past two seasons.
Fotu has 26 starts in 66 career regular-season games. He is a run defender with just 4,5 career sacks.
In eight games last season with the Raiders and Texans, Fotu played 193 snaps. His career-high in snaps came in 2022, when he played 499 defensive snaps for Arizona.
Neither Fotu nor Harris are true nose tackles. The Giants selected nose tackle Bobby Jamison-Travis in the sixth round of the draft, but expecting Jamison-Travis to fill Dexter Lawrence’s shoes would be an unfair ask.
The Giants have been in pursuit of veteran free agent nose tackle D.J. Reader, but New York reportedly has competition for the 31-year-old 10-year veteran.
