Darius Muasau is looking to raise the bar in Year 2
Few expected much when the New York Giants selected linebacker Darius Muasau out of UCLA with the 183rd pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.
After all, he’s undersized and not terribly athletic. As a late round pick, the realistic expectations were for a core special teams player. And Muasau did indeed become a significant contributor on special teams, with 248 snaps played over the course of the season. But what was unexpected was him starting his rookie year by picking off Sam Darnold in Week 1, then stepping in to pick up the slack when starting linebacker Bobby Okereke went down with a back injury later in the year.
Muasau proved to be more than just a special teams player. He’s was a solid linebacker as a rookie, which he could owe in part to an uncommon route to the NFL. Muasau played for UCLA but he hails from Hawaii, where he started playing football at the age of six.
“It’s very physical,” he said, describing football growing up in Hawaii. “I would say that’s the one word to describe football in Hawaii. All we do is – a lot of us just run the rock so everyone just runs the ball. So, I went to Mililani High School and we were very pass oriented. My teammate was Dillon Gabriel, the quarterback for the Browns right now. I also played running back at the time so that was very unique in my journey, playing running back all the way up until like senior year. That’s when I made the transfer to linebacker. It was very hard mouth, just run-the-rock physical, contact every play.”
Though he has a tough, physical background, Muasau acknowledges that he doesn’t have the raw athleticism of his peers. He weighs in at 6-foot, 230 pounds, with 31 1⁄2 inch arms and a 4.7-second 40-yard dash. Despite lacking anything like prototypical measurables, Muasau filled in admirably in his seven starts as a rookie. To that end, he credits his instincts.
“I’m not the biggest, I’m not the fastest, I’m not the strongest, but when I get out there, I feel like that’s what makes me unique is just my instincts,” he said. “That’s why I’m able to play at this level and I feel like that’s what made me unique, that’s why I got to the NFL, I feel, is just my instincts.”
“It’s just from hours and hours of studying film, playing football since I was like six years old,” he added.
He also understands that his game has to be played between the ears to get the absolute most of the traits he does have, as well as studying other linebackers for every possible edge.
“I think it’s also just me acknowledging that I’m not the biggest, I’m not the fastest but just learning how to use my strengths and applying it out there on the field,” he said. “So yeah, just a lot of studying film, learning certain techniques that are used not only from my teammates but other guys, other linebackers in the league, so just being able to study that and taking the good things from their games, taking the bad things, learning from that, learning from their mistakes and just applying it to my game.”
Overall, Muasau believes that he’s competing for a starting job, but also understands that the defense is getting pretty crowded.
“I think that’s the way you got to attack it every day, is every day I’m competing for a starting job,” he said. “Although I might not be starting, I might be special teams – any way that I can contribute to the team. That’s really what I’m all about.”
“Year two, I just feel building off of what we had last year, as a team and defensively, this is year two going into Coach Shane’s [Bowen] defense and I feel like we added a lot of pieces this offseason and I feel like the puzzle is complete right now,” he said. “It’s just a matter of us putting it together, going out there and executing on Sundays.”
It’ll be up to Shane Bowen to figure out how to put all the pieces together, but he certainly has a full box of Legos with which to build his defense.
“I mean, now we got – I’d say we got the best D-line in the NFL right now,” Muasau said, “so just letting those guys go out and go out on third down, try to manage first and second down, get our opponent to third-and-long and let our front go out there and eat. Now we got three premier edge rushers going out there and we got Dexter [Lawrence], we got Roy [Robertson-Harris], Darius Alexander, just a bunch of guys that can go out there and just rush the passer so really looking forward to that. I honestly look forward to watching that every day. I go out there and I’m watching one-on-ones and I’m just amazed at some things that they do every time. It’s crazy, watching Abdul go out there and pull out some crazy spin move or something that you never expected, but yeah man, it’s awesome.”
Muasau was a sixth round pick a year ago, and it’s a mark of just how good that draft class was that they all contributed. From Malik Nabers at sixth overall to Muasau at 183rd overall, all of the Giants’ 2024 rookies flashed when they were on the field.
“I think last year, we really set the standard as far as what we can go out and contribute,” he said. “We have a bunch of dawgs in our draft class. We got Malik, we got Tyrone [Tracy Jr.], we got (safety Tyler Nubin) Nub, we got (cornerback) Dru Phillips. I think the camaraderie that we bring is unmatched. We always get together – our rookie class from last year. Every time we had away games, home games, we would always get together, go out to dinners, just chop it up on how the team is doing.”
The Giants hope this year’s draft class can exceed the standard set by their 2024 class. These young players are the future of the franchise, a fact that even the veteran leaders in the locker room acknowledge.
“A lot of the vets, you got (defensive lineman Dexter) Dex (Lawrence), you got (outside linebacker Brian) Burns, they’re always coming up to the rookies from last year,” Muasau said. “They’re like, ‘Aye, you guys are the future of this program. You guys are really the future of this whole organization. You got to put the team on your back at times because everything is coming down to what you guys put on tape, how you guys carry yourself around the building. The staff is always looking at you guys. Whenever your number is called, you got to be able to step up.’ So, I feel like that’s what a lot of the guys drafted last year in our draft class really did and they put out a good showing and we’re really just trying to build off of that coming into this year.”
“We got a good rookie class this year,” he added, “with Abdul, we got Darius Alexander, we got guys on defense – on both sides of the ball, even Jaxson Dart, so just really looking to build off of that and set a higher bar for our standard.”