Giants rookie Arvell Reese sacks his way into the record book

Giants rookie linebacker Arvell Reese sacked Eagles quarterback Joe Milton III three times in a 19-11 win Sunday in Philadelphia, announcing himself as the NFL’s breakout defensive player.

Reese finished with 12 tackles, three sacks, three tackles for loss, three quarterback hits and a forced fumble, The Athletic reported. All three sacks came on third down, and each one forced a fumble or an ensuing punt.

The numbers put Reese in rare company. He became just the ninth player in the Super Bowl era to record three or more sacks and 12 or more tackles in a single game, and the first linebacker to do it since Tampa Bay’s Devin White in 2020. He is the first Giants rookie with three sacks in a game since B.J. Hill in 2018, and at 21 years and 70 days old, the youngest player ever to reach three sacks in a game, per ESPN’s Field Yates. The win was the Giants’ first at Lincoln Financial Field since 2013, snapping a 13-game skid, the New York Daily News reported.

Reese’s second-quarter sack was the fastest of the NFL season. He reached Milton 2.29 seconds after the snap, the quickest time to sack in the league this year, according to Next Gen Stats. The play came on a blitz off the left edge with no one picking Reese up. Running back Elijah Mitchell shifted inside to help on the rush, leaving the rookie unblocked. “Man, this is free as a layup. Can’t miss it,” Reese said.

The Giants drafted Reese fifth overall in April out of Ohio State, where he won a national championship in 2024 and was a consensus All-American and the Big Ten’s top linebacker in 2025, per his Giants bio. He signed a four-year, $47.8 million contract in May that included a $31.2 million signing bonus. Four teams passed on him before the Giants picked, a fact his teammate Abdul Carter noted Sunday. “Shoutout to the four teams that passed on him in the draft,” Carter said. “Yeah, he’s special.”

Reese grew up in Cleveland and graduated from Glenville High School, where he was coached by Ted Ginn Sr. and helped lead the Tarblooders to a 15-0 record and the school’s first state title in 2022. He was a finalist for the high school Butkus Award, given to the nation’s top linebacker. Ohio State was the obvious next step, and Reese became a starter on the Buckeyes’ 2024 national championship team before declaring for the draft in January.

Through eight games, Reese has 68 tackles, fifth among rookies, and 4.5 sacks, second. He has started every game since the opener. The Giants are 5-2-1 and alone in first place in the NFC East, a division Philadelphia has owned in recent years. Corner Greg Newsome II said the conversation around Reese has already moved past Defensive Rookie of the Year. “Now we’re looking at defensive player of the year,” Newsome said.

Coach John Harbaugh said the Giants did not expect Reese to be available at No. 5. “I won’t say we didn’t think it was possible,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what we hoped for, and he fell to us. Joe and I were, we were giddy.” General manager Joe Schoen and Harbaugh had Reese at the top of their board, and the pick drew praise inside the building from the start. Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson called Reese a “violent scud missile” last month, a description Sunday’s performance validated.

Reese is listed at 6-foot-4 and 243 pounds, a linebacker who rushes the passer in Wilson’s scheme. He ran a 4.46-second 40-yard dash at the combine. His ability to cover, fill run gaps and rush the passer from multiple spots is what separates him from most rookies, defensive tackle D.J. Reader said. “You don’t find a kid that can cover the way he can cover, come down and fill gaps in the run game, rush the passer, doesn’t miss tackles,” Reader said. “Kid’s serious. It’s special to watch.”

Reese credited his coaches and his fit with the Giants for his fast start. “I think I just ended up on the right team,” he said. “I think I ended up in the right place.” Outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, who warned Milton that Reese was coming on the blitz that produced the strip sack, said he saw this coming in training camp. “When I saw him play, I thought this dude has a chance to be rookie of the year, if not one of the best defensive players in the league,” Thibodeaux said.

The Giants host the Washington Commanders on Thursday night with a chance to tighten their grip on the division. The NFL trade deadline arrives Tuesday, and the Giants have been linked with running back and defensive tackle help. But the story of their season so far is a defense built around a 21-year-old who is playing like a veteran, in a city that had not seen a Giants road win over the Eagles in 13 years.

What I think

The Giants spent the No. 5 pick on a linebacker from a program that produces them, and eight games in, the return looks better than anyone in the building dared predict. Reese is not just good for a rookie. He is good by any standard, and the company he joined Sunday says so.

A 21-year-old does not reach a quarterback in 2.29 seconds by accident. Reese ran a 4.46 at the combine, and the Giants built their defense around letting him use that speed off the edge. The scheme fits, the coaching fits, and the player fits. When all three line up in the first eight games of a career, a rookie becomes the best player on a first-place defense.

The Defensive Rookie of the Year talk is premature only in the sense that eight games is a small sample. But Reese has done nothing to slow it down, and the Giants have done nothing to slow him down. They drafted him to rush the passer, and he is rushing the passer. The rest of the league is finding out what four teams missed.