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By: Marco Imperati | Featured Columnist

At Tom Coughlin’s end of season press conference, points of interest regarding injuries, coaches, free agents and another losing record were discussed. One area of emphasis was Coughlin mentioning the needed improvement on the team stopping the run.

The Giants finished the season 30th overall in rush defense. A statistic that pretty much sealed the faith for former Defensive Coordinator, Perry Fewell.

Between free agency and the draft, the Giants will look to improve. Starting at one defensive tackle is the young and promising Johnathan Hankins. After Hankins, the Giants have Cullen Jenkins, last year’s 3rd rd pick Jay Bromley and Markus Kuhn.

Today, the team wrapped up a visit from free agent DT Kenrick Ellis by signing the massive former Jet to a one year deal. Ellis, 27 was the 3rd highest graded DT/NT run defender in 2013 by Pro Football Focus in limited snaps. He was injured in training camp last year with the Jets and ultimately beaten out for his job.

My take on the Defensive Tackle situation is that the team will continue to grow with Hankins and supplement at the position through the draft as they did last year with Bromley, and years prior with Barry Cofield, Linval Joseph and Hankins.

With Jenkins taking a paycut to remain on the roster, the rest of the DT situation is pretty uncertain. Bromley is still young and unproven.

With the #9 overall pick, I would not be shocked if stud Washington Defensive Tackle Danny Shelton gets his name called for Big Blue. Picking that high, Jerry Reese likes to take a sure bet, fill a need, and take the best player available.

Shelton fits the criteria and would instantly make the DT position a strength on the new Spags defense.