Giants breakout star Paul Perkins has al

ymakerpi8d

is the best-kept secret on the roster, and 2017 has all the makings of a breakout season for the young running back. The Giants turned to Perkins on offense with a significant distribution of snaps once they came out of their Week 8 bye for their Week 9 win over the in 2016. In their first seven games before the bye week, when Perkins was mostly a special teams contributor, the Giants topped 100 yards rushing as a team in just two of seven games. In their final nine games, with Perkins rotating in with , the Giants topped 100 yards rushing as a team in six games. In Week 17, Perkins drew the first start of his career against the , and he proceeded to rush for 102 yards rushing on just 21 carries. He became the only Giants running back to top 100 yards in a single game in 2016. (The Giants are back Christian Wood Jersey  at training camp! Don't MISS anything as they prepare to try and return to the playoffs -- )  After playing just 289 of 1,062 (27 percent) offensive snaps as a rookie, Perkins will inherit a much larger role in 2017. We know this because head coach Ben McAdoo named him the starter after the conclusion of the 2017 NFL Draft. And yes, we're talking about the same head coach who has revealed no other hints about his personnel decisions and even refused to tell reporters whether or not he would be calling plays in his first season as head coach leading up to the team's first preseason game in 2016.Perkins' new role has turned out to be more than just coachspeak. During the Giants' OTAs and minicamp this spring, Perkins took the majority of first-team reps with . SportsLine  Trevor Ariza Jersey projects Perkins to see the lion's share of the carries for the Giants, and he may be an even better receiver than you might think:  RuAttRuYdRuAvgRuTDRecptReYdReAvgReTDFP*Paul Perkins2138373.942931310.81140Shane Vereen642754.32473717.9281Although some expect Perkins to lose all of the pa sing-down work to Shane Vereen, that might not be the case. Perkins has the rare ability to impact the game from the running back position on all three levels -- as a rusher, receiver, and in pa s protection. Giants running backs coach Craig Johnson is excited to see what's in store for Perkins in 2017. "What he's shown is that in our  Saban Lee Jersey system, you need three phases," Johnson said of Perkins during the team's mandatory minicamp. "You have to be able to run the ball. He was an effective runner last year. You have to be able to catch the ball. He did a good job in that and you have to be able to block people because they're going to try you out. I thought that he probably improved the most in that situation. Guys were testing him out to get to the quarterback and he held up very good in protection. He is continuing to do that. If you could do that, it allows you to be a po sible back on all three downs."   What also allows Perkins to be a "po sible back on all three downs" is his ability to force mi sed tackles. In the NFL, running backs don't always have the luxury of running behind a well-blocked play. On the Giants, this was more true than for most teams. Perkins has the rare ability to make quick cuts and create yardage that is not so obviously available. Pro Football Focus created a metric called elusive rating in hopes of determining a rusher's value independent of his blocking. This metric combines a running back's total forced mi sed tackles with his yards after contact per attempt. In 2015, Perkins led the entire draft cla s, even topping , in elusive rating. "He really can cut sharp," Johnson said of Perkins' ability to make defenders mi s. "He puts his foot in the ground and bursts through the hole. I like that. It helps both in the run and in the pa s protection. That  Josh Jackson Jersey really helps his versatility."   Perkins was a rock for Manning in pa s protection during his rookie season. He graded out strongly according to PFF's pa s blocking efficiency rating, and it's not often that a rookie shines as a blocker. In Year 2, Perkins should be even more efficient in pa s protection now that he's had his first full offseason with the team (UCLA academic rules kept him out for a portion of the last offseason). Perkins consistently dominated blitzing defenders in pa s protection, and plays like the one below became routine for him once he saw an uptick in playing time:   Paul Perkins was bullying LBs in pa s Wayne Ellington Jersey  protection:  Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21)  Perkins' ascension from a player who saw the field on just 27 percent of his offense's snaps to one who could see up to 70-75 percent of snaps will be greeted by an improved supporting cast. struggled as a blocker while playing out of position as the boundary wide receiver in 2016. replaces him and brings along a reputation as a strong blocker on the outside. The Giants have also upgraded the blocking at tight end, signing and making it known that they believed him to be one of the best blockers at his position on the free agent market.   Perkins continues to fly under the radar, but the second-year running back is primed to become a key cog in the Giants' much-improved offense.