Rookie David Wilson Struggling To Learn Giants Playbook

Newark-Star Ledger's Mike Galaforo wrote a piece on the New York Giants running back situation, mainly highlighting D.J. Ware's impressive offseason and training camp. But in it, he dropped this little nugget.

And with the Giants’ coaches concerned about rookie David Wilson’s grasp of the playbook at this point, Ware might easily surpass last year’s 46 carries, which was a career-high for the sixth-year veteran.

The Giants used their first round pick, 32nd overall, to draft Wilson and fill the hole vacated by Brandon Jacobs. Most rookies struggle to adjust to the NFL standard of pass protection expected by the modern day running back. But for the report to say he's struggling to grasp the playbook, suggests the troubles lie deeper than just pass protection.

Wilson came from a simple, but highly effective zone running scheme that Virginia Tech ran in college. Quite often, the zone blocking teams only have 10 to 12 different running plays in their playbook. But the Giants prefer a power running scheme, which can be a lot more complicated, making it harder to pick up. But even so it's rare for a rookie running back, especially one drafted as high as Wilson, to struggle to pick up a learn the playbook. This certainly isn't the ideal start to his NFL career that Wilson would have hoped for.