The latest position for Kristjan Sokoli

Say what you want about Kristjan Sokoli being unable to land on a 53-man roster, the fact that he’s still getting opportunities speaks volumes to his unique athleticism. He’s really not “supposed” to be kicking around the league for this long given his background — and no, I’m not talking about Albania. Reading about Sokoli over at Big Blue View today, it brought back memories of how gifted he is athletically, so much so that he’s going through his fourth transition from one side of the ball to the other since getting drafted in 2015.

Sokoli is now competing at 5-tech for the New York Giants.

As you may remember, the Seattle Seahawks used a sixth round pick on Sokoli three years ago, which was pretty high for a guy coming out of Buffalo as a defensive tackle and who Pete Carroll immediately transitioned to center. He was the 10th-ever player drafted out of Buffalo and at the moment that he was picked, Zach Whitman freaked out on my live podcast because Sokoli was the best athlete-for-his-position that Whitman had ever measured. The first “four sigma athlete.” He was basically the “J.J. Watt for centers,” which sounds nice but also fails to take into account that Sokoli had never played center before.

Carroll kept him around all season long, waiting for him to develop, but he never did and Sokoli was waived during the 2016 preseason.

The Indianapolis Colts picked up Sokoli and transitioned him back to defensive line, now at defensive end. He never played for the Colts, though he did stick around to the following June. The New Orleans Saints picked up Sokoli in July of 2017 and moved him back to offensive line, now at guard. Sokoli was waived just prior to the season and had his longest break from being on an NFL roster, not being signed by the Giants until the final week of the year.

That’s when they moved him back to defensive end, just as New York converted to a base 3-4 defense. As BBV points out, he’s in competition with Dalvin Tomlinson, B.J. Hill, Josh Mauro, Kerry Wynn, R.J. McIntosh, and Robert Thomas. Really though, Sokoli is still in competition with himself and with the coaches who can’t decide what he is besides just an athlete. Sokoli is one of the most unique players to ever be a part of the league, but we still don’t have any evidence that he’s a player at all, or just an anomaly of a human being.

This may be his last opportunity for Sokoli to prove himself ... but we’ve said “last opportunity” for Sokoli before and he’s still here.