Giants’ Julian Love finally set to start after three years of ‘resiliency’

No matter how many times he peeks at a depth chart or gets waved onto the field by his coaches, Julian Love still can’t believe his eyes. 

After building a reputation over his first three seasons with the Giants as a super sub with the versatility to play any position in the secondary and the unselfishness to accept all-or-nothing roles from one week to the next, Love is penciled in as a starting safety. That comes with the luxury of lining up in the same spot next to rising star Xavier McKinney on every snap. 

“I don’t know if it’s what these past few years have done to my mindset about how I approach things, but I still feel like — despite what it seems right now — I have that chip on my shoulder,” Love told The Post. “I feel like my back is always against the wall. That’s just been instilled in me. I’ve really had to fight for what I’ve gotten.” 

If the Giants “have done everything possible to screw up” quarterback Daniel Jones, as owner John Mara said in January, then they have done everything possible to replace Love ever since he was drafted as an All-American cornerback out of Notre Dame and quickly informed his future was at safety. 

Love, 24, is the only holdover of the three defensive backs the Giants drafted in 2019. He welcomed competition created by seven other defensive backs drafted from 2020-22. He learned from big-ticket acquisitions James Bradberry, Logan Ryan and Jabrill Peppers — all of whom are gone. 

Now, against all odds, it seems the third coaching staff of Love’s career is willing to give him a shot to start in the final year of his contract. 

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“You never know in this league, so I’m trying to keep it where I earn what I get,” Love said. “You’ve seen that nothing was handed to me these past few years. I’m not going to lie and say that it hasn’t been tough, but I pride myself on being resilient, having a good heart and staying positive as much as I can.” 

Ryan’s surprise release in March was bittersweet for Love. 

“I thanked Logan because everything he taught me was invaluable,” Love said. “He reciprocated the feelings and told me, ‘There is a door open.’ I’m seizing as much opportunity as I can.” 

The Giants need Love to replicate Ryan’s impact, because whichever young cornerback emerges to replace the released Bradberry has bigger shoes to fill. 

Love has started at strong safety, free safety, outside cornerback and slot cornerback while maintaining a big role on special teams. In 48 career games, he has played 20 or fewer defensive snaps 18 times and 60 or more 14 times. 

“I was always like, ‘When I’m at this position, I have to do this. When I’m at that position, I have to do this,’ ” Love said. “It’s hard to lose that. Sometimes the coaches are like, ‘Slow down a little bit and just worry about this right now.’ ” 

Love intercepted Jones during team drills on Thursday, accepted celebratory helmet slaps and jogged downfield cradling the ball as if envisioning finishing off a pick-six. Playing safety under aggressive play-caller Wink Martindale could mean blitzing, playing man-to-man slot coverage and patrolling center field in a span of three consecutive plays. 

“This defense is going to reflect who Wink is as a person,” Love said. “He really doesn’t care what people think of him. He’s going to do it his way, but not in an in-your-face, my-way-or-the-highway way. He lets guys be creative and have the keys to the defense. But our mindset and mentality will be that we’re going to go out on our terms and make these dudes feel it. So far, it’s been really fun.” 

Take it from the longest-tenured member of the Giants’ secondary. Yes, hard as it is to believe, that’s Love. 

“I keep thinking about what my role and responsibility is,” Love said. “I’m a big proponent that everything happens for a reason. That resiliency I’ve had to have the past few years is only going to make me a better player this year. I’m trying to raise my game a lot this year by still letting the game to me, most importantly. But you know where I’m coming from: I have to keep that chip on my shoulder.”