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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J — NFL players don’t usually admit to reading the tea leaves and trying to figure out whether or not they fit on a roster as cutdowns to 53 players approach. New York Giants defensive tackle C.J. Okoye, though, is an unusual NFL player. NY Giants’ C.J. Okoye says landing in New York ‘a really good outcome’ Nigerian-born defensive tackle is still learning the game. During an exclusive interview with Big Blue View on Wednesday, Okoye admitted he had been looking at the Baltimore Ravens depth chart this summer and trying to figure out if the Ravens — a team he played 13 games for last season — had a spot for him. “My [defensive line] room back in Baltimore was a deep room, but I had a great camp coming out,” Okoye said. “I was like, if they’re gonna cut me, I know I’m gonna have to go somewhere else.” Being traded to the Giants right before roster cuts was a best-case scenario for the Nigerian-born 6-foot-6, 265-pound 24-year-old. “That morning, it was like a shock to me, but it wasn’t a shock,” Okoye said. “I was kind of happy, like it was a trade, you know what I mean? So, it was, it was a good, it was a good outcome. “It was a really good outcome.” Giants head coach John Harbaugh and defensive line coach Dennis Johnson were familiar with Okoye from last season in Baltimore. In need of defensive line depth, they turned to the Ravens to find it. After the trade, Harbaugh said this about Okoye: He’s a guy that we got to know recently last year, came in, was with the Chargers actually with my brother [Jim] for a couple years in the international program,” Harbaugh said. “So a guy who had been a developmental-type guy, learning the game and tremendous physical skills, hard worker, has really dedicated himself over the last few years to learning the game really because he didn’t play it growing up and made great strides, made great strides with Dennis Johnson, our defensive line coach last year. That’s where he kind of broke through and had a really good season. “We see him as an inside defender, a defensive tackle, A gap, B gap player, run stopper, pocket pusher in terms of the past game and just a really big physical player,” Harbaugh said. “So kind of a type of guy we’ve been looking for and we’re really excited to get him up here.” Okoye is thrilled to be back under Johnson’s tutelage. “Coach Dennis, he’s my guy; he’s the one that, like, he’s one of the people that brought, like, that brought CJ out, you know what I mean?,” Okoye said. “So, yeah, so, I was really happy that I’m coming to a system I knew already.” No matter where it is on the defensive line that the Giants ask him to play, Okoye just wants to play. “Right now, I don’t know [how he will be used] and I don’t care,” Okoye said. “Just line me up, mano a mano. Just line me up. So far as I know the play, if you want me to play anything, anything the team wants, I’m here.” Okoye’s journey Okoye’s journey to the NFL began when he attended an International Pathway Program camp in Africa run by former Giants great Osi Umenyiora. Until then, Okoye had been a basketball player. “I learned about football through a movie,” Okoye said. The movie? ‘The Game Plan’ starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. “That’s when I learned about football,” Okoye said. “I was playing basketball before then, the whole thing, then the camp came, and I didn’t even know, I thought it was like a, that [it] was one of those charity events or something like that, but I went through, made the camp, saw it was real, the rest is history, but I had never played football. My first snap of football was in the league.” Okoye was impressive enough that he ended up being allocated to the Los Angeles Chargers for the 2023 season. He spent two seasons learning the game on the Chargers’ practice squad. Okoye recorded a sack in his first-ever NFL game, a 2023 preseason contest against the Los Angeles Rams. It is a story he has recounted many times, but Okoye did not know what he had done. “I thought it was a tackle for loss. I didn’t even know it was a sack because I didn’t know, like I was playing the game,” Okoye said. “I didn’t even know what I was doing.” If you have ever watched little kids play basketball and get thoroughly confused when the teams switch ends of the court after halftime, you will empathize with the other “welcome to the NFL” story Okoye told about that game. “After the first quarter, they were switching,” Okoye said. “I’m like, why are you guys switching? I didn’t even know why they were switching. I’m like, okay, we’re switching now. They said, yeah, we switch every quarter. I’m like, okay.” Okoye learned something else important that day. He learned he could play football at the highest level despite his inexperience. “I knew I can play this game because as someone that had never played, if I can still whoop ass like that, imagine when I have like five, seven years of this,” Okoye said. Okoye switched quickly from offensive to defensive line after joining the Chargers. “I like it better,” Okoye said. “I’d rather be the aggressor than sit and absorb. “I’d rather just go and knock somebody back than try to absorb somebody knocking me back, you know what I mean?” ‘I’m never going to be satisfied’ Okoye played 214 defensive snaps and 41 special teams snaps for the Ravens last year, the first regular-season action of his career. Entering his fourth season, where does Okoye think he is in terms of his development and understanding? “I’ll say I’m still behind,” Okoye said. “I look at myself like that because I’m playing catch-up. I’m never going to be satisfied, you know what I’m saying? Because I always feel like the person I’m going against went to college, and he’s more prepared than me. “So it makes me want to work more. It makes me want to go out there and prove myself, you know what I’m saying? So just because of him going to college, I feel like he, he thinks he got the edge over me.” Okoye praised veteran defensive tackles D.J. Reader and Shelby Harris for sharing their knowledge. He said Reader and Harris are “no doubt” more forthcoming with information than his veteran Ravens teammates were. “They’re both amazing guys,” Okoye said. “I feel like I’m going to learn here more. I’m going to add to my play here more than Baltimore because they’re ready to like give you everything, like as much as you can, as much as you can like learn, they are willing to teach.” The Giants, of course, are hoping that Okoye’s ascension continues and that he becomes a true force on their defensive line.