Steve Spagnuolo knew when he took over the New York Giants defense in 2007 he was inheriting a defensive line that would put the fear of God in their opponent’s eyes. That’s why when it came to pass rush situations, he got creative.

Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora were all terrific pass rushers, but they were also technically defensive ends. That didn’t stop Spagnuolo from bringing all three on the field at once in an effort to exploit matchups and confuse offensive lines. The three are given most of the credit for stopping Tom Brady and one of the greatest offenses the NFL has ever seen.

This carried over when Spagnuolo took the St. Louis Rams head coaching job and Perry Fewell stepped in. In 2011, the group of Tuck, Umenyiora, Mathias Kiwanuka and Jason Pierre-Paul were crucial to frustrating Brady once again in the Super Bowl XLVI victory. Along the way they dubbed themselves the “NASCAR” package, aka speed package.

Spagnuolo is back as the Giants defensive coordinator and hinted he planned to bring a version of that package back in 2016. We finally got a glimpse of what that might look like, and boy does it look good on paper.

First time seeing #Giants pass rush combo in team drills:

LDE Devon Kennard

LDT Jason Pierre-Paul

RDT Owa Odighizuwa

RDE Olivier Vernon — Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) August 9, 2016

Starting with the obvious: Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon were always going to be on the field in passing situations. It’s why they make the big bucks. Also, when Spagunolo speculated on the NASCAR package, it was assumed 2015 second-round pick Owa Odighizuwa would be involved. He never quite took off in his rookie year, but that was mostly due to injury. The Giants have been high on him and expect big things.

The one interesting move that makes a ton of sense is sliding Pierre-Paul inside and bringing Kennard down from his normal linebacker position. This puts JPP in much easier matchups to win, and he will win them, giving the Giants a deadly weapon they haven’t had in a while: an inside pass rush. If you’re asking yourself why they didn’t just use this in the past, the answer is simple: they never had Olivier Vernon attacking the blind side.

I assumed the NASCAR package would be closer to Spanuolo’s original version, with three ends and one tackle. Johnathan Hankins has turned into a stud inside and we should expect to see him used on third downs as well, but it’s fascinating to see the Giants experimenting with their versatility and planning to throw different looks at opposing QBs. There hasn’t been this much depth in the front seven in a long time, and Spags knows it.