LAS VEGAS — They have spoken.

And Bobby Okereke is pumped up after hearing the plan for the Giants’ defense in 2024. 

“Had a great conversation with him,” Okereke said Friday. “I’m very excited.” 

That is good news for the Giants, that one of their team leaders and indispensable players is feeling positive initial vibes about Shane Bowen, the newly hired 37-year-old defensive coordinator.

Okereke, after a career-best season in his first year with the Giants, was disappointed when angry words between head coach Brian Daboll and Wink Martindale led to the Giants needing someone new to run their defense.

That was a tough one for Okereke, but ever the consummate professional, he sought out Bowen and soon enough, the early stage of a relationship was formed. 

“I’m excited, really, how fast we gelled based on the conversation we had,” Okereke said while making the rounds on Super Bowl Radio Row. “We sat there and talked ball for about 10 minutes, talking to him about my experiences, playing with Matt Eberflus in the Cover 2 system, playing with Gus Bradley in the Cover 3 system and obviously playing with Wink in the blitz-man system.

“Excited to immerse myself in what they do, what we do now. Just excited to start playing football again.” 

Okereke, after four years with the Colts, turned into a free agent revelation for the Giants.

As the man in the middle and the brains of Martindale’s defense, Okereke had his best season, with career highs in passes defensed (10), forced fumbles (four), sacks (2.5), tackles for loss (11), quarterback hits (six) and snaps (1,128 — 100 percent of the workload on defense).

He finished with a team-high 149 tackles, the second-highest total of his career. 

And now Okereke has to wind it up again and learn a new defense.

He believes Bowen’s system — he ran the Titans’ defense the past three years — will look a whole lot different than Martindale’s ultra-aggressive blitzing style. 

“We’re gonna simplify it, everybody’s gonna know exactly what we’re gonna do, there’s not gonna be too many wrinkles, we’re gonna play very fundamentally sound football,” Okereke said. “We’ll probably run a good bit of 3-4, a good bit of 4-3, good bit of quarters, a good bit of Cover 2, Cover 5 so we’re all excited.”

Will this eventually be a good thing for the defense? 

“I think it will be a very good thing,” Okereke said. “That was my experience my first couple of games adjusting to the Wink system. I got to bring a lot of the tools I learned in previous systems and incorporated it into Wink’s system. I think everybody’s gonna go through that same adjustment and it’s gonna be much better form.

“A lot of the tools, a lot of the fundamental teachings we had from Wink, that’s ingrained in us, that’s part of our tool belt and now we can go incorporate it in a different defense with a different play style. It’s only gonna help.” 

Martindale, 60, did not get a defensive coordinator job in the NFL and on Friday was hired by Michigan to run the defense for new head coach Sherrone Moore, who replaced Jim Harbaugh (now with the Chargers).

Okereke said he was “maybe a little surprised” to see how the Daboll-Martindale relationship deteriorated. 

“Obviously knew there was some tension there,” Okereke said. “You got two alpha coaches, everyone’s not always going to get along.

“Definitely wouldn’t have forecast it that Wink wouldn’t be our coach at the end of the year but very happy for him to get the Michigan job and talking to Shane, I’m very excited about it so I think it all works out.” 

Okereke is heartened that his position coach, John Egorugwu, was retained.

He credited Martindale for making him a better player. 

“Me and Wink are gonna have a lifelong relationship,” Okereke said.