The New York Giants Have to Find Secondary Help; And Fast
Image Credit: Giants.com
On August 21, a joint practice between the New York Giants and the New York Jets was held in preparation for their upcoming preseason game. In what many thought would be a hard-fought battle between the two teams, eventually turned into the Jets offense doing whatever they wanted against the Giants defense. The biggest takeaway from this one-sided practice, was how bad the Giants secondary looked.
Everyone, including other NFL teams, knows how good the Giants pass rush is. It’s basically the identity of their team at the moment. However, the back half of their defense is lackluster; to say the very least. That was shown against the Jets as quarterback Aaron Rodgers went 15 of 21 passing, with four touchdowns against the Giants. That included a bunch of really nice plays to star wide receiver Garrett Wilson. All in all, it was a terrible showing on this secondary’s part; a unit that was supposed to show a little promise this season.
To give the Giants the benefit of the doubt, this secondary is extremely young. The main two veterans at the moment are strong safety Jason Pinnock and cornerback Nick McCloud (Pinnock is 25 and McCloud is 26). Every other starter is even younger than they are, which makes it a little harder to judge how they good they are as a group; they’re inexperienced.
However, inexperience doesn’t go hand in hand with talent, so there are certain expectations that have to be put on this secondary. After all, the Giants invested a lot of draft picks into building their defensive back room. Plays have to be made by some of these guys, which doesn’t seem to be happening. Sophomore cornerback, Deonte Banks, looks primed for a breakout year in 2024, but new reports have surfaced that he has been “getting picked on” by opposing quarterbacks.
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That’s not a good look for Banks, especially for a guy who is supposed to be capable of covering number one wide receivers on a consistent basis. It’s not just Rodgers and his receivers who were able to connect with each other while Banks was in coverage during training camp, but Daniel Jones and Malik Nabers also did as well.
With new questions surfacing around whether or not Banks is the right guy at corner, this leads to the main point:
The New York Giants have to find another defensive back.
Giants fans’ have been advocating for another cornerback ever since the end of the 2023 regular season. Stephon Gilmore was a name that was being thrown around quite often, but he was recently signed by the Minnesota Vikings. Safety Justin Simmons was also a guy that people thought would’ve helped this secondary; however, he is now on the Atlanta Falcons. This doesn’t put the Giants in the best position when it comes to finding a good, and reliable, defensive back. Better yet, another cornerback, since it seems like the Giants front office is content with how their safety room looks.
New York was able to restructure offensive tackle Andrew Thomas’ $117.5 million contract this past week, freeing up a lot of cap space in the process. The team now has $13.2 million to work with when it comes to adding other players.
Multiple Giants beat reporters have said that the most likely scenario when it comes to adding another cornerback, is that General Manager Joe Schoen will wind up getting one, or a few, off waivers when more cuts are made around the league. However, Xavien Howard is still a free agent. He’s coming off a rough season with the Miami Dolphins, which is a huge part of the reason why the team didn’t sign him back, but he’s still an above average corner. Howard has 17 interceptions over his last four seasons, and has proved that he can shut down some of the league’s premier wide receivers (as he is a two-time All Pro and four-time Pro Bowler).
Image Credit: Yahoo Sports
Another option would be to re-sign former Giants cornerback, Adoree’ Jackson. Once again, this is another guy coming off a down year, which is why New York didn’t want to give him a second contract after the end of last season. But like most veteran cornerbacks in this league, Jackson has proved that he can be more than effective in certain situations.
While there are a few free agent names still “up for grabs”, the team could still make a trade for a cornerback. That’s not out of the equation whatsoever. Jaycee Horn of the Carolina Panthers is a potential trade target for Joe Schoen before the start of the regular season, as rumored by a few NFL insiders. It is highly unlikely seeing as Carolina recently picked up Horn’s fifth-year option, but it’s always something to look out for.
This isn’t a matter of if the Giants should try to add to their secondary, because the simple answer is they need to; and fast. Even one veteran cornerback could provide stability to a young and inexperienced group, and that’s what this team needs. It’s still unclear as to whether or not Schoen is even looking to add another cornerback to this team, but it has to be done. Only one thing is clear with this current Giants secondary; it cannot remain the way that it is now heading into Week 1.