The New York Giants lack serious depth at the cornerback positions, and it will be even tougher to add more as former All-Pro corner Stephon Gilmore – a potential target for New York – signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Minnesota Vikings early Sunday morning, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Giants missed out on bringing in Stephon Gilmore
The Athletic’s Dan Duggan said it wasn’t likely that New York would be a serious candidate for Gilmore, as there is better chance that they will claim a cornerback instead to round out their depth at the position. Regardless, they missed an opportunity to add a veteran corner with a strong resume alongside a group of mostly young and inexperienced players.
As of now, the Giants have Deonte Banks and Cor’Dale Flott projected to start on the outside, though Flott has been dealing with a quad injury and now could be behind in getting the necessary reps to be ready for the start of the regular season. In the nickel back spot, rookie Dru Phillips and fourth-year corner Nick McCloud are the leading candidates for the starting job.
While those players can be positive contributors on the defense, none of them have logged more than 15 starts at the pro level. The lack of experience could hurt the Giants’ secondary drastically when matched up against the top receivers in the game.
The Giants have very little depth at cornerback if someone were to go down
Another issue with their depth is that they have very little insurance in the event one of the starters were to get injured. Tre Hawkins III and Darnay Holmes are currently the backups to the projected starters, but both guys have struggled to adapt to NFL receivers over the course of their career. Therefore, if Flott is still unable to return from his quad injury, or if any other injuries come about before Week 1, the Giants will have trouble replacing the production they provide.
The Giants could look at the free agent market for additional depth, as guys like Xavien Howard and Patrick Peterson are still available, but it is more likely that a contender will pick up those guys if they were to sign, leaving New York with very little options.
How the team addresses the depth issue in the secondary remains to be seen, but it seems like it will be a problem that the Giants will have to navigate through in the 2024 season.