The New York Giants spent a third-round pick this offseason on nickel cornerback Andru Phillips. So far this summer, Phillips has looked like an instant-impact player who should be a starter in the team’s defense as a rookie.
The Giants’ admiration of Phillips was shown in the finale of HBO’s Offseason Edition of Hard Knocks. Their behind-the-scenes discussions revealed that the defensive staff has high expectations for Phillips to play an excessive amount of snaps this season.
The Giants expect Andru Phillips to be a “three-down” player
The finale episode of Hard Knocks exhibited the Giants’ process during the 2024 NFL Draft as they contemplated trades, bounced around opinions on different prospects, and ultimately made their selections. The episode also revealed how hard Big Blue tried to add talent at the cornerback position in the second round of the draft, but ultimately settled on Minnesota safety Tyler Nubin after their preferred corner prospects came off the board.
Once Round 3 began, Phillips became one of the top targets:
“He would be the last corner that we would be fired up about getting, before we get into the developmental guys,” general manager Joe Schoen told owner John Mara on the Hard Knocks episode (h/t NFL.com).
While discussing his potential role with the defensive staff, Schoen got the response he was looking for out of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen and defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson:
“Phillips is a three-down nickel for you guys?” Schoen asked Bowen and defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson.
“Yes. Mmhmm,” Henderson replied (h/t Dan Benton of Giants Wire).
The Giants’ confidence in Phillips to play three downs per drive speaks volumes. Most nickel cornerbacks are viewed as rotational players as a typical base defense features only four defensive backs — two cornerbacks and two safeties. The Giants could be planning to implement a base nickel defense, featuring five defensive backs with a slot cornerback in the starting lineup. That slot cornerback would presumably be Phillips, who could wind up playing in excess of 800 snaps this season as a starter.
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Phillips has stood out at training camp
Phillips has spent the summer as the Giants’ first-team nickel cornerback during their training camp practices so far. He has stood out in this role as well, consistently making plays both in pass and run defense.
The Giants’ selection of Phillips was highly praised shortly after the draft. Pro Football Focus named this choice the best selection of the third round:
“The Giants drafted Deonte Banks in the first round of last year’s draft and now add more youth to that group early in the third round this year,” Sikkema wrote. “His career-best 23 defensive stops led all SEC cornerbacks in 2023, and his 72.9 PFF coverage grade was also the best mark of his career.”
Phillips finished his final collegiate season at Kentucky with 47 total tackles and five pass defenses in 12 games played. He’s a physical and aggressive cornerback who doesn’t shy away from initiating contact in the run game. Despite playing plenty of boundary cornerback in college, Phillips’s transition to nickel cornerback at Giants training camp is going smoothly.
Nickel cornerback was a point of weakness in the G-Men’s defense last season. Veteran Adoree’ Jackson rotated in that spot with youngster Cor’Dale Flott. But with Jackson no longer signed to the team and with Flott moving to the boundary, Phillips has a prime opportunity to earn the starting job this summer.
Philips has made waves as the team’s starting cornerback so far this summer. If he continues to play well, the Giants will enter the regular season with plenty of confidence in their young, but talented defensive backfield.
