The New York Giants‘ secondary has been one of the league’s worst over the past two years. In 2017, the Giants’ secondary allowed 252.4 passing yards per game (ranked 31st in the NFL). In 2018, the Giants’ secondary allowed 252.8 passing yards (ranked 23rd in the NFL), showing minimal to no improvement.
For this reason, the Giants made it a point of emphasis to fix the secondary in 2019. The Giants did just that in the 2019 NFL Draft. New York drafted three defensive backs in the 2019 NFL Draft (four if counting Sam Beal).
In the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, the New York Giants selected underrated cornerback prospect Corey Ballentine. Ballentine played at a small school (Washburn) so he slipped through the cracks. Fortunately, he fell to the Giants in round six. So far, Corey has looked like a steal for New York.
Training Camp Highlights
Corey Ballentine has shown up to play in training camp. The sixth-round rookie out of Washburn is turning heads already. Head coach Pat Shurmur took the time to praise the rookie post-practice on Tuesday:
Pat Shurmur says that Corey Ballentine has been making strong progress in camp: pic.twitter.com/lMd0zuQ9ap
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) July 31, 2019
Corey Ballentine is getting better with each and every practice. On Tuesday, Ballentine came away with an interception against rookie quarterback Daniel Jones. This is his highlight of camp so far. Daniel Jones had not thrown an interception all of training camp until this play:
Daniel Jones’ first interception of training camp: Corey Ballentine. #Giants pic.twitter.com/U8xP8PuLgl
— Matt Lombardo ? (@MattLombardoNFL) July 30, 2019
This was not Ballentine’s first interception of training camp either. On Saturday, the Giants’ first padded practice of the summer, Ballentine came away with an interception against Kyle Lauletta. Giants.com named Corey one of Saturday’s standouts.
Corey Ballentine is very physical at the line of scrimmage and smooth in coverage. He was an outstanding player during his time at Washburn. In college, Corey Ballentine appeared in 46 games tallying 186 tackles with 113 solo stops and 10 tackles for loss adding the four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and had five interceptions.
The Giants have seen a solid amount of production so far from Corey Ballentine, considering he was a sixth-round draft pick. If the rookie can carry on his great play from training camp into the regular season, New York will see even more young talent make an impact in their rebuilt secondary.