Anthony Rivardo
The Giants ran a three-safety package through mandatory minicamp, sliding free-agent addition Ar’Darius Washington in next to Jevon Holland and Tyler Nubin on the back end. For a team that spent real money and a top-50 pick to fix the position, rolling out a third option this early says plenty about how the first two graded out.
Holland and Nubin are supposed to be the answer at safety. Both finished 2025 closer to the bottom of the league than the top, and the front office spent this spring building competition behind them rather than handing them their jobs back.
The Money the Giants Tied to Jevon Holland
Holland signed a three-year, $45.3 million contract in 2025 with $30.3 million guaranteed and a $12 million signing bonus. The deal carries an $18.5 million cap charge in 2026, which puts him in the top tier of the safety market on the books.
The on-field return did not match the price in year one with the Giants. Holland posted a 58.4 overall PFF defensive grade in 2025, ranking 73rd among 98 qualified safeties, with a 53.0 coverage grade that landed 71st at the position, according to PFF. His 14 starts produced 61 total tackles, five pass breakups, and a single interception. The Giants are paying top-five safety rates for production that graded out as league-average at best.
Tyler Nubin’s Year-Two Leap Never Arrived
Nubin came out of his 2024 rookie season as the bigger reason for optimism. The 2024 second-round pick finished his first year with 93 combined tackles, a 76.0 PFF run-defense grade, and a 79.4 tackling grade, missing only five tackles all season and looking like a building block in the box.
Nubin slipped to a 57.2 overall PFF grade in 2025, 78th among 98 qualified safeties, with a coverage grade of 60.0, taking a massive step backward after a promising rookie campaign. A second-rounder taken to lock down the position for a half-decade spent his second season grading below replacement-level starters, and the year-two leap the Giants banked on never came.
Ar’Darius Washington Is the Pressure the Room Needed
Washington arrived on a one-year, $2.5 million deal in 2026 free agency, a low-cost flier that the Giants’ staff knows well from Baltimore. The bet is built on his 2024 tape: an 80.3 PFF defensive grade with an 84.2 coverage grade that ranked fifth among all safeties before a torn Achilles wiped out his 2025.
Minicamp already showed why the Giants wanted him in the building. Washington took first-team reps in three-safety looks, Nubin filled downhill against the run with the athleticism that defined his rookie tape, and Holland flashed his range by reading a screen and beating the blockers to the edge, per Giants.com. The reps were clean, but a healthy Washington at his 2024 level is a coverage upgrade on either starter’s 2025 grade.
| Safety | 2026 cost | PFF defensive grade | PFF coverage grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jevon Holland | $18.5M cap hit | 58.4 (2025) | 53.0 (2025) |
| Tyler Nubin | 2024 2nd-round pick | 57.2 (2025) | 60.0 (2025) |
| Ar’Darius Washington | $2.5M, one year | 80.3 (2024) | 84.2 (2024) |
The Giants spent the offseason building competition into a position they already paid premium money to solve. Holland has a $45 million contract telling him the job is his, Nubin has the draft capital and the rookie tape arguing the same, and a $2.5 million prove-it signing is now standing behind both of them. It is time for the money and the pick to start grading like it.
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