The New York Giants’ secondary has been a hot topic of discussion this summer as they enter the upcoming 2024-25 season with plenty of question marks in the defensive backfield. They have some locked-in starters, but for the most part, many of the starting positions are up for grabs. Their Week 1 starting secondary projects to be a boom-or-bust unit.
Uncertainty at cornerback:
Deonte Banks is the Giants’ primary cornerback. As he enters his second NFL season, expectations are high for Banks. He is a talented young cornerback who flashed tremendous potential last season as a rookie. The former first-round pick will need to shadow some of the NFL’s top wide receivers this season to establish himself as Big Blue’s CB1.
Opposite Banks, however, is the Giants’ biggest question mark. The CB2 position is still up for grabs with just over one week until the start of the regular season. Third-year cornerback Cor’Dale Flott was the projected starter at the beginning of the summer. However, he spent much of the summer hampered by an injury, did not participate in the preseason, and was outperformed by some of the roster’s other cornerback talents during training camp.
Nick McCloud could wind up being the starting cornerback opposite Banks, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing. McCloud has been solid as a backup/spot starter in the past, however, he has yet to prove himself across a large sample size of starts in the NFL.
The Giants have explored the possibility of bringing back veteran CB Adoree’ Jackson this week. He could wind up being signed and taking over the CB2 job at some point this season, possibly even as early as Week 1. Jackson is not the player he used to be, but his familiarity with the organization makes him an intriguing potential addition.
In the slot, rookie cornerback Andru Phillips is projected to start. He flashed his talents all summer and was highly touted by the Giants’ front office and coaching staff during the pre-draft process. He will, however, split some reps with veteran LB/CB hybrid Isaiah Simmons. Despite playing primarily as a linebacker last season, Simmons spent much of the summer practicing as a nickel cornerback and could see significant playing time in that role.
The Giants have a talented group of safeties
The back end of the Giants’ secondary has a solid mix of talent. Jason Pinnock is entering his second season as New York’s starting strong safety after an impressive 2023-24 campaign in which he totaled 85 combined tackles and two interceptions.
Who will be starting alongside Pinnock is the question. It seems as though rookie safety Tyler Nubin will open the season as Big Blue’s starting free safety. The second-round draft pick totaled 13 interceptions in his collegiate career, the most in Minnesota’s program history. Nubin is a ballhawk who was considered the best safety in this year’s draft class. He will likely be the team’s starter, however, third-year safety Dane Belton was impressive during training camp.
Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said the starting safety job was Belton’s to lose early in the summer. While it seems like Nubin did in fact steal the job from him, Belton flashed enough potential to earn a significant amount of snaps this season. So even if Nubin is the starter, Belton will get plenty of playing time as a rotational defensive back or as a third safety in big nickel defensive packages.
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Projecting the Giants’ Week 1 starting secondary
After previewing the Giants’ secondary, it’s easy to see where the cause for concern stems from. The secondary has some talent, but it is a largely inexperience unit with boom or bust capabilities. The starting five in the defensive backfield should look something like this in Week 1:
- CB1: Deonte Banks
- CB2: Nick McCloud
- SLCB: Andru Phillips
- FS: Tyler Nubin
- SS: Jason Pinnock
Of course, the Giants’ 53-man roster and starting 22-man lineup is fluid — changes will be made throughout the course of the season. But the Giants will rely heavily on their secondary to get the job done in Week 1 against a Minnesota Vikings offense that has a few elite pass-catchers in the lineup.
