The Giants’ $45 million safety bet just picked up real competition

The Giants spent mandatory minicamp running three-safety packages, and the player taking first-team reps in those looks was not one of the two they paid to fix the position. Ar’Darius Washington, a one-year reclamation signing, lined up next to Jevon Holland and Tyler Nubin on the back end.

For a franchise that handed Holland a top-of-market contract and spent a top-50 pick on Nubin, rolling out a third option this early is a message. The Giants are not handing those jobs back. They are building leverage behind two players who finished 2025 closer to the bottom of the league than the top.

The Investment That Hasn’t Paid Yet

Holland signed a three-year, $45.3 million contract in 2025 with $30.3 million guaranteed, a deal that carries an $18.5 million cap charge in 2026, per Over The Cap. That is premium-price-tag money, and the on-field return did not come close to matching it. Holland posted a 58.4 overall PFF grade in 2025, ranking 73rd among 98 qualified safeties, with a 53.0 coverage grade and a 93.9 passer rating allowed when targeted.

Nubin, the 51st pick in 2024, was supposed to be the cheaper half of a long-term duo. His rookie-deal value is real, but his second season went sideways. Nubin graded out at 57.2 overall, 78th of 98 safeties, and allowed a brutal 119.5 passer rating in coverage while finishing 95th at the position against the run. Two players the Giants committed real money and draft capital to both landed in the bottom third of the league.

Why Washington Got First-Team Reps

Washington’s last full season is the reason the Giants gave him a look with the starters. In 2024, he posted an 80.3 PFF defensive grade with an 84.2 coverage grade that ranked fifth among all safeties, before a torn Achilles wiped out most of 2025 and limited him to four games, per PFF. The Giants signed him to a one-year, $3 million deal, a low-risk bet on a player whose healthy tape beats anything Holland or Nubin put on film last year.

Washington played for John Harbaugh in Baltimore and knows defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson, his former secondary coach, which is why he slid into first-team three-safety looks so quickly. His versatility to cover the slot and play deep gives Wilson a chess piece, and it hands the staff a credible alternative if either incumbent stalls again. The fit was no accident.

What This Says About the Plan

Spending a free-agent dollar and a roster spot on a third safety, when two starters are already locked in on paper, is how front offices manufacture pressure. The slot is spoken for by Dru Phillips, Jason Pinnock is back for depth, and now Washington is in the building taking reps that used to be guaranteed. The Giants are surrounding their safety investment with competition rather than comfort.

None of this means Holland and Nubin lose their jobs. It means the $18.5 million safety is being asked to earn the snaps he was supposed to own, and the second-year man has to prove last season was the floor, not the baseline. The Giants paid for a bona fide cornerstone at safety and got league-average production. Washington’s first-team reps are the front office’s way of saying that arrangement does not continue by default.

By Anthony Rivardo

Anthony Rivardo is the COO of Empire Sports Media and the host of Fireside Giants, a New York Giants ... More about Anthony Rivardo