New York Giants 2023 UFA Primer: CB Fabian Moreau
Fabian Moreau, CB
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 198 lbs.
Age: 28
NFL Exp.: 6 seasons
College: UCLA
Since entering the league in 2017 with the Washington Commanders, cornerback Fabian Moreau has matured into a bright talent who has only refined his game.
Moreau played in all 16 games as a rookie but only recorded 60 defensive snaps. He was far more proactive in his sophomore season, finishing the 2018 campaign with 58 tackles, five passes defended, three forced fumbles (a career-high), and an interception in 840 defensive snaps.
In 2019, Moreau had one of his best campaigns. Despite playing in 12 games (664 defensive snaps), Moreau came away with 44 combined tackles, five passes defended, and three interceptions (a career-high). A hamstring injury landed him on injured reserve, and he would miss the remainder of the season.
Though Moreau would return in 2020 for the Commanders, he started in just one game that year and was limited to only 158 defensive snaps. After the 2020 season, Moreau signed with the Atlanta Falcons as a free agent, where he had a big bounce-back season.
Starting in 16 games, Moreau finished with 61 tackles, 11 passes defended to go with 15 stops (both career highs), and a fumble recovery. Although he gave up seven touchdowns, he produced one of his best reception percentages in 2021 (65.8), highlighting significant improvement in pass coverage.
In May 2022, Moreau signed with the Texans, only to be cut by them on August 24. The Giants signed Moreau to their practice squad on September 5 before promoting him to the active roster in Week 2 when Aaron Robinson underwent an emergency appendectomy.
2022 Recap
In his lone season with the Giants, Moreau illustrated how strong of a cornerback he can be. Although he played in 749 total defensive snaps, he still came away with 66 tackles (his new career high), ten passes defended, and 14 stops while posting his best reception percentage of his career with at least 200 snaps or more (62.7).
When Adoree’ Jackson went down in Week 11 with a knee injury, the Giants defense needed someone to step up and fill his role. Moreau did a solid job, finishing the season with seven pass breakups, tying with Jackson for first on the team. Moreau also had three performances this season where he kept the reception rate of his targets below 45 percent in 30 pass coverage snaps or more.
Moreau’s 2022 campaign took a hit over the remaining four weeks, where he conceded 18 of 22 targets for a total of 184 yards and two touchdowns against some top-tier competition.
Why Giants Should Keep Him
One reason why the Giants should look to re-sign Moreau comes down to padding the depth of their defensive secondary. Though Moreau might not possess the best skillset to be the shutdown number one cornerback the Giants need, he can still fill in as the third-tier option and brings enough upside that could lead him to new heights once more.
Moreau didn’t cost the Giants much last year, signing a one-year deal worth $1.035 million. Moreau did manage to carve out a good role for himself on this Giants defense. And seeing how well he performed in defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s system, Moreau might want to stay put.
GIANTS UFA PRIMERS: QB Daniel Jones | IOL Nick Gates | RB Saquon Barkley | C Jon Feliciano | IDL Justin Ellis | RB Matt Breida | LS Casey Kreiter | OLB Jihad Ward | Sterling Shepard | IDL Nicholas Williams | DB Tony Jefferson | S/ILB Landon Collins | WR Richie James | P Jamie Gillan | WR Marcus Johnson | ILB Jaylon Smith | OLB Oshane Ximines
Why Giants Shouldn’t Keep Him
A reoccurring narrative over Moreau’s first six years in the NFL has been his struggles with establishing better consistency with his pass coverage. Before 2021 and 2022, Moreau was not particularly great in coverage, allowing 80 percent of his 50 targets to be caught in 2019.
Even during Moreau’s top years in 2021 and 2022, he conceded 12 touchdowns and 1,071 yards and failed to keep his NFL passer rating below 105 in each of those two seasons. Moreau hasn’t come away with an interception since 2020 and has been a penalty liability at times, getting flagged on 16 different occasions in the last two years (11 of which came with the Falcons).
Keep or Dump?
Because Moreau played quite well and surpassed expectations in 2022, the Giants should look to bring him back as an important depth piece for their defensive secondary. If the Giants can do so on another one-year deal that doesn’t surpass the veteran minimum threshold, it makes sense to do so.
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