New York Giants 2024 Position Unit Review: Safeties

After the New York Giants let veteran safety Xavier McKinney leave in free agency, some wondered if his departure would be felt.
The answer depends on how you look at things. In four seasons with the Giants, of which he didn’t play a full slate of games due to injuries, McKinney managed 279 tackles, two quarterback hits, 27 pass breakups, and nine interceptions.
In his first season with the Packers, McKinney, apparently determined to prove something to the Giants and the rest of the league, went on a tear that put him into the discussion for Defensive MVP honors.
McKinney finished with 88 tackles, eight interceptions, and 11 pass breakups, and his coverage skills really starred in the Packers' defense.
That said, the Giants got themselves a promising young safety in Tyler Nubin, who took some of the sting out of losing McKinney.
Although Nubin didn’t post the type of numbers McKinney did in 2024–Nubin’s season was cut short due to injury–PFF has him as the Giants' potential breakout player in 2025 if he can iron out some of the issues he had as a rookie in coverage.
2024 in Review
The Giants' safety position isn’t drawing much attention regarding the team’s most pressing needs. Still, the group could use some talent, especially if, as is expected, the team loses Jason Pinnock in free agency.
Considering that general manager Joe Schoen didn’t want to spend on veteran Xavier McKinney last offseason, we can’t see him splurging on a top-shelf veteran safety in free agency this offseason.
But should he address the position via the draft–and we think he will–while a ball hawk would be nice, a more important trait is a run defender, an area in which, per PFF, only Tyler Nubin finished within the top 20 safeties (19th) who had at least 300 run defense snaps.
- Rostered Players: Tyler Nubin, Jason Pinnock, Dane Belton, Isaiah Simmons, Anthony Johnson, Raheem Layne, Elijah Riley
- Under Contract: Tyler Nubin, Dane Belton, Anthony Johnson, Raheem Layne
Tyler Nubin
Another shining star of this year’s rookie class, Nubin, was a Day 1 starter who impressed more with his physicality than his coverage skills.
Nubin was consistently tough and fast to the ball and tackled hard. He’s the type of safety this team hasn’t had in years: a big, physical type who can fill holes and stop running backs dead in their tracks.
He produced three straight 12-tackle efforts before an ankle injury in Week 13 ended his rookie season.
On the negative side, Nubin recorded zero interceptions and only had one pass defensed in those 13 games, so there is coverage work to be done here.
At 6-2 and 210 pounds, Nubin has the ideal build for the position, plenty of speed and athleticism, and the aggressive attack mentality to match the measurables.
He was a ballhawk in college (13 career interceptions), so let’s hope there’s a similar turnover component in his sophomore season and beyond.
Jason Pinnock
This pending free agent went from being a core safety to a replaceable depth safety in a four-week span when opposing offenses went after Pinnock in deep zone coverage, and he could not hold up.
Despite being positionally sound back there, Pinnock’s lack of movement skills and instincts were brutally exposed. Teams also started going after him in short and intermediate coverages.
He tackled well all year (85 total tackles, 3.0 sacks), but Pinnock’s best skill continues to be as a blitzer, and that’s not enough.
As the lone reliable veteran in the secondary, Pinnock was also tasked with getting his young charges lined up on every play, and that didn’t go particularly well either.
As depth, Pinnock has value; he’s always been a good special teams performer. But despite being a hard worker and a good teammate, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants move on from him this offseason.
Dane Belton
This durable and reliable special teams performer didn’t start the season playing often on defense, but the injury to the rookie Nubin opened up a spot, and Belton ran with it.
His 15-tackle effort in Week 15 was an eye-opener, as was the spectacular interception he snagged over the shoulder in Week 18.
Though Belton had difficulties in coverage against tight ends, he showed good reactions in deep zone. His tackling and physicality seemed to improve the more he played.
Belton will be entering his contract year in 2025. We’re not sure he has the foot speed and agility to be a long-term starter, but he sure did make a lot of plays when presented with opportunities in the last five weeks of the season.
Isaiah Simmons
This former high #1 draft pick (Arizona, eighth overall in 2020) was re-signed this off-season almost as an afterthought after playing an uninspired 2023 season with the Giants.
The speedy, tall, and durable Simmons suited up for all 17 games but only played 17% of the defensive snaps, accruing just 21 tackles.
Simmons’s lack of instinct and physicality kept him on the sidelines. Whenever he was given even a sliver of responsibility, he was rarely up to the task, so he was left to pick up long-yardage snaps and special teams.
As a pending free agent, Simmons is a long shot of being re-signed by the Giants, though we thought that would also be the case last year, only to be wrong.
Anthony Johnson
Picked up on waivers from the Packers at the start of the season, Johnson suited up for nine games this year but never saw the field on defense till Week 18.
We liked his aggressiveness on special teams. He played some good gunner snaps, and with the defense late, he was hitting anything that moved.
Johnson still has two years left on his rookie contract, so he’ll be an inexpensive depth should the Giants carry him into training camp. But as far as what they have in him, that’s still somewhat of a mystery.
Raheem Layne
A three-year veteran with decent size and speed, Layne got three uniforms with the Giants in 2024 but only one game with significant playing time, in Week 16, in which he accrued three solo tackles before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
Layne has one year left on his contract, and if he’s healthy, we see no reason for the Giants not to invite him to camp where he can compete for depth purposes.
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