New York Giants Defensive Backfield Breakdown from Preseason Week 1

The New York Giants' defensive secondary entered this week’s preseason game short at cornerback, as Cor’Dale Flott, Art Green, Tre Hawkins III, and Korie Black were all missing from the lineup this week.

Flott is noteworthy as he’s been locked into a competition with Deonte Banks for CB2. Banks received extended playing time, being the only starter on defense to go the entire first half.

Did Banks put an end to the competition for CB2? Meanwhile, who stood out at safety for the Giants, a unit that needs some depth?

Let’s get into it.

Cornerbacks

Paulson Adebo

Getting the start as CB1 on this defense, Adebo was sharp with both his coverage and his tackling. In his limited snaps, Adebo, who lined up at left cornerback, had two solo tackles, both of them solid and textbook finishes.

On a defense that struggled last year, as well as this week, with their secondary tackling, Adebo’s reliable finishing was a welcome sight.

Deonte Banks

Another welcome sight was seeing Banks accept the challenge of playing the entire first half at CB2 (the defense had four corners out with injuries), and playing it well.

Banks was getting his fill of press assignments, which he seems to cherish–all three of the pass targets against him came when he was in man coverage, in fact, and he allowed just one reception of those three pass targets. And further to his credit, most of his coverages were blankets.

On that one deep ball that was completed against him on what was a spectacular catch, Banks was in perfect position and was unlucky in knocking away the ball. However, he was lucky in the end when the catch was cancelled out when the replay showed the receiver only getting one foot down.

Overall, Banks held up well physically to the contact that came his way. He finished with two tackles, plus a strong kickoff return tackle.

After last year’s disappointing performance, we were not optimistic that Banks could be “fixed,” but he surely stepped up to the plate this week. He seemed like a new man, sticking his nose into things, not shying away from anything. Let’s hope this positive trend continues as he has the talent to get the job done.

Dru Phillips

Getting just one series in his nickel role, Phillips stuck his nose into a 3rd-&-long tackle on a much bigger TE and brought him down to force an early punt. Head coach Brian Daboll mentioned that Phillips got nicked in his short stint, leading to an earlier-than-planned exit in which Nic Jones replaced him.

Nic Jones

Getting a ton of playing time today from start to finish, Jones was much more adept at his coverage play than with his tackling, which was sub-par, to say the least.

On a first-half, fourth-down go-for-it snap, when the Bills lined up in a bunch formation, we knew something bad was going to happen. Somebody was going to get lost in the scrum.

To make things worse, the coaches blitzed a safety from the back edge. It looked like Jones was the One who got lost in the shuffle. He was the trailer on this pass-over-the-top that went for an easy six points.

Who knows who was the culprit on this or a handful of other cover miscommunications that seem to plague this defense year after year?

On the plus side, Jones led the defense with four solo tackles, but it’s the missed tackles that hurt, especially when they came near the line of scrimmage. Slot corners need to be good tacklers. Jones is not that.

Dee Williams

Williams received a significant amount of playing time, particularly in the second half, playing boundary corner, and seemed to hold up well enough despite a handful of coverage misses. He finished with just one lonely assist on the day and came up gimpy at the very end.

O’Donnell Fortune

Beaten on any early slant, this UDFA also might have been the culprit on the 58-yard pass play that the defense gave up with just 0:15 left in the first half.

Simply put, Fortune played this snap like he was getting deep help, which he did not–yet another one of those second mis-comm’s that have plagued this team.

Fortune finished with three tackles on the day, one of them on that big 58-yard disaster.

T.J. Moore

Looking a bit over-matched out there throughout, early on Moore had a chance to make a big play, but he allowed a poor throw to fly right through his hands, a very catchable ball (at least for him).

From that point on, Moore just couldn’t keep up with the speed of the NFL game. Though he finished with three tackles, Moore’s lack of size and speed do not match up well with the position he is trying to play.

Safeties

Tyler Nubin

Getting the start at safety, the physical second-year man finished off one tackle and played some reliable deep safety in his two series on the field.

Jevon Holland

Playing just two series, the Giants' big off-season signing at safety didn't flash into any plays and seemed healthy.

Dane Belton

Getting a smattering of snaps as a kind of hybrid safety/linebacker, Belton missed a couple of tackle chances but still finished with three total tackles on the day.

To these eyes, Belton does not seem athletic enough to play meaningful snaps in this league.

Raheem Layne

Getting a chunk of playing time at safety, Layne joined the missed tackle brigade early on and followed that up with another miss later on.

He was beaten deep by a tight end, but managed to slap the ball away in trail position while gaining ground. Layne was credited with one lonely tackle despite a lot of playing time.

Makari Paige

This UDFA safety seems more of a coverage than a tackling safety. We spotted several good reactions in coverage and good foot speed, but the kid’s build is currently lean and not conducive to physical confrontations.

He did manage to finish off two tackles.

K’Von Wallace

Our favorite defensive finisher this week was this recent signing at safety. This young man is the real deal when it comes to finishing off a hit.

He made a great fill at the line of scrimmage, looking much more natural filling a hole than the backup ILBs the team ran out there.

Whenever we see a physical safety like Wallace, we wonder if a position switch to inside linebacker might be in the cards, as he so naturally absorbs contact, even seeking it out.

At 5’11-205, Wallace is, of course, too small for ILB, but we still love to watch him finish off people. He totaled four tackles on the day despite only getting into the game in the second half. Simply put, he was too good to take off the field.

We can’t comment on his coverage skills as the defense was allowing completions in front of the deep coverage when he was in the game. All we know is that he came up hard and finished hard.

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