The Key X-factor Behind the Giants Defensive Secondary's Continued Growth
Continuity is often mentioned when discussing an NFL offensive line's growth since the five members play every snap together.
But there's another critical unit where continuity promises to be key for this up-and-coming Giants team.
That would be the defensive secondary where each of cornerbacks James Bradberry, Julian Love, and Darnay Holmes, and safeties Julian Love, Logan Ryan, and Xavier McKinney, are all under contract for 2021.
"That's a good thing, having a group that's coming back," said Bradberry, the lone Pro Bowler of the group. "I know when I was in Carolina, that starting lineup was always changing every year.
"So chemistry is like, it's a real thing and it's a big thing in a secondary group, especially when you play a complicated scheme. How we play, everybody has to be on the same page. So I'm excited going into next year."
Scheme aside, having a cohesive defensive secondary that can hold its coverage can be a big help to a Giants pass rush, which is still looking for that stud pass rusher who warrants double or triple coverage on his own.
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How good was the Giants defensive backfield? This year, the Giants core six defensive backs combined to allow .80 yards per coverage snap and came up with eight of the team's 11 interceptions and allowed just 11 touchdowns to opposing receivers.
The Giants pass defense, which finished 17th in the league (237.9) in receiving yards allowed, saw its most significant improvement in cutting down the number of big-play passes allowed.
Last season, the Giants defensive backs allowed a whopping 67 big-pass plays of 20+ yards (sixth-most in the league), 15 of those going for 40+ yards.
This season, they allowed 43 (fifth-fewest in the league), with only six going for 40+ yards.
Again, that's all under a new defensive coordinator who runs a complex defensive scheme. So one can only imagine what Year 2 in Patrick Graham's defense, assuming he doesn't leave the team for a head coaching job, might yield for the Giants defensive secondary.
"We have some very talented pieces," said Love, who spent the last two games of the year at cornerback after mostly playing safety. "We have a lot of players who have that base of being ballplayers, and are guys that can play different types of schemes. And so going forward, I know we're gonna use that to the best of our ability."
McKinney, the youngest of the group who also joined the party late due to missing a little more than half of the season while recovering from a broken foot, thinks that once the unit gets a full off-season and training camp in as a group, the sky's the limit.
"We got a lot of guys that are willing to do what we need to do to improve as a, as a secondary, as a whole, as a unit," he said. "And I think we're ready to do that.
"So I think the biggest thing for, for us this off season will be just building that chemistry because I feel like we didn't really get to we didn't really get to do that at its fullest potential because I was out the first 11, 12 weeks, so we didn't really get to build all together."
But now?
"I think we got a, we got a bright future ahead, if I'm being completely honest," McKinney said. "We just gotta be willing to put in the work and, and, you know, willing to, to get better and, and help each other out hold each other accountable."
Love agreed.
"We're going to max out everything we got in the back end," said Love. "We're young, but we're very talented. And and so we feel that the sky's really the limit for us."
