Bold Trade Proposal Takes Deonte Banks Off Giants' Hands

With the 2026 NFL Combine opening this week and the free agency period next month, the New York Giants' focus will be on improving their roster.

They'll be very busy evaluating potential prospects who might interest them in April's draft, where they hold a premium pick at No. 5, or discerning which areas might require an aggressive approach for veteran talent once the spending frenzy opens on March 11th.

One of the more interesting parts of the combine is following the juicy reports of backdoor conversations between front offices, typically about potential trades of in-house players who could be better suited to an opportunity to play for the other side.

The Giants don't have much cap space to make deals. This could mean they explore options with a few beleaguered players, such as cornerback Deonte Banks. His tenure in East Rutherford has fallen short of initial expectations since he was drafted 24th overall in 2023.

Bleacher Report analyzes a trade that would benefit all 32 teams and proposes a specific deal involving Banks that would help the Giants add more competitive talent next season.

The outlet reports that New York trades the former Maryland product to the Green Bay Packers for the Packers' No. 200 overall pick in the sixth round of April's draft.

Nov 16, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants cornerback Deonte Banks (2) returns a kickoff during the first quarter against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

"The Packers find themselves with little cap room ($1.6 million in the red) and a few key free agents such as Quay Walker and Romeo Doubs to keep around," B/R analyst Alex Ballentine said.

"That doesn't leave a ton of money to go chase external free agents or trade targets. The Packers aren't typically one to take those kinds of swings anyway.

They have a real need at cornerback. They tried several answers on the outside last season and will need to keep looking. Deonte Banks might be a solution.

He flashed as a first-round pick in his rookie season in 2023, but has struggled since then. With Jonathan Gannon taking over the defense and John Harbaugh taking over in New York, this would be a good time to see if Banks still fits in the Giants' plans."

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Like the Packers in this trade scenario, the Giants are also in need of some changes within their defensive secondary. The unit has been very young, and that showed once again during the 2025 season when injuries rattled the group and left them with inexperienced players that were often exposed by the game's best pass catchers.

It remains uncertain how the team will attack the position this offseason, but they should get their first look at a bunch of eligible prospects at the combine sessions this week in Indianapolis.

Even if they do address the cornerback need in free agency, which could entail re-signing their in-house guy in Cor'Dale Flott, the Giants would be smart to give some serious thought to a deal like the one in this analysis.

As it stands, the Giants have most of their seven draft selections in the back half of the event. They own three picks in the sixth round (Nos. 184, 190, 191). At that stage, it’s more about finding developmental pieces or hidden gems than immediate impact players on Day 1.

By receiving an extra pick from the Packers in this trade, general manager Joe Schoen could use the added capital as part of a package to make a move up the draft board if he sees an avenue to a prospect worth taking. He could also deploy it toward depth at a top need, like cornerback or safety, in case their free-agent goals don't pan out.

The reality with Banks is that he likely doesn't hold significant trade value at this stage of his tenure with the Giants. Despite being a former first-round selection, he showed promise in just one year, followed by two years of rapid decline in his coverage ability.

Banks struggled to compete for the Giants' No. 2 corner role in training camp last summer, ultimately losing it to Flott, who would deal with some injury woes later in the season. In 282 coverage snaps this year, he finished with a 44.9 PFF grade while allowing a career-high opponent completion rate of 81.3%, four touchdowns, and committing seven penalties.

With his numbers taking a dip since he came to the Giants, the target will continue being on his back so long as he doesn't improve and remains in the fold. As they say in the NFL, sometimes a change of scenery is the best thing for a player to fix the course of their career and rediscover what got them there.

Perhaps it's what the Giants and Banks both need, a fresh start that would allow the Giants to garner extra assets that enable them to bring in players whose skillsets better mold into the defensive system they aim to run under Dennard Wilson next season.

It remains to be seen whether a bold trade like this one becomes reality over the course of the next two months, but if we're the Giants brass, we are picking up the phone and listening to see if it can land even some semblance of a return.