How Shane Bowen Can Help Optimize Giants' Young Defensive Secondary

The New York Giants hiring of Shane Bowen as their defensive coordinator to replace Wink Martindale might be the biggest schematic change we’ve seen a team make in one off-season.

According to PFF Ultimate, last season, the Tennessee Titans, whose defensive coordinator was Bowen, spent 23.3 percent of their snaps playing quarters coverage, the fifth-highest rate in the NFL. Might that approach find its way into the Giants scheme this year?

The question arises from concerns about the Giants' young defensive secondary and how Bowen might minimize opponents' potential exposure to that young group.

The answer to that is a simple, yet layered one.

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The Titans and Giants were on opposite ends of the spectrum as far as blitz percentage goes, with the Giants blitzing 45.4 percent of the time and the Titans blitzing just 22 percent.

The question raised was about the weakness of the secondary, but given the stark contrasts between the defensive schemes, this is an apples-to-oranges comparison.

The Giants do have a young secondary with question marks, specifically, at the outside cornerback spot. There’s a heavy investment in the front four of the Giants right now, with nose tackle Dexter Lawrence, and outside linebackers Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux, all of whom should be able to generate pressure at a consistent rate on their own.

This is a defense that will rely on that line getting pressure without blitzing to protect the entire back end.

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The defense under Martindale put the secondary in near-impossible situations on a down-to-down basis by lining up and playing man coverage frequently.

Being put on an island like that will make most NFL cornerbacks look bad just given the higher bust rate in man coverage, especially if the blitz doesn’t hit home.

Under Bowen, the secondary won’t be put on an island and they will instead be working more in unison to force opposing offenses into rough situations throwing the football.

It’s unclear who will be starting at cornerback opposite 2023 first-round pick Deonte Banks–Cor’Dale Flott is the early candidate to do so. I believe CB2 will likely come down to who can line up on the outside and defend vertically.

At safety, some combination of Jason Pinnock, Dane Belton, and 2024 second-round pick Tyler Nubin will likely be the starting duo.

In quarters coverage, safeties and cornerbacks have to be able to play together as a cohesive unit that can pass off routes to minimize throwing windows and maximize incompletions.

Having underneath defenders who can cover like Bobby Okereke will help boost the defense's performance. Micah McFadden and Isaiah Simmons will both need to improve their coverage performances, as they will both have to cover more range underneath for Bowen’s system.

The secondary in 2023 for the Giants looked worse than it really was because while they were young and albeit, not very good, they were also put in impossible situations too frequently.

In 2024, Bowen’s defense will require the secondary to play less on an island and more as a sum of their parts, which should help erase talent deficiencies. The much-improved pass rush and coverage help underneath will also help make the secondary's jobs easier in 2024.

It’s not so much about “masking” deficiencies in the secondary as it is about erasing them by teaching the secondary how to play as a unit.

Bowen may want to play bend-but-don’t-break defense, which is something that doesn’t require elite talent across the secondary. But it does require a secondary that can mesh well and communicate, as well as come up and make the tackle when completions are made.