One Top Performer from Senior Bowl Week Giants Should Think About Adding

With the 2025 Senior Bowl in the books, the NFL’s 32 franchises are one step closer to deciding who will form the next 257 names to join the professional ranks in the upcoming draft in April.

For most of the biggest players at the key prospect evaluation event, there wasn’t much extra they could have done to increase their already coveted draft stock. They aim to be first—or second-round draws when the clock opens in Green Bay.

However, the stage presented an immense opportunity for some other potential under-the-radar prospects to showcase their skills and elevate themselves into a higher priority on many teams’ draft boards.

One of those who shined came on the defensive end and would be a welcomed addition to an area of the Giants roster that needs reinforcements.

That would be the underrated cornerback prospect Dorian Strong from Virginia Tech University. At the conclusion of the week, Pro Football Focus listed Strong as a top positional player performer, one of eleven Senior Bowl attendees.

“One-on-one drills are inherently designed to favor wide receivers over defensive backs, but Strong still showed some flashes of brilliance. He does an excellent job in press-man coverage, which is unsurprising considering how he performed with the Hokies. Since 2023, his 87.0 grade in single coverage is in the 96th percentile among FBS corners,” PFF's analysis said.

Virginia Tech’s Dorian Strong with a beautiful rep - disrupts WR at LOS, stays on that hip, and uses sideline. Strong allowed just a 61.6 NFL QB rating this past season. pic.twitter.com/c9IKsN7D4M
— Bobby Football (@Rob__Paul) January 29, 2025

Outside of the starting quarterback spot, which remains the team’s utmost priority this offseason, the Giants’ secondary is in serious flux as they approach an important free-agency period and draft for several positions within the organization.

The group was riddled with injuries and poor coverage play throughout the 2024 season and seeks to find veteran talent or depth that can strengthen it into a more competitive unit against its gauntlet of opponents next fall.

They played with mostly inexperienced pieces towards the year's second half and were ripped in the coverage department, grading 27th in the league at the end of the schedule.

Not only did they struggle in the general coverage game despite implementing a more zone-friendly system under defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, but executing sharply in press-man situations was hardly a specialty for the Giants cornerbacks either.

Of the eligible corners with at least 276 coverage snaps, including 92 in man looks, only one graded higher than 60.0 in Cor’Dale Flott, who didn’t even play a full season due to injuries. Four of them allowed an average catch of 12.7 yards or more, all while getting torched for long balls as long as 55 yards and giving up seven total touchdowns with their backs against the endzone.

They have something brewing with rookie slot corner Andru Phillips, who allowed just one touchdown while posting an impressive 84.3 PFF grade in the zone coverage effort. His second-year teammate, Tre Hawkins III, was also a pleasant surprise late in the season, as he had an increased workload as ailments piled up.

Still, the Giants have not been able to shut down the top-tier receiving talents they’ll face next season, and a new blended identity of battle-tested veterans and eager youth is necessary for the secondary. Like his last namesake, Strong would be an ideal fit for New York to bolster its ranks with a prospect hungry to take big threats out of the game.

Along with his aforementioned prowess in the man coverage realm, Strong finished second amongst Hokies ballhawks with a 75.0 grade in a team-high 410 coverage snaps this past season.

He was targeted the second-most times of any player on the defense but silenced his matchups with a 46.6% opponent completion percentage that was the lowest among defenders with at least 214 snaps and only one touchdown.

Strong also flashes what many Giants cornerbacks seem to lack: an eye for the football. In five years at the college level, he has forced seven interceptions and made 28 total pass deflections. He can contribute solidly to stopping the run with 25 stops and an almost flawless missed tackle rate of 2.9 percent, which was amongst the best for the Hokies.

The Giants are still craving their true No. 1 option that can line up in front of any gifted receiver and give him trouble every week, and pursuing Strong in a later round could offer them that secret weapon they haven’t found from guys like Deonte Banks or Flott.

He is also the 18th-ranked prospect on PFF’s big board for the position, meaning there is a chance he could slide into rounds two or three and be there for New York to snatch up.

Drafting a player like Strong won’t be enough as they will have to go out and pursue a free agent or two to satisfy their needs, especially with Adoree Jackson and safety Jason Pinnock poised to hit the open market with eyes set on getting paid larger deals than what the Giants might be comfortable playing with.

But like with the offensive line on the other end, a winning defense can only be as good as the highest level, taking away the deep shots that often decide games in the modern-day NFL.

The Giants found a few good young players to build around in the 2024 draft, and they can add to that feat during the draft with another gifted fresh face in Strong, who just put his name on some draft sheets with a strong showing at the Senior Bowl.

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