Giants Make Decision on Deonte Banks’ Option Year

As anticipated, the New York Giants have declined the option year on cornerback Deonte Banks’s rookie deal, meaning that the former Maryland defender, whom the team drafted in 2023, will be an unrestricted free agent after this season.

The decision will save New York $12.633 million on its 2027 cap, the lowest amount Banks could have earned based on his draft slot alone.

The Giants traded up one spot in the first round of the 2023 draft to secure Banks, the last of the top cornerbacks on the draft board at the time.

The trade included an exchange of first-round picks between the Giants, who originally held spot 25 in the order, and the Jacksonville Jaguars, who held spot 24. New York also gave up a 2023 fifth-round pick (No. 160) and a seventh-round pick (No. 240) to secure Banks.

Banks had his best season as a rookie playing in defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s man-coverage defensive scheme.

Banks appeared in 15 games that season with 15 starts and recorded two interceptions, 11 pass breakups, and 64 tackles, all single-season career highs except for the pass breakups, which he’d top by one the following season.

After Martindale left, Banks’s career went into a tailspin. He hasn’t recorded an interception since, and he saw his tackles drop to 52 in his second season, a year in which he also came under fire from the coaches who questioned his effort.

Banks ended up being benched twice that season and had to compete for his starting job last year, eventually losing out to Cor’Dale Flott and being reduced to a kickoff returner.

Giants Shifting Gears at Cornerback

Banks’ hold on a starting job began to fade when the team, which had hoped that he’d become their CB1, gave way to veteran free agent Paulson Adebo, who signed last offseason.

This past offseason, the writing on the wall was further clarified when the team signed former Cleveland Browns first-round pick Greg Newsome II and then last week when the Giants drafted Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood in the second round, a player whom head coach John Harbaugh said he expected to come in and start.

Former Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Colton Hood will compete for a starting job in the Giants defensive backfield. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Banks, meanwhile, has been a participant in the team’s offseason program.

“Tae will have the opportunity to go out there and get better," defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson said last month. "We're going to put things on his plate, try to make things as simple as they can be in terms of conceptual teaching, and that's for everybody.”

Apparently, the Giants coaches didn’t see enough to warrant a longer tryout for Banks beyond this year.

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