4 Big Questions Facing the Giants at the Start of 2024 Season
3. Can the Giants defense survive with a young secondary?
The New York Giants might have a strong interior for Shane Bowen to do some damage with in 2024. However, their one weakness is coming from the inexperience of their deep secondary.
This offseason, the team suffered a major blow when All-Pro stalwart safety Xavier McKinney left for the Green Bay Packers in free agency, leaving a gaping hole at the starting position. They also parted ways with veteran Adoree Jackson and his in-house replacement Cor’Dale Flott is dealing with a quad injury that is expected to have him on the IR for the first few weeks of the season.
Without those three players, the Giants have a cornerback and safeties room full of guys under the age of 25, and several with minimal history of starting experience. Couple that with some injuries, and the group is in dire need of depth before the regular season gets going.
The Giants may make a move to add an extra body or two with experience to the position via the waiver market or a potential trade, with many football minds seeing Azeez Ojulari as a candidate to be traded for a cornerback option.
Still, they will need to roll with the bunch of names they’ve got and get the most out of them, especially in a schedule that will feature opponents with talented receiving arsenals.
Sophomore perimeter man Deonte Banks was a bright spot for the Giants secondary in 2023, finishing with 64 tackles, two interceptions, 11 pass selections, and a 57.6 percent opponent reception rate in 844 snaps.
If he stays healthy, Banks figures to be the Giants' top coverage man against opponents' elite pass catchers and see his defense improve under the tutelage of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen.
Rookie third-round draft pick Dru Phillips has looked impressive over the summer as well. He figures to slide into the starting slot corner role where his abilities were shown the most at Kentucky.
The two will form a trio with returning hybrid man Nick McCloud as the starting three, but behind them will be a mix of players who need some development if they want to earn increased work and be trusted to shut down the league’s best receivers.
The one factor that stands to help both parties in the secondary is the Giants' defensive system should feature quarters coverages and underneath defenders. This should allow them to play with more cornerbacks on the field at once, maneuver their safeties around and offer more coverage help up top to prevent as many one-on-one scenarios as possible that have plagued the defense in previous years.