The New York Giants are ravished at the cornerback position with little depth and experience, which is why Bleacher Report names it the most significant remaining offseason need for Big Blue.
The New York Giants entered the Joe Schoen/Brian Daboll era with holes galore on both sides of the ball. And Schoen did what he could to fill those holes in free agency and the draft.
The addition of veteran center Mark Glowinski and rookie tackle Evan Neal should help strengthen an offensive line that has been mostly awful in recent years. Rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux can be the kind of force off the edge that the G-Men haven’t had since Jason Pierre-Paul left town in 2018.
But there’s still work to be done.
The release of veteran cornerback James Bradberry may have been a financial necessity for a cap-strapped Giants team weighed down in the past by bad contracts. But it also left the team in a precarious situation at the position. Adoree’ Jackson has been inconsistent, and Aaron Robinson and Darnay Holmes don’t strike fear into the hearts of opposing quarterbacks.
The Giants took a cornerback in Round 3 in LSU’s Cordale Flott, but unless Thibodeaux, Leonard Williams and the pass rush get home with regularity, this secondary could be exposed on Sunday afternoons.
After starter Adoree’ Jackson, the Giants do not have another cornerback that has 10 starts or three career interceptions.
Jackson (only 26 years old) is the oldest and most experienced cornerback on the roster for New York. He has had a modest career so far and in his first season with the Giants, did not play up to his $13 million a year price tag. He allowed two touchdowns and 353 yards in coverage according to Pro Football Reference, while recording eight passes defended and one interception.
These are solid numbers for a CB2, which is what Jackson played in 2021, but with James Bradberry being cut the Giants will have to rely on Jackson to be a CB1. This already stands as a problem but an even bigger one is the fact that after Jackson the Giants do not have a cornerback over the age of 24.
While the Giants are clearly not in a win-now mentality, they stand to have one of the worse secondaries in the league barring the emergence of one of their young cornerbacks. Signing one or two veteran cornerbacks — like Joe Haden, Chris Harris or Xavier Rhodes — to give some wisdom to the locker room and help the youngsters feels like the right way to go.
