The New York Giants lost star safety Xavier McKinney in free agency to the Green Bay Packers last month which meant general manager Joe Schoen had a huge hole to fill in their secondary.
Schoen addressed that by signing Jalen Mills in free agency this offseason and selecting Minnesota’s Tyler Nubin with the 47th overall pick in Round 2 of the 2024 NFL draft on Friday night.
They wanted to not only fill McKinney’s role on the defense but also wanted to continue to re-mold the team’s culture.
“Just a good football player. Culture changer at the University of Minnesota and he’s going to bring that type of mentality here,” Schoen told reporters. “Just a really special kid that’s a good football player.”
Nubin was a four-time All-Big Ten Academic selection and played in 55 games for the Gophers.
“I would say that he takes the ball away. 13 career interceptions. He’s a ball hawk. To me, the leadership, the character, the smarts, safety, the ability to communicate out there. To get guys to line up I think is very important, and this kid is elite at those types of things,” Schoen said.
The one knock against Nubin was his poor RAS score but Schoen attributed that to playing six games last season on a torn meniscus and recovering from reparative surgery during the 2024 NFL Combine.
“These guys are all playing through nics and dings and whatever it may be. So it’s a testament to the kid’s character and toughness to play through that stuff because it’s going to happen here. It wasn’t a light injury. He was in some pain. So just the fact that he wanted to be out there his last year at Minnesota and not let his teammates down, I think that’s a testament to who the kid is,” Schoen said.
Nubin will join a safety group that consists of Jason Pinnock, Jalen Mills, Dane Belton, and Gervarrius Owens.
