This past offseason, the New York Giants revamped their secondary by drafting safety Tyler Nubin in the second round and cornerback Dru Phillips in Round 3.
The plan was to slide Phillips into the slot and move Cor’Dale Flott to the outside to fill the void left by Adoree’ Jackson, whose contract expired in March.
That plan was derailed by Flott’s quad injury which kept him off the field for the final two weeks of camp. The Giants went with Nick McCloud and Tre Hawkins III in Flott’s absence — both of whom battled Flott for the starting role.
In the end, the Giants turned back to Jackson, who was still unsigned, last week. Jackson and McCloud split time on the outside on Sunday while Flott played mainly inside, where he hadn’t lined up since last season.
In addition, Phillips, who played mainly in the slot this summer, was only on the field for 16 snaps.
It was a curious decision by the Giants, one that head coach Brian Daboll was quizzed on Monday during his media session.
“Yeah, Flott. Just getting ready to go here for the first game, we thought that that was the best thing for us,” he said of lining Flott up in the slot.
“Now, is that going to stay the same? Probably not, to be honest with you. Flott will probably play outside more. But for this week, that’s what we thought was best.”
The secondary is completely in flux, as is the entire defense. First-year defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s scheme is still very fresh to most of the players.
The Giants have a mainstay at the other corner in Deonte Banks and at safety with Jason Pinnock. Nubin played every snap on Sunday and played well.
It’s just that one outside corner position. It’s there waiting for Flott to take it over.
