New York Giants safety Xavier McKinney is ready to resume his ascent to NFL stardom after a year interrupted by a freak off-the-field hand injury that cost him half the 2022 season.
The 24-year-old McKinney, a 2020 second-round pick out of Alabama, is on the verge of becoming one of the leaders in the Giants’ locker room.
On Monday, he gave reporters a glowing analysis of quarterback Daniel Jones, who he says has stepped up as a leader and is more talkative this year.
“For sure. Just being a lot smarter and knowing different things,” McKinney said of Jones. “Obviously, with the more game experience that you have, you start to see a lot of different things, you see more coverages — you see things that the defense is trying to mess with your head and trying to this, but he’s been picking up on that super well throughout this offseason.
“He’s poised, he’s confident, and you can see it when he plays. You can see it in the locker room, you can see it really everywhere. He’s been great for us; he’s been making us better in the backend, and he’s definitely made our offense better as a whole. It’s good to see him just continue to grow but knowing how he works; we see it every day. He’s one of those guys — he’s like a workhorse. He’s always working out, he’s always in the film room, so it’s not surprising.”
McKinney is likely to be paired at safety with rising star Jason Pinnock, who he says he can ‘swap’ roles with at any time back there.
“I think we complement great,” McKinney said. “We can play both jobs. We can both play the right and the left safety, doesn’t really matter. It’s going to be special. I think as we continue to grow — obviously, we’ve still got to get through some things, just kind of figuring out some things, but I think so far it’s been really good just to play alongside him.
“As we practice more together, as we play games, we’ll start to understand each other more and know what the other one likes to do, what we don’t like to do, stuff like that, so as we go, we’ll figure it out and we’ll be good.”
McKinney also has been impressed with both second-year inside linebacker candidates — Darrian Beavers and Micah McFadden — and is confident in the versatility and depth of the secondary. He also chimed in on the Giants’ two prized rookies at cornerback, Deonte Banks and Tre Hawkins.
“They played great, man. I thought for their first game. I thought they played really well, they played composed, and they went out there and were competitive,” McKinney said. “We didn’t expect anything less. We saw them put in the work throughout the weeks to build up to that game, and we’ve been helping them along the way.
“Obviously, they’re going to have their growing pains and they’re still having their growing pains, but they’re competing and they’re competitive guys. So, we know every game day they’re going to come with their best stuff.”
Finally, McKinney noted that veteran cornerback Adoree’ Jackson can play anywhere and that allows defensive coordinator Wink Martindale to be even more creative.
McKinney said he’s always known Adoree’ Jackson can play anywhere. “You don’t know who’s playing what position; that’s the great thing about our unit.”
— Dan Salomone (@Dan_Salomone) August 14, 2023
