The New York Giants will have over $60 million in salary cap space to spend on upgrading their roster come March 18 and there are varying opinions on just how they should allocate those resources.
One glaring hole in the Giants’ armor is their pass defense, especially down the middle of the field. In 2019, they had two new safeties — Jabrill Peppers and veteran Antoine Bethea. We don’t need to recap how things worked out, even though both players had stretches where they played well.
The Giants need a better quarterback for their young defensive backfield — it would go a long way in stopping teams from carrying them up deep down the middle for easy scores.
Pro Football Focus is suggesting the Giants give New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty a look in free agency.
The 32-year-old former first rounder out of Rutgers fits this new Giants coaching style and attitude to a tee and could do what they had hoped Bethea, now 35, could do for their fledgling secondary.
The Giants’ secondary was brutal across the board in 2019 — the team ranked 30th in coverage grade, and their four most-played cornerbacks each failed to crack a coverage grade above 60.0. Safeties Jabrill Peppers and Julian Love were the best coverage defenders, but head coach Joe Judge will look to add former Patriots, and safety Devin McCourty is still a good one to get. Love has experience in the slot, so moving him there exclusively while bringing in the NFL’s sixth highest-graded safety from 2019 wouldn’t be a bad idea. Playing deep safety in 2019, McCourty allowed just one catch and notched four interceptions.
I don’t imagine McCourty will get a load of lucrative offers from the rebuilding teams in the league. His market in in the 1-2 year range at a reasonable price. He’ll be a target for contenders who are one or two players away seeking to bring in veteran to help get them over the top.
Or, the Giants, who just need a steady hand to get their defense back on the map.
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