It’s no secret that the New York Giants have lacked stability at the No. 2 cornerback position opposite of James Bradberry.
After losing DeAndre Baker and Sam Beal prior to the season, the Giants have had a revolving door of replacements including Corey Ballentine, Isaac Yiadom and most recently, Ryan Lewis.
However, one defensive back expert believes there is a long-term solution on the roster.
And that solution is Julian Love.
“Watching his tape at Notre Dame, he made some good plays in terms of adjusting to the ball. Speaking as an expert, Love is a guy who can come up and tackle, he can cover, and he looks good enough to play on the outside at cornerback,” said private defensive backs trainer Brian Walker in a phone interview with Giants Wire.
You may know Walker, whose training videos emerged on social media this offseason due to his work with Jabrill Peppers and Darnay Holmes.
Walker also played cornerback at Washington State University and studies film of college and pro defensive backs extensively.
“I mention corner for Love because in college, playing on the outside, he had great ball skills and took a few picks to the house. He made a lot of his plays breaking on the ball in off coverage, which he does very well,” said Walker.
In 38 games for the Fighting Irish, Love played boundary cornerback and broke up 39 passes (most in the NCAA during this span) with five interceptions from 2016-18.
Taking the majority of his snaps at free safety this year, Love hasn’t made the same impact after a strong rookie season in 2019. In the first six games, Love has allowed three touchdowns and a passer rating of 118.7.
While Walker believes Love holds the necessary skills, one knock against him coming out of college was that scouts did not think he was fast enough to play outside corner.
Luckily, Walker is here to denounce this claim.
“Playing corner, you have to be fast and athletic but, in the NFL, most of those guys have some type of speed. Can he compete? We saw it last year. The versatility he has, you can always try him out at corner.,” said Walker.
“You don’t have to be super-fast. As long as your technique is there, you can play over the top. In press coverage, your margin for error is smaller. Off-ball is the best way to use a guy who can play the box, run, and has good ball skills.”
The DB expert feels the game has evolved to more of an arena football style where the smaller corners play the slot and safety role on the inside, and the bigger guys are on the outside.
This model stems from the Seattle Seahawk’s playbook during the Legion of Boom era due to the way they used Richard Sherman.
Tyrann Mathieu is another name that comes to mind for Walker as a defensive back that changed the game by moving inside to play nickel and slot corner.
As for Love, there’s no way he can remain on the bench given his talent says Walker.
“Looking at the coaches they have over there, I don’t think they would be foolish enough to not play a guy like Love. It could be a situation where he isn’t fully healthy since his injury,” said Walker.
For now, Love remains at safety. But in the long-term? Walker, the DB expert, thinks Love is better suited for the cornerback position.
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