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The New York Giants defense played well above expectations in 2020 and that was due in part to their secondary, anchored by cornerback James Bradberry and safeties Logan Ryan and Jabrill Peppers.
Bradberry, of course, was named to the Pro Bowl and Ryan was a narrow miss, having led NFC free safeties in voting for months before falling just short in the end.
Despite the quality play from the secondary, there was one glaring weakness: the lack of a consistent CB2 alongside Bradberry.
The combination of Isaac Yiadom, Ryan Lewis and others was enough to drop the unit’s entire ranking in the eyes of Pro Football Focus, who have the Giants finishing the 2020 regular season in the bottom half of the NFL.
18. NEW YORK GIANTS
New York is this high because of one man only: James Bradberry. The fifth-year corner was signed to a monster contract this past offseason after four middling years with the Carolina Panthers. He didn’t play at a high level in his four years with Carolina, failing to surpass a 70.0 PFF grade in every season, so the contract was risky, to say the least.
But Bradberry proved all the doubters wrong and justified his pay this season. He ranked fifth among outside corners in coverage grade and fourth in forced incompletion rate (21%). There were quite a few missed tackles from him (14), but that’s something you can live with if he keeps up this shutdown play.
While that’s a whole lot of credit for Bradberry, the safeties were sold a bit short in this analysis.
Either way, it’s been obvious for months that the Giants are in desperate need of another quality cornerback to pair with Bradberry, so that will certainly be a central focus of general manager Dave Gettleman & Co. this offseason.
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