Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The New York Giants have released their unofficial depth chart ahead of the Carolina Panthers preseason game and here are five takeaways.
The New York Giants have released their second unofficial depth chart, this time in advance of their Week 2 preseason game against the Carolina Panthers.
The depth chart was released prior to several of the team’s Tuesday transactions and includes no changes from a week ago. Everything remains exactly the same.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t a few notable takeaways, however. Here are five.
The New York Giants and Detroit Lions begin their joint practices on Tuesday and that has players feeling a little giddy.
For two weeks, the New York Giants have seen only familiar faces. The only people they’ve hit have been their teammates and all the concepts are familiar ones.
That changes on Tuesday.
The Giants boarded a team plane on Monday evening and took off for Detroit, where they will conduct back-to-back joint practices with the Lions before their preseason opener on Friday night.
For the players, it’s refreshing. For the coaches, it’s an opportunity to gauge their team and test some new things out.
“You’re going against a different team. You get to see different matchups, you get to see different schemes, you’ve been going against the same players for 10 days or 10 practices. So if you do it the right way, I think it’s a beneficial thing for you,” head coach Brian Daboll said.
It’s not quite a regular season game but joint practices are something different. They break up the monotony of camp and that gets the juices flowing for players.
“I can’t wait. I can’t wait. Just super excited to put what we’ve been working on in practice against another opponent,” wide receiver Parris Campbell said. “Our defense, they’ve kind of got an idea of what we’re doing nine times out of 10. So, sometimes it can be frustrating in practice, but excited to put some film out there and compete with some other talent.”
The anticipation and excitement reaches all corners of the locker room.
“It’s an exciting thing to do. At the end of the day, like I said before, we’re all competitive so going against a new face, a new team, it brings a different level of excitement,” cornerback Darnay Holmes said. “At the point we’re at, we’ll just see where we’re at as a defense and as a team so we’re ready to go up there and do a lot of team bonding and a lot of competing.”
Although Daboll and Lions head coach Dan Campbell will script the entirety of practice beforehand, each player will still go up against the unknown. They’ll get to see where they’re at with their progression and what they need to work on before the games begin to count.
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Whose stock is rising and whose is falling after two weeks of New York Giants training camp?
The New York Giants are well into their 2023 training camp and several players have shone while others have not. And while there’s still plenty of time left and things are subject to change, a story is beginning to take shape.
Here is a quick list of “risers” and “fallers” since camp began two weeks ago.
Giants CBs Darnay Holmes and Cor’Dale Flott are ready for the competition ahead at training camp.
One of the many competitions set to take place at New York Giants training camp this summer will occur at nickel corner, where cornerbacks Darnay Holmes and Cor’Dale Flott are set to square off.
During OTAs and minicamp, the pair rotated at the position with the first team, setting up what should be an interesting battle when training camp begins on July 26.
“It’s an open competition, but I’ll just let that be when I get on the field,” Flott said to Ryan Dunleavy of the New Post recently. “I got a little taste of everything. The transition helped me be able to attack the nickel but not be too surprised if I have to move out there again.”
Flott, who was billed as versatile coming out of LSU, indeed saw a little bit of everything in his rookie season, with the third-round pick seeing time outside, in the slot, and even in the box during his rookie campaign.
However, he worked mostly on the perimeter with the team in need of bodies on the outside due to injury. Flott also dealt with injury, missing six games.
A 2020 fourth-round pick of the Giants, Holmes was the team’s top slot cornerback last season, appearing in a career-high 15 games. Like Flott, Holmes is well aware of what’s in front of him.
“It’s a battle each year for me,” Holmes said. “It’s always an opportunity to present myself to be one of the 32 best nickels [in the NFL]. I’m never a guy who shies away from competition, so I’m excited. We’re ready to get each other better and do what’s best for the team.”
As far as what he’s tried to improve this offseason, Flott, who looks bigger this offseason, mentioned his tackling and how “gaining a little extra” will help.
“Mostly my tackling — and that just comes with body composition and gaining a little extra,” Flott said. “With my quickness and my length, there aren’t too many 6-foot-2 people that move like a shifty guy, so I take pride in that and I’m ready to play it.”
Meanwhile, among Holmes’ offseason focuses was being better with his hands in order to avoid committing penalties.
“I want to be penalty-free — not as handsy,” Holmes explained. “People don’t understand nickel is a profound position and you can’t really focus on what the critics are saying. There are things my coach wanted me to work on, things I knew I needed to work on, and once I heard from their mouth that it was something I was already crafting on, I had peace with the situation.”
Also expected to be in the mix for the slot corner job is second-year corner, Zyon Gilbert, but make no mistake: this is very much a two-man race between Flott and Holmes.
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Giants CB Darnay Holmes recalls the situation that led to the viral video of his backside from the 2022 London game.
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When a player sustains an injury during an NFL game, they are escorted to the medical tent behind the team’s bench for treatment to determine the extent of said injury.
The tent, which is usually covered by a blue canopy, is designed to give the player and team medical personnel a level of privacy while a preliminary examination is conducted.
Last October, in a game between the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers in London, defensive back Darnay Holmes suffered a thigh bruise and was being attended to out in the open by a trainer, who chose not to take Holmes into the tent.
The video and screen shot of Holmes with his uniform pants dropped down exposing his backside immediately went viral.
On a recent appearance on the “2nd Wind Podcast”, Holmes recounted the incident.
“Let me make my a– international,” he joked. “I knew I had a thigh bruise. Once it gets stiff, it’s over with. Your day’s over with. So I’m like ‘I can’t let it get stiff, man, it’s two-minute.’ I’m like, ‘Hey, J [the trainer], I need you to rub on my thigh. But I know this can go south — let’s go to the tent.’ He’s like ‘Nah, y’all ’bout to hit the field, man. Y’all about to hit the field.’ I’m like, ‘It is what it is at this point. Bet.’”
Holmes also had to explain the situation to the Giants’ brass on the plane ride home.
“We win the game, we celebrating, we on the plane…. Our GM [Joe Schoen] and owner [John Mara] come up to me like, ‘so that’s how you get it down?’”
Lesson learned.
We’re sure the Giants — and other teams — will be more wary of their surroundings going forward, as cameras are omnipresent these days.
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New York Giants CB Darnay Holmes qualified for a pay bump thanks to the PPE program.
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Darnay Holmes is entering his fourth – and possibly final – season with the New York Giants this summer. The former fourth-round pick out of UCLA will battle a slew of newcomers for both a roster spot and playing time this season.
Holmes will do so with a pay bump thanks to the league’s annual Proven Performance Escalator program as per SI.com Giants beat reporter Pat Traina.
According to Article 7, Section 4 of the 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement, there are three levels of qualifications. Level 1, for which Holmes qualifies, is earned if a player participates in a certain percentage of a team’s offensive or defensive snaps in two of his first three seasons or averages that percentage of offensive or defensive snaps over his entire first three years.
In Holmes’ case, as he is a fourth-round draft pick, that percentage is 35 percent; hence his base salary rises to the Right of First Refusal (ROFR) Restricted Free Agent (RFA) tender, $2.743 million.
Holmes’ rookie contract, signed back in 2020 was for the standard four years for a total of $4,086,888. That included a $791,888 signing bonus, which was guaranteed, with an average annual salary of $1,021,722.
In 2023, Holmes will earn a base salary of $2,743,000, while carrying a cap hit of $2,940,972 and a dead cap value of $197,972.
Holmes, who is primarily a slot corner or an extra body in nickel and dime packages, will face stiff competition from the many additions the Giants will bring to training camp this summer.
He currently sits behind second-year player Cordale Flott on the depth chart and will have to contend with rookies Deonte Banks, Tre Hawkins III and Gemon Green as well as free agents Amani Oruwariye and Leonard Johnson not to mention players returning from 2022 such as Aaron Robinson, Rodarius Williams and Zyon Gilbert.
Doug Farrar continues his positional lists of the NFL’s best players with the 11 best slot defenders heading into the 2023 NFL season.
In the 2022 NFL season, defenses played nickel (five defensive backs) on 12,630 opponent passing attempts. Defenses played dime (six defensive backs) on 2,715 opponent dropbacks. With just 3,206 opponent dropbacks against four defensive backs last season, base defense is no longer base defense — nickel is the new base, and has been for some time.
Moreover, the influx of three-safety looks in the NFL has increased, as has the specific “big nickel” looks with three safeties and two cornerbacks.
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The point of this preamble? That slot defenders are more important than they’ve ever been. Whether it’s in a more traditional nickel or dime look with just one slot defender, or defenses aligning two slot defenders to the strong side of the 3×1 formation, slot defenders aren’t just pre-emptive starters anymore — they’re integral parts of modern defenses, and good luck having a great defense without at least one.
Slot defenders have their own skill sets. It’s not like it was 20 years ago, when the smallest, slowest defensive back on a roster was relegated to the slot. Now, those guys need to have the coverage skills of cornerbacks, the run-stopping abilities of strong safeties, and the blitz instincts of linebackers.
It’s a fascinating gig.
As Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup said in this week’s edition of the “Xs and Os” podcast/video, the requirements for top-tier slot defenders make it a unique position.
The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Building the perfect secondary
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“Slot defenders are an interesting breed. They can come in all shapes and sizes. They can be smaller, like Mike Hilton, who I think is one of the best slot defenders in the league. They can be bigger; it depends on what you want. But think of it this way — I know the numbers might be going down a bit, but teams line up in 11 personnel [one running back, one tight end, three receivers] a majority of the time. And teams are playing out of 11 personnel on first down — on second-and-3. What we consider normal down-and-distance situations where the run game is part of the offense. It’s not jst a third-down situation.
“Your slot defender is not just a pass defender. Your slot defender has to be able to defend the run, because there are a lot of teams that run toward the slot defender, because they know he’s not as good a run defender as you’d see running to the other side, where you might have bigger bodies. He also has to be part of pressure schemes. How often do we see slot defenders in today’s NFL as blitzers?
“So, not only do you have to play man coverage against receivers who have a two-way go, you also have to play underneath zone coverage, which is different than playing underneath zone coverage if you’re an outside cornerback. There are different rules, because zones all have their own rules.”
As has been the case with other defensive backs on this year’s list, the transfer of power from season to season is inconsistent, at best. Just two slot defenders from last year’s list — Derwin James and Kyle Dugger — made it in the 2023 group. Sometimes, that was about positional changes; other times, the performances from last year’s top slot defenders were simply eclipsed by the new guys.
No matter how you slice it, it’s tough to be a great slot defender in today’s NFL, and here are out 11 best heading into the 2023 season.
The NFL’s 11 best cornerbacks
The NFL’s 11 best safeties
(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise indicated).
Since 2017, the New York Giants have drafted 19 players who had practiced during Senior Bowl week or played in the Senior Bowl itself.
The NFL draft run-up begins this week with the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. The New York Giants have always had a presence at the game and have drafted many a player who has participated in the game over the years.
Here are some players the Giants met and scouted at the game and then drafted going back to 2017.
Here’s what the Philadelphia Eagles are saying after a dominant 38-7 win over the New York Giants in the divisional round
The Eagles are set to host the NFC Championship game after a 38-7 win over the New York Giants in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
All-Pro quarterback Jalen Hurts was 16-24 passing for 154 yards and two passing touchdowns, while the third-year star also logged 9 carries for 34 yards and a rushing touchdown as well.
Philadelphia rushed for 268 yards on the ground as offensive coordinator Shane Steichen got back to his superb run-pass ratio on Saturday night, as the Birds ran 69 total plays, 44 of those plays coming on the ground.
With preparation for the NFC title matchup set to begin, here’s what the Eagles are saying after Saturday’s win.
We’re looking at takeaways and observations from the Philadelphia Eagles’ 38-7 win over the New York Giants in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs
The Eagles are heading to the NFC title game after Jalen Hurts threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score, and Philadelphia dominated the New York Giants 38-7 on Saturday night in an NFC divisional playoff game.
The Birds sacked Giants quarterback Daniel Jones and applied pressure on all but nine dropbacks according to Pro Football Focus.
The Eagles returned to their ground-and-pound philosophy, rushing for 268 yards on 44 deliberate carries, as Shane Steichen schematically kept Hurts out of harm’s way.
With Philadelphia awaiting the winner of Sunday’s matchup between the 49ers and the Cowboys, here are 8 takeaways from the blowout win.
