New York Giants' major weakness on defense is their own fault after tough decision during this offseason
The offseason is a time of change. For the New York Giants, they cut ties with one of their best defensive players. That's always a hard pill to swallow, but the idea of the loss just got even worse on a large scale. The Giants did not bring back safety Xavier McKinney during the 2024 […]
The offseason is a time of change. For the New York Giants, they cut ties with one of their best defensive players. That's always a hard pill to swallow, but the idea of the loss just got even worse on a large scale.
The Giants did not bring back safety Xavier McKinney during the 2024 offseason. Now, he is a starter for the Green Bay Packers.
Losing safety Xavier McKinney will harshly hurt the Giants in 2024
The Giants safety room is barren, with little proven talent. McKinney was arguably their top player on the entire defense – let alone the secondary only. Deonte Banks is expected to be the leader of the back end for New York, but McKinney will be missed.
Pro Football Focus ranked McKinney as the 8th-best safety in the entire NFL.
McKinney had a breakout 2023 season, recording a career-high 87.5 PFF overall grade that ranked fourth among safeties. And it came in a contract year. He subsequently cashed in with the Packers on a four-year, $67 million deal.
The former New York Giant played a full season for just the second time in his four years in the NFL, and he made the most of it, ranking first among safeties in PFF coverage grade (91.2). McKinney allowed a 52.3 passer rating in coverage, tied for the fourth-lowest mark at the position, and he was the most targeted safety to not allow a touchdown all season. — PFF
That's a lot of positive feedback for a player that the Giants did not get a long-term deal done with before free agency. As for the Giants, the even bigger takeaways is their lack of talent at the position, according to PFF.
PFF does not have a Giants safety in their top-32 rankings for the position.
There are a handful of rosters with two, or even three, safeties on the list. As for the Giants, they do not have a single one. You can consider that a bit unacceptable from the Giants front office.
The safety position is not one where you must have top-end performances in order to find defensive success, but the roster hole is a massive one for New York. We will see if their young players can step up in 2024.
Former New York Giants star wide receiver compares himself to Malik Nabers as first week of OTAs concludes
Giants great compares Malik Nabers to himself
