What Should The New York Giants Do At Safety?
As much as the New York Giants linebacker play was sub par, to put it nicely, the play at safety was equally as poor. However, the safeties were relatively healthy compared to the linebackers. Rookie Landon Collins looked out of his element in coverage and was exploited early. He didn’t have success until Steve Spagnuolo moved him to the line of scrimmage. Brandon Meriweather was signed out of necessity and has never been a solid pass defender.
The rest of the depth at safety was either injured or inadequate. Mykelle Thompson and Nat Berhe didn’t play a regular season snap and the Giants have seen what they have in Craig Dahl and Cooper Taylor and it’s not pretty.
The Giants are expecting Collins to improve and he is the future at safety. There’s been talk of making him a hybrid linebacker in the image of Cardinals’ Deone Bucannon, but he’s a special talent and the Giants are short on safeties as it is. Why not turn to free agency to find a safety adept at pass coverage to complement Collins’ ability to play the run and cover close to the line.
Last offseason, the Giants were in the running for safety Devin McCourty before he re-signed with the Patriots for five years and $47.5 million. This offseason, they can’t miss on a big free agent signing.
The prize free agent safety is Pro Bowler Eric Berry. He came back from cancer and had an unbelievable season with the Chiefs. He was the top-rated safety by Pro Football Focus and it will take big money to lure him away from Kansas City.
Then there’s Eric Weddle who desperately wants out of San Diego, but he’ll be in high demand.
Weddle is 30, but he’s played at a high level for the past five years.
The Giants have the 10th pick in the draft and they will likely use that for a prospective weapon on defense. A safety in the first round however would be a huge reach. The Giants could pick up Ohio State’s Vonn Bell or Duke’s Jeremy Cash in the second, but would they really want that much youth anchoring the back end of their secondary?
The Giants have spending money for the offseason burning a hole in their collective pockets. Unfortunately, there are plenty of other holes to fill, not just on defense. Say you’re Jerry Reese,