The free safety battle between Andrew Adams and Darian Thompson will define the trajectory of the defense and the New York Giants as a whole.
The New York Giants boast one of the most dominant defensive units in the NFL. With virtually every key player but Johnathan Hankins set to return, the working theory is that Steve Spagnuolo’s unit will continue to excel.
With just over two months until the 2017 NFL regular season begins, however, all eyes should be on the potential missing piece: Darian Thompson.
Thompson was selected in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft, but played just two games before suffering a season-ending injury. As Thompson prepares to return from the Lisfranc injury that required sidelining surgery, all eyes are on his progression.
While the Giants may be dominant on defense already, it’s a player like Thompson who could push New York over the edge.
The hurdle for Thompson to overcome is the fact that, in his absence, Andrew Adams turned heads. He worked his way up from the practice squad and emerged as one of the more consistent free safeties in the NFL.
According to Dan Duggan of NJ.com, safeties coach Dave Merritt acknowledged how well Adams played in 2016 and made it clear that the starting job won’t be handed to Thompson.
"“I would be remiss to say that, ‘OK, no, Andrew is not in the picture, it’s all about Landon and Darian Thompson,'” safeties coach Dave Merritt said. “That wouldn’t be correct because (Adams) came from the practice squad to all of the sudden starting multiple games for us. So I’m not going to end up throwing this kid out and saying, ‘You know what, now that Darian Thompson is back you just stay here and wait.'”"
Adams’ emergence may have been the best thing to happen to both Thompson and the Giants.
The job on the line is one that New York simply can’t afford to downplay the importance of. First and foremost, the starter at free safety would be playing alongside, arguably, the best strong safety in the NFL: Landon Collins.
The fact that Eric Berry was the only safety ranked ahead of Collins on the NFL 100 is a fair indication of how his peers view him.
More important than who’s at strong safety, however, is the responsibility of covering up for New York’s most glaring weakness: the linebacker positions.
General manager Jerry Reese has built a team that relies on the strength of the defensive line and the secondary. Damon Harrison, Jason Pierre-Paul, and Olivier Vernon are stars along the line, and Collins, Janoris Jenkins, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie carry the same label in the secondary.
The Giants’ linebacker corps ranked amongst the worst in the NFL in 2016, however, and minimal progress has been made from a personnel perspective.
Thus, whether it’s Adams or Thompson who earn the starting job at free safety, they’ll need to be on their game.
Being the last line of defense is common for a safety, but New York takes that to an entirely different level and extreme. The linebacker corps ranked amongst the worst in the NFL against the run, and it wasn’t much better in coverage.
The decision made by Steve Spagnuolo, Merritt, and Bob McAdoo will define the quality of the defense and the trajectory of the season.
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Whether it’s Andrew Adams or Darian Thompson, the New York Giants need to make the right decision at free safety to successfully compensate for the linebacker corps.