The NY Giants made a curious free agent signing on Tuesday when they added veteran cornerback Brandon Williams, formally of the Arizona Cardinals.
Just when you thought the NY Giants were done taking on Arizona Cardinal retreads, GM Dave Gettleman is back for one more go-around as he signed another Arizona castoff in the form of cornerback Brandon Williams in an attempt to patch up the secondary.
The Big Blue defense is hurting for cornerback help despite having the position seem to be a strong point of the roster just a few short months ago. The team almost came to terms with vet Ross Cockrell recently only to see the deal fall apart at the last minute due to money, and Williams doesn’t have near the NFL acumen that Cockrell has.
Yet, it’s easy to see why Gettleman is intrigued in bringing on the 27-year-old former five-star college runningback recruit. At 6’0”, 200 pounds, Williams has the necessary size to play the boundary corner position and he ran a blazing 4.37 at the combine in 2016.
After starting three games as a rookie back in that 2016 season, Williams hasn’t started another game since and missed all of 2019 with back and shoulder injuries.
During his last action at corner in 2018, the former Texas A&M Aggie was torched to the tune of a 136.7 QB rating while possessing a 16.7% missed tackle percentage over just 85 defensive snaps.
Did the NY Giants find their new kick returner?
While he didn’t find his way into the defensive backfield often in 2018, Brandon Williams was given a chance to show what he could do as a kick returner with the Cardinals. Right now, the NY Giants don’t have a clear-cut return man as second-year pro Corey Ballentine seems to be penciled in at the moment.
Ballentine had a solid rookie season returning kicks, averaging 25.6 yards per return with a long of 52. Williams returned 10 kicks for 197 yards in 2018, although his athletic upside and history or a runningback suggests hes capable of putting up a much heftier average.
Ballentine and Williams will seemingly be competing for two spots during the rest of training camp, as they figure to battle both for the #2 corner job and the kick returning gig.
Ever since Sam Beal shockingly opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns on the eve of the deadline and DeAndre Baker’s ongoing legal problems before that, the NY Giants have had a major hole at the boundary cornerback position.
Rookie corner Darnay Holmes has impressed so far at camp but he projects as a slot corner first and foremost.