NY Giants roster: Why the secondary is strongest position in 2021

The NY Giants’ secondary stands out as the strongest position on the current team roster. Pro Football Focus ranked them 7th best in the league.

The NY Giants‘ secondary stands out as the strongest position on the current team roster heading into 2021.

The safeties include Logan Ryan, Jabrill Peppers, Julian Love, and Xavier McKinney, and starting cornerbacks include James Bradberry and Adoree Jackson, and Darnay Holmes in the slot.

In 2020, the group finished ninth in points and 12th in yards allowed in the league. They also ranked fifth in the NFL in passing touchdowns allowed, and the defense’s red-zone mark of just 50.8 percent touchdowns allowed finished second.

Pro Football Focus released their ranking of the best secondaries in the NFL entering the upcoming season, and the Giants came in seventh.

Just the year before, they were ranked as one of the worst.

This secondary, especially the safety group, is loaded and so versatile because, between the four guys, they all have different skill sets that allow defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to mix up his coverages. There’s also a mix of veterans and youthful guys between Ryan and Bradberry, and McKinney and Holmes.

Bradberry is coming off his best season in the NFL and will only get better with the addition of Adoree’ Jackson across from him. Jackson is good at fighting through a wide receiver’s block, and also has nice speed.

This unit is highly motivated and they all have amazing work ethic.

Ryan took some of the defensive backs down to Tampa, Florida, in May to train and bond together:

Graham said, courtesy of Sports Illustrated, “You can’t have enough good DB’s because as you could see throughout the league, just take a look at teams that would be in the Super Bowl.”

He continued saying, “Tampa Bay– they were five or six deep at wide receiver plus they had tight ends and they are going to have another tight end coming back. So you have to be able to cover these guys.”