You gotta love the confidence. With great confidence might come a league-issued drug test, though.
Some unsolicited advice here, but maybe wait until you play a regular-season game, or even a snap, before claiming that the New York Giants’ cornerback room is the best in the NFL. Maybe?
There’s no doubt that the vibes coming out of Big Blue’s corner room are astronomically high after a strong offseason, capped by an even stronger preseason. In three exhibition games, New York’s secondary deleted its opponents’ passing attacks, giving up 289 total passing yards on a 53% completion percentage (35-of-66), allowing one passing touchdown and forcing one interception.
Apparently, coming down from that preseason high -- one that came against mostly backups, mind you -- is harder than it looks, because presumed CB1 Greg Newsome had some potentially misplaced high praise for the group when asked about fellow corners Deonte Banks and Colton Hood on Wednesday after practice:
"I think we got the best cornerback room in the league."Greg Newsome
Greg Newsome just gave Giants cornerbacks a whole lot to prove
First off, you gotta love hearing this from the new guy. This is a position group that could use all the confidence it can get, and Newsome has apparently been in East Rutherford long enough to become just as delusional as the rest of us Giants fans. Welcome aboard, Greg.
I’m not here to challenge his opinion, and you have to have confidence to make it in the NFL, but this feels like an unnecessary target to put on the backs of a group that could still be the weakest position unit on the entire team. Why even set yourselves up like that?
It's clear that new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson -- a defensive backs guy -- has done a good job with the group so far. Banks looks like a completely different player, and Newsome has finally looked like he's hit his stride. But this team has been struggling to find a cornerback worthy of being considered a lockdown since James Bradberry back in 2020.
Here are the Giants’ top four corners’ Pro Football Focus grades and rankings from last season to give you more of an idea of how... interesting Newsome’s confidence in the corner room is:
Player | Overall grade, rank | Coverage grade, rank |
|---|---|---|
42.4, (112th/114) | 45.0, (110th/114) | |
58.4, (74th/114) | 57.9, (75th/114) | |
63.0, (56th/114) | 65.4, (48th/114) | |
55.4, (85th/114) | 56.8, (81st/114) |
First off, let me say that I don’t necessarily believe that advanced analytics tell the whole story, but they do tell part of it, and if that table is any indication, they’re far from the “best cornerback room in the league.” Heck, they’re probably not even the best CB unit in the NFC East, with the Eagles rostering Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and Riq Woolen.
Fortunately -- or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it -- Newsome and Co. are getting thrown right in the deep end in the first two weeks of the season, going up against the high-flying passing attacks of the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams, respectively.
So we’ll find out pretty quickly if Newsome is onto something or if this was just a new teammate gassing up the lads. Either way, you have to love the optimism. You called your shot, Greg. Now go make us all look a little less delusional.
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