Ahead of New York Giants training camp, all of the buzz is around the 2025 rookie class. Fans are anxious to see third overall pick Abdul Carter take the NFL field for the first time, and we know it's only a matter of time before quarterback Jaxson Dart gets his shot.
But there's a returning Giants draft pick who isn't getting enough love: Dru Phillips.
Phillips, a third-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, has just one season under his belt. While Giants fans got a great look at the former Kentucky Wildcats cornerback in 2024, Phillips isn't being talked about around the league... but he should be.
As a slot cornerback, Phillips is hardly the most popular player on the team. Over 17 games as a rookie in 2024, Phillips played merely 45 snaps as a boundary cornerback, but played from the slot on 506 snaps, per Pro Football Focus' charting.
In his first season, Phillips was credited with allowing 9.3 yards per reception while giving up a touchdown and surrendering a 91.9 passer rating. However, his rookie season was significantly more impressive than the numbers seem to indicate. In fact, the Giants could be sitting on a breakout star in 2025.
New York Giants' Dru Phillips could emerge as one of the NFL's top nickel cornerbacks in 2025
Dru Phillips' 5'10 3/4'', 190-pound frame would be a bit underwhelming if he were asked to play on the outside. However, for a nickel CB, this is all the size he needs. And Phillips has the athletic traits to prove that he has a high ceiling. During the 2024 NFL Combine, the Kentucky product ran a 4.48 40-yard dash while recording a 42-inch vertical jump and a 135-inch broad jump—both of which ranked in the 97th percentile among NFL cornerbacks, per Mockdraftable's database.
But Phillips is far more than just a great athlete who happens to play slot cornerback.
During his rookie season, Phillips showed off both his coverage chops and run defense ability. In coverage, the third-round pick earned a 77.0 overall grade from PFF (which ranked 13th among all NFL cornerbacks) while posting an impressive 78.1 run defense grade (18th in the NFL).
His well-rounded play led to the rookie cornerback earning the 8th-best grade among all qualifying cornerbacks in the league last year. This topped players like Eagles rookie Quinyon Mitchell, as well as veterans like Jalen Ramsey, Jaylon Johnson, and Christian Gonzalez.
If Phillips is able to build on his quietly impressive rookie campaign, he could enter the discussion with the best nickel cornerbacks in the league, like Cooper DeJean, Garrett Williams, Marlon Humphrey, Devon Witherspoon, and Kyler Gordon.
New York Giants fans are pumped to watch high-profile players like Dexter Lawrence, Abdul Carter, Malik Nabers, and Brian Burns this year, but Dru Phillips is a player everyone seems to be sleeping on, and this team could be sitting on a gold mine that the general NFL media doesn't even know about.