For three years, Deonte Banks has looked completely and totally lost in the New York Giants' secondary.
He couldn't turn his head around to save his life, giving up big plays and making general manager Joe Schoen look ridiculous for trading up to select him 24th overall back in 2023. Banks was lucky to still have a roster spot last year. Schoen refused to let him go -- as he does with most of his draft picks -- turning the 25-year-old into a glorified kick returner. Banks responded by taking one 95 yards to the house against the Raiders in Week 17.
A specialist obviously isn't what New York envisioned when they took him in the first round, and the team made its disappointment clear by declining his fifth-year option earlier this offseason. Yet, the arrival of head coach John Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson has been the ultimate switch-up. Wilson has seemingly unlocked Banks, who has looked like a completely different player this summer.
Welcome back, Deonte Banks. The timing couldn't be any better -- the rest of the cornerback room is falling apart. A relentless wave of injuries has forced Schoen and Co. to look anywhere and everywhere for corner help ahead of Saturday's preseason opener against the Minnesota Vikings.
Enter Ugochukwu Amadi and Sam Webb, who the G-Men signed on Thursday.
Deonte Banks has somehow become the last cornerback the Giants can afford to lose
The situation has become so desperate that New York is now signing guys for the explicit purpose of protecting their former draft bust. We're officially living in crazy times. The casualty list has grown too large for anyone to ignore anymore, with players dropping by the day:
- Paulson Adebo: currently sidelined with an undisclosed injury
- Greg Newsome II: missing team drills due to an ongoing knee issue
- Dru Phillips: suffered a minor knee sprain that's kept him out of practice for the past week
- Jarrick Bernard-Converse: waived with an injury designation
- D.J. James: waived with an injury designation
Oh, and they released David Long, too. So to say the cornerback room is getting overhauled in real time would be one of the biggest understatements of the summer.
Schoen is essentially playing musical chairs with the bottom of the roster to patch these holes. Amadi is an undersized safety/nickel defensive back who won a Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022, while Webb is an outside corner who spent last year with the Cleveland Browns. Expect the two new guys to hit the ground running immediately and see playing time on Saturday.
Talk about trial by fire.
It's a crazy twist when you take a step back and actually think about it. Just a few months ago, most of us thought Banks was as good as gone, an afterthought who would inevitably get cut. Now, the Giants are giving out contracts to -- for all intents and purposes -- random camp bodies with the sole purpose of making sure Banks doesn't get hurt in a meaningless preseason game. How the times have changed, huh?
A strong training camp doesn’t just erase three seasons of bad football, and Banks still has plenty to prove once the games actually count for something. But considering where things stood a few months ago, the fact that the Giants are now bringing in extra players partly to keep him out of harm’s way is pretty freakin' funny.
Apparently, all it took to make Banks indispensable was everyone around him getting hurt. Here's to hoping he can stick and become the corner the team always hoped he'd be.
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