The New York Giants cornerbacks had an up-and-down season largely due to injuries that never allowed them to gain any continuity. Their original plan was to start Aaron Robinson, who had an appendectomy that forced him out of Weeks 2 and 3 before a knee injury would end his season on October 4, and Adoree' Jackson, who ended up missing six games with a sprained knee suffered during a punt return.
When healthy, there were times when the cornerbacks looked like a formidable bunch. There were also times when they looked extremely overrated. Overall, eight cornerbacks started for the team this season.
Collectively, they only produced six interceptions. That is never a good thing for a defense, but the silver lining is that when under immense pressure, they typically didn't give up big plays over the top, which helped this defense keep games close.
Still, going into the offseason, there are many questions about this unit and how it will look next season.
Fabian Moreau did not even start the season on the Giants roster. By the end of the season, he had the most starts of any corner on the team. He responded by playing solid football, logging a team-leading ten pass breakups in his 11 starts this year. His 66 tackles were third on the team, and he was second in solo tackles with 50. An unrestricted free agent, Moreau's performance was good enough to earn another season with the team.
When the Giants released James Bradberry, that left the top cornerback duties to Jackson. Jackson started the season with inconsistent play, and then in Week 11, he suffered his knee injury and didn't play again until the playoffs.
To his credit, he played well in the postseason, his performance against the Vikings Justin Jefferson on Wild Card Weekend being epic in helping the team defeat the Vikings. Jackson has never been a guy who intercepted passes, but he has always been a great coverage guy, so the fact that he did not get an interception this season should not be looked at as a negative.
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The Giants claimed Nick McCloud after the Bills waived him in late August. McCloud filled in when Jackson was out during the second half of the season, and the 24-year-old held his own. In the first two games where he replaced Jackson, he recorded back-to-back eight-tackle performances (against the Cowboys and the Commanders).
Like other Giants cornerbacks, McCloud did not haul in an interception. We will see if McCloud will be back with the team next season, but he probably earned himself legitimate consideration.
The nickel position was held down all season by Darnay Holmes. He proved he could thrive in that position as he did in college at UCLA. He spent most of the year chasing around many of the elite receivers in the NFL since so many of the top pass catches are operating from the slot.
Because the defense played so much in nickel and dime packages, Holmes was on the field a lot. Despite only starting a few games, he still played over 60% of the snaps this season. Holmes provides stability at the position in coverage and up on the line of scrimmage as a tackler. He had 38 tackles this season which is a career-best.
Robinson came into the season expecting to be the next man up at cornerback after the Giants parted ways with Bradberry. There were some rough moments early in the preseason before injuries derailed his season.
The rookie third-round pick, CorDale Flott, stepped in for Robinson briefly before dealing with his own injury issues that took him out of the lineup for seven weeks. After he was cleared to return, his effectiveness was inconsistent.
Injuries and performances have left this unit in flux going into the offseason. Is fixing it as simple as a good offseason in this program to elevate the entire unit's play, or do the Giants need to add to this group? What Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll decide will certainly tell what they think of the group they finished the season with.
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