NY Giants Cornerbacks Coach Jeff Burris Shares the Advice He’s Given to Deonte Banks

After an encouraging rookie campaign in 2023, Banks appeared to take a step backward between being expected to guard against the opponent’s No. 1 receiver and play more press coverage than he had in his first season under then-defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. 

Last year was a different story, as Shane Bowen, who replaced Martindale as defensive coordinator, ran more zone coverage, which often left Banks looking out of place and frustrated.

The Giants, in an effort to help Banks and the cornerbacks room in general, replaced defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson, another former NFL defensive back, with Burris.

So far, Banks seems to have taken better to Burris’s coaching; the former Maryland defender posted an 88.8 coverage grade, third-best among the Giants' cornerbacks this preseason (13 coverage snaps).

“I've definitely seen improvement. He's more involved. He's asking questions that he otherwise wouldn't have been. He's more relaxed,” Burris said of Banks. 

“The room that's made him more relaxed because of the other guys will challenge him, not just from a competitive standpoint, but in the classroom.”

Burris grinned as he recalled a conversation he had with cornerbacks coach/defensive passing game coordinator Marquand Manuel about Banks during a recent classroom session.

“He was answering some questions that were not directed to him,” he said. Kudos to him. He's working at getting better at everything that he's doing, and we'll see where it leads to.”

One of the biggest areas that Burris and Manuel have been stressing in practice to the defensive banks is the importance of tracking the ball when it’s in flight.

“We play the game to attack the football. We got the best receiver and one of the best receivers on our team (Malik Nabers), and you watch him track the ball, and see him go attack the ball in the air. You're like, ‘Hey, that's the mindset you gotta have.’” Burris said when asked specifically about Banks and his inconsistency in tracking the ball. 

“We do something daily from a ball disruption aspect of it, but we wanna make sure that guys are attacking the football in the air. I mean, it's one thing to lead the league and PBUs, but it's another thing to lead the league in interceptions.” 

Burris believes that by drilling the importance of tracking the ball in flight and all the little details, regardless of whether it’s film study, a walkthrough, or a full-fledged practice, doing so will become second nature to Banks.

“The one thing that we talk about is that we as humans do what we do in our most relaxed state, which is what we're gonna do at crunch time. So when we're going through walkthroughs and the ball is in the air, turn and track the ball,” he said. 

“You want to try to attack the ball because that's what you're gonna do when the pressure comes, you're gonna fall to the level of your training. If you're consistently doing it, your body's gonna react to it and do what you know, naturally to do.”

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