NY Giants SAF Tyler Nubin Locked in and Ready for Big Second Season

New York Giants safety Tyler Nubin is the type of ambitious player who, whenever he steps on the football field, wants to ensure that he leaves his mark on the game and does so at a very high level for his team every Sunday.

After being selected by the Giants in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft, it's hard to argue that the 24-year-old safety failed at that mission. Nubin was tasked with filling the big void left in the top of the franchise's secondary by Xavier McKinney, but turned it into one of the most productive campaigns on that side of the ball last season.

Nubin, who was one of the most active defenders in college football coming out of Minnesota, tallied a whopping 98 total tackles, including 57 solo tackles, one forced fumble, and one pass deflection, which finished second on the Giants' leaderboard, behind only Micah McFadden with 107 tackles.

By being thrown into the fire right away as a rookie, Nubin had to ensure that his fundamental skills, such as strong tackling in the open field, were ready to translate to an important role at the professional level. It was a lot of learning on the fly, but he appreciates it as he hits the ground running for his second season in New York.

"Rookie year, it was a lot of learning," Nubin said while looking back at his first season after Day 2 of Giants' training camp.

"A lot of new experiences for me, but I'm glad I got them because all those experiences now I can put in my tool belt, my Rolodex of things that I can use to help myself be successful in the future. This year, I'm focused on improving. Just getting better every single day and becoming a leader and leading by example."

At the same time, there was a lot that Nubin would admit he left on the table in a shortened campaign. The first was an unfortunate ankle injury that cut his NFL debut short at 13 games when he was on the cusp of finishing as the Giants' most productive defender.

And while he was one of the best tacklers in the Giants' defensive huddle, with a 79.4 grade, according to Pro Football Focus, there wasn't much evidence of any ball hawking in his reps out in coverage. Unlike his days in Minnesota, the rookie very rarely got his hands on the football or turned it over the other way, two things he strives to do more of as he seeks to become a true impact player.

"I got a lot of goals for myself this year, but I'm going to keep those to myself. I'm going to let my play speak for itself and let everybody else decide what it is at the end of the day.

"I always want to be an impact player. That's what I pride myself on, is being somebody that when it's crunch time, I'm going to show up."

Brian Daboll is a Big Nubin Fan