Who Will Win New York Giants' Slot Cornerback Battle?
Hindsight might be 20/20, but if there was one free-agency loss that the New York Giants had in the offseason that loomed the largest, it was cornerback Walter Thurmond III moving down the turnpike to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The loss of Thurmond, who played only two games for the Giants last year before suffering a season-ending pectoral injury, left the team without a long-term slot cornerback waiting in the wings.
At the time, there was hope that, with free agency just getting started and the draft coming up, the Giants might find a quality long-term replacement for Thurmond, who in 2013 finished with a 69.5 NFL rating, making him the seventh-best nickel cornerback among those who took at least 50 percent of their teams' snaps at that position, according to Pro Football Focus.
Fast-forward to the present: The bulk of free agency is over, and the draft is in the books—and yet the Giants have yet to address the vacancy.
At the rookie minicamp May 9, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo told reporters that there is still a question regarding the direction the team will take to fill that critical position:
"That’s one we’re trying to feel through, to be honest with you. You’ll probably see as we go through the OTA’s that there’ll be a number of guys working in and out of there. In this league nowadays, there are a lot of three wideout sets. That means you’ve got to match them in a lot of cases and put another DB out there, so I’m not sure I have an answer for that right now. There were some guys that did it a little bit last year and some guys that we added.
"
The Giants did have another opportunity to fill the position when the New England Patriots released cornerback Kyle Arrington, who—per Pro Football Focus—finished with an 83.9 NFL rating working in coverage as the nickelback, putting him at 20th among slot cornerbacks last season.
In addition, his 12.6 cover snaps per reception (the number of catches he allowed when targeted as the nickel cornerback by opposing offenses) tied him for fifth with former teammate Patrick Chung.
However, the Giants did not agree with the popular consensus that they should reach out to Arrington, according to Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News:
The Giants appear to be ready to work with what they currently have on their roster for this critical position, a group that includes Trumaine McBride, Mike Harris, Chandler Fenner, Jayron Hosley and Chykie Brown.
While it will all come down to performances this spring and summer, let’s take a look at some history in trying to determine who might have the best chance of winning this crucial role.
The Experience Factor
Let’s first look at the experience factor, using stats from Pro Football Focus that detail how many snaps each candidate has had playing the nickelback role in his career.
| McBride, Trumaine | 7 | 149 |
| Harris, Mike | 3 | 561 |
| Fenner, Chandler | 1 | 2 |
| Hosley, Jayron | 3 | 276 |
| Brown, Chykie | 4 | 19 |
| Gordy, Josh | 5 | 208 |
With the Giants in a win-now mode and the new defense being installed by Spagnuolo needing to hit the ground running, it’s probably a safe bet to assume that the coaching staff will be looking at candidates who have significant career experience playing the nickelback role.
If so, that would eliminate Fenner and Brown from consideration, given their respective snaps in the role.
Let’s now look at those who have the experience and see how they’ve done with their snaps, again using data pulled from various pages at Pro Football Focus.
Performance
| McBride | 17 | 13 | 134 | 1 | 1 | 93.7 |
| Harris | 91 | 66 | 627 | 3 | 1 | 97.6 |
| Gordy | 27 | 20 | 248 | 1 | 0 | 114.4 |
| Hosley | 14 | 10 | 186 | 2 | 0 | 153.2 |
Trumaine McBride (5’10”, 185 lbs)
When the team lost Thurmond for the season, McBride, then in his second season as a Giants defensive back, took over the slot cornerback role, playing 117 snaps in that position and allowing opponents to complete 12 of 16 pass attempts for 123 yards and one touchdown, with just one interception, for a 91.4 NFL rating.
To be fair, McBride had taken only 10 snaps as the slot cornerback the year before for the Giants and had been used sparingly before that.
Prior to the 2013 season, McBride, who was out of football in 2012, hadn’t played the slot cornerback position since 2010—when, as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, he took 12 snaps.
What this indicates about McBride, who is entering the final year of his contract, is that he is a quick learner who can adapt to almost any situation, something that Spagnuolo noted in his comments to the media.
“I thought he showed a pretty good feel for being there,” he said of McBride.
The statistics for the work produced support that opinion.
Jayron Hosley (5’10”, 178 lbs)
Initially, when Hosley was drafted out of Virginia Tech, general manager Jerry Reese told reporters that he expected the young defensive back to be a part of the team’s nickel package, per Jorge Castillo of the Star-Ledger:
"He’s not a big man, but this guy has athletic arrogance and he plays like he’s a big guy. His skill set, he reminds me of Adam Jones, Pacman, when he came out. He plays kind of like that. This guy, he runs in there like a little linebacker. He throws himself in there and he has outstanding cover skills. He’s productive, he can intercept the ball. So we expect him to be in our nickel packages.
"
The problem with Hosley, who before being drafted reportedly failed a combine drug test, according to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer and Alex Marvez, is that he never panned out.
If it wasn’t injuries keeping him off the field, it was a four-game suspension that he incurred at the start of last year after violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.
When he was on the field, he didn’t do much to help himself. Last season, Hosley finished with a 153.3 NFL rating, the worst NFL rating of all the Giants corners.
By the end of last season, it spoke volumes—loud volumes—that despite being healthy, Hosley was inactive for the Giants’ final five games of the season.
While Hosley remains on the current training-camp roster, his future with this team—and hence his chances of winning the nickelback spot—don’t look promising.
Josh Gordy (5’11”, 196 lbs)
The Giants signed Gordy, listed as a cornerback in PFF’s records for last season, a couple of weeks before the draft to provide some experience at the safety position.
Actually, Gordy probably figures to be the swingman at cornerback and safety, with more of his efforts likely focused at safety for the immediate future due to the inexperience the Giants have at the position—where he could potentially be that third safety if he hangs on to a roster spot and Spagnuolo decides to utilize that package.
Mike Harris (5’10”, 188 lbs)
Of all the candidates, Harris has been targeted the most, a fact that can be both good and bad.
Let’s zoom in on the 2014 season and compare Harris’ production to McBride’s.
| Harris | 21 | 14 | 88 | 0 | 1 |
| McBride | 15 | 12 | 123 | 1 | 1 |
Based on last year’s stats, Harris was the more productive of the two, allowing 6.28 yards per reception to McBride’s 10.25 yards per reception.
Harris also allowed opponents to complete just 66.6 percent of the pass targets thrown his way, less than the 86.6 percent that McBride allowed.
And the Projected Winner Is…
Both Harris and McBride are coming to the ends of their respective contracts after this season. Of the two, the Giants will likely retain only one moving forward—that being whoever emerges victorious in the slot cornerback competition.
Based on experience and performance, Harris—who, by the way, is just 26 years old—appears to be the best fit for the slot cornerback role, though he’ll have to prove it all over again to a new defensive coordinator and in a new defensive system.
What’s interesting is that Harris, like McBride, spent some time away from the game (though not by choice).
Whereas McBride sat out the entire 2012 season, Harris was unemployed for six weeks to start the 2014 season before landing on the Detroit Lions practice squad until the Giants came calling.
The Giants' decision to roll with what they have is a gamble, but it's one that they hope pans out. If Harris does emerge as the winner in this competition, given his youth, he could end up removing the all-important nickelback spot from the team’s list of concerns for several years.
Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand, unless otherwise sourced.
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