Breaking Down New York Giants' Situation at Safety

Safety first? According to both fans and media, one of the New York Giants' biggest offseason needs was the safety position.

The Giants' personnel department, as is often the case, saw things differently. Just as it was prepared to roll with the youth movement last year before a rash of injuries wiped out prospects Nat Berhe (calf), Mykkele Thompson (Achilles) and Bennett Jackson (knee), it's prepared to do so again this year.

Will the plan work or are the Giants about to become the poster children for the old Albert Einstein theory that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results?

Let’s have a look.

2015 in Review

With the contracts of Stevie Brown and Antrel Rolle having expired, the Giants decided to go with the kids, a group that includes Berhe, Jackson, Thompson, Landon Collins and Cooper Taylor—all draft picks.

Whatever was in the water at the team headquarters last summer most certainly didn’t agree with the safeties, who fell faster than a roll of pennies dropped from atop the Empire State Building.

By the time training camp was over, only Collins and Taylor survived unscathed, although Collins did have an early camp scare with his knee.

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

The aforementioned injuries forced the Giants' personnel department to jump headfirst into the bargain bin for veteran depth. On paper, the plan sounded good—except for one problem: When a veteran, even a former All-Pro like Brandon Meriweather, is still available late in the summer, that should raise all kinds of red flags.

Not in a position to be choosy, the Giants signed Meriweather to fill one spot. Later in the summer, they re-signed Stevie Brown after Houston waived him, but Brown’s stay was short-lived.

New York instead turned to veteran Craig Dahl, who had been with the Giants during defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s first tenure with the team.

While Collins finished second in run support with a 9.0 run-stop percentage among safeties who played at least 75 percent of their team’s snaps, the combination of Dahl, Meriweather, Taylor and Collins wasn’t very effective in coverage. Not one of those four finished with an NFL rating lower than 108.1 (Dahl posted the best rating of the group).

2016 Outlook: Where Can This Unit Improve?

The obvious starting point for this group would be to keep everyone healthy so that management doesn’t have to dig through the bargain bin to find outside help.

Otherwise, no one really knows what this young group—which now includes rookie draft pick Darian Thompson—is capable of doing in live action. Outside of Collins, of course.

“It’s difficult. It’s essentially their first year all over again,” head coach Ben McAdoo told reporters regarding what they have with the young safeties.

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

However, most of the youngsters do have one advantage in their corner, and that is a year in the system, which McAdoo is hoping will allow them to hit the ground running.

“They were able to get their hands around it mentally last year and now they have a chance to go out and perform.”

What about the rookie Thompson? Spagnuolo praised the third-round pick for being vocal during the rookie camp, and apparently nothing has changed now that Thompson is working with the veterans.

“He hasn’t backed down from the communication part of things. You see that and it’s evident,” McAdoo said. “He also has a nose for the football, whether it’s picking a ball off or being able to scoop and score. That part of the game comes natural for him.”

So, too, has learning the playbook.

“It’s been fine,” Thompson said, according to Inside Football. “It’s my job now so I don’t have to worry about anything else but football.

“They throw (the playbook) at you. I’m doing a good job. I’m trying to get better day by day. All I can do is continue to study.”

Experience is going to be the best friend of these young players who can expect to see a lot of snaps this summer in the preseason games. At that point, the coaches should have a better idea of what they have.

The X-Factor: The Identity of the Free Safety

Last year, the Giants and Collins were rather adamant in trying to convince people that the then-rookie out of Alabama was more than just a box safety.

Of course, with the injury situation spiraling out of control, Spagnuolo had no choice but to push Collins beyond his comfort level, and the results weren’t always pretty.

Jim O'Connor-USA TODAY Sports

Collins famously dropped a Tom Brady interception late in the game that allowed the New England Patriots to score on the final drive to beat the Giants.

In addition, his 127.5 NFL rating in coverage was the worst among the Giants' safeties who played in at least 25 percent of the defensive snaps last year, as he allowed 74.2 percent of the passes thrown at him to be complete for a team-leading five touchdowns allowed (among Giants safeties and cornerbacks).

Despite his struggles, it’s hard to imagine that Collins will be removed from the starting lineup.

However, the Giants really need to hope that they have a true center fielder who can take care of business down the field and allow Collins to play to his strengths.

Questions 

Who Is the Best Candidate for the Starting Free Safety? 

It’s definitely too soon to declare a winner in this race, but based on how the coaching staff has been lining up the different units, it looks like it’s going to come down to Berhe, a fifth-rounder, and rookie Darian Thompson, a third-rounder.

NJ Advance Media for NJ.com via USA TODAY Sports

Both players have taken snaps with the starting unit, and both have looked good so far. Thompson had a big scoop-and-score recovery of a forced fumble by linebacker Jonathan Casillas in the fourth OTA.

Berhe drew some praise from McAdoo after the fourth OTA. “Nat has looked good,” the coach said. “He’s moving around fine. He’s playing high, he’s playing low and he seems to have a good grasp of things.”

Again, though, right now it’s shorts and shells with no contact. When the tempo gets turned up a notch, that’s when we’ll see just who has the edge in this competition.

How Many Safeties Will They Keep and Who Will They Be?

I’m projecting four: Berhe, Collins and both Thompsons.

I don’t think Cooper Taylor, who is once again missing valuable practice time while dealing with an injury, is going to make the final cut.

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

The difficult cut here is Bennett Jackson. He made the switch to safety last year, but I’m wondering if Jackson returns to his original position of cornerback at some point this summer and becomes the swingman at safety and corner.

As things stand now, the depth at cornerback is a lot more questionable than the depth at safety, and Jackson is a smart and underrated player who is also a demon on special teams.

Unless injuries force the coaching staff to rob from one spot to fill another, it would be hard not to see Jackson sticking as the swingman in that defensive backfield—a position, by the way, that the Giants usually like to have filled.

Key Newcomer

Darian Thompson, 6’1”, 213 lbs, Boise State

For the second year in a row, the Giants devoted a premium pick on a safety who looks the part but comes with some concerns—at least based off his combine performance, where he clocked in at 4.69 seconds in the 40-yard dash, according to NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks.

William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports

Brooks went on to observe that teams “will struggle believing Thompson has enough quickness or range to serve as an over-the-top defender in a single-high defense” despite the youngster's 17 career interceptions.

Thompson did post a 4.6 in the 40 at Boise State’s pro day, per NFL.com’s Gil Brandt. Speed aside, Lance Zierlein’s predraft scouting report on NFL.com suggested that Thompson has “below-average man cover skills and a lack of awareness in zone coverage,” and has allowed “too many big plays” due to busted coverage or failure to execute.

Zierlein concluded that “Thompson does his best work near the line of scrimmage and has the frame and demeanor to become a box safety in the league, but it might take time.”

If that prediction proves to be true, the Giants better cross their fingers that Spagnuolo can figure out a way to work around that safety group.  

Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Advanced stats courtesy of Pro Football Focus unless otherwise noted.

Follow me on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.