DB Notes: Giants, Banks, Saints, Simmons, Panthers, Johnson, Dolphins
Deonte Banks has not come especially close to living up to his first-round draft slot. The Giants declined the cornerback’s fifth-year option in May. Although Cor’Dale Flott joined the Titans in free agency, the Giants made two significant cornerback investments — free agent Greg Newsome and second-round pick Colton Hood — in Banks’ contract year. New Giants secondary coach Addison Lynch said (via the New York Post’s Paul Schwartz) that Banks’ first-round traits are “absolutely” visible, but Schwartz adds the Giants will not save a roster spot for the corner if he only profiles as a kick-return option.
Newsome worked opposite Paulson Adebo as the boundary CB starter during the Giants’ offseason program, Schwartz adds. The former Browns and Jaguars corner joins Banks and Hood in vying for the job. Banks entered a third season as a starter last year but saw Flott replace him. Flott joined the Titans on a three-year, $45MM contract, but Newsome and Hood being added by the John Harbaugh-led regime makes Banks’ status worth monitoring ahead of the August roster-setting deadline. Banks is due a guaranteed $2.6MM base salary and counts $4.32MM on the Giants’ cap sheet.
Here is the latest from NFL secondaries weeks away from training camp:
- A year after losing Adebo, the Saints saw Alontae Taylor depart in free agency. Taylor joins Flott in Tennessee, signing a three-year deal worth $58MM. The team’s offseason program brought a combination of Kool-Aid McKinstry and Quincy Riley at outside cornerback, according to ESPN.com’s Katherine Terrell. The Saints looked into adding a corner early in the draft — to the point the Chiefs traded in front of them for LSU’s Mansoor Delane — but they did sign former Browns starter Martin Emerson. The ex-Cleveland perimeter starter could be heard from in training camp, but he joins Julian Blackmon as Saints DB vets coming off a missed season. Emerson suffered an Achilles tear last summer.
- Jonas Sanker, who spent the bulk of his time at free safety last season, regularly saw work in the slot during New Orleans’ offseason work, Terrell adds. A 2025 third-round pick, Sanker stepped in after Blackmon suffered a season-ending injury last summer. The Saints re-signed Blackmon shortly after the season, Terrell adds the former Colts starter worked alongside Justin Reid as a safety starter during 11-on-11 drills at minicamp. DC Brandon Staley viewed Sanker as a clear-cut candidate to replace Taylor, who logged 924 slot snaps from 2024-25, and it looks like that will be the Saints’ plan for the second-year player.
- Dolphins first-round pick Chris Johnson saw time inside and on the boundary during the Dolphins’ offseason program. The Dolphins need help at both spots, and ESPN.com’s Marcel Louis-Jacques notes the San Diego State product will fill one of them as a rookie-year starter. We have heard about slot and perimeter roles for Johnson this offseason, but it appears clear a thin Miami secondary will turn to the No. 27 overall pick as a first-stringer.
- Had Justin Simmons chosen to play in 2025, the former All-Pro safety would have joined the Panthers. The recently retired standout, who played for the Falcons in 2024 after eight Broncos seasons, told veteran insider Jordan Schultz he came closest to joining Carolina — which would have brought a reunion with ex-Denver DC Ejiro Evero — last season. Simmons said he spoke most frequently to the Panthers about a role last year, with conversations extending into the season. Mentioning how his Atlanta stay was difficult for his family, Simmons said he was only interested in joining a Super Bowl contender last year. Although Simmons was drafted by a defending Super Bowl champion in 2016, he never played in a postseason game in nine seasons. The 33-year-old finished his career as a four-time All-Pro, however.
Giants Have Three Contenders For CB2 Job
The Giants’ secondary took a hit when they unexpectedly lost cornerback Cor’Dale Flott to the Titans on a three-year, $45MM pact in free agency. They have since made multiple moves to address the position, having brought in Greg Newsome on a one-year, $8MM deal and drafted Colton Hood in the second round. One of those two could win Flott’s old starting job this summer.
Although Paulson Adebo fell short of expectations in the first season of a three-year, $54MM contract in 2025, he will enter the upcoming campaign as a starter. There is a battle among Newsome, Hood and 2023 first-rounder Deonte Banks for the other spot, per Dan Duggan of The Athletic. For now, Hood is behind Newsome and Banks, according to Duggan.
Newsome has racked up 58 starts in 71 games since the Browns chose him 26th overall in the 2021 draft. He did enough over his first three seasons for the Browns to exercise his $13.38MM fifth-year option for 2025, but Newsome did not finish his contract in Cleveland. The Browns demoted the 6-foot, 192-pounder to a lesser role for most of 2024, and though he got his starting gig back last year, they traded him to the Jaguars for fellow corner Tyson Campbell in early October.
Between Cleveland and Jacksonville, Newsome put together his first 17-game season and totaled 52 tackles, nine passes defensed and the fourth interception of his five-year career. He gave up a 107.5 passer rating on 59 targets, though, and Pro Football Focus ranked his performance a lackluster 88th among 112 qualifiers.
Although the Giants declined Banks’ fifth-year option for 2027 on May 1, their new John Harbaugh-led coaching staff is not ready to throw in the towel on him. Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson has given Banks consistent first-team work this spring. The 6-2, 200-pounder is a “legitimate contender” to reclaim a starting spot in Year 4 of his career, Duggan reports.
Banks, the 24th pick in the 2023 draft, was a full-time starter over his first two seasons. He didn’t play all that well, however, and then-head coach Brian Daboll briefly benched Banks for a lack of effort in his second season. Last year continued a downward trend for Banks, who lost his starting position to Flott. While Banks still appeared in 16 games, opposing passers roasted him for a 126.7 rating on 37 targets. Unsurprisingly, PFF assigned Banks a poor grade, ranking him the league’s third-worst corner out of 112 qualifiers.
While Hood is not a lock to start immediately, the Giants are hopeful he will emerge as a long-term answer. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have drafted Hood 37th overall. They had multiple chances to trade out of that pick, but a desire to take Hood won out, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post relays.
After standout showings at Colorado (2024) and Tennessee (2025), there was pre-draft buzz that Hood would follow Mansoor Delane as the second corner off the board. He ended up as the third, trailing the Chiefs’ Delane (No. 6) and the Dolphins’ Chris Johnson (No. 27). Hood has since gotten some first-team reps with the Giants, but he will have to beat out a couple of veterans in order to start from Day 1.
2027 NFL Fifth-Year Option Tracker
May 1 marked the deadline for teams to decide on fifth-year options on 2023 first-rounders. The 2020 CBA revamped the option structure and made them fully guaranteed, rather than guaranteed for injury only. Meanwhile, fifth-year option salaries are now determined by a blend of performance- and usage-based benchmarks:
- Two-time Pro Bowlers (excluding alternates) will earn the same as their position’s franchise tag
- One-time Pro Bowlers will earn the equivalent of the transition tag
- Players who achieve any of the following will receive the average of the third-20th top salaries at their position:
- At least a 75% snap rate in two of their first three seasons
- A 75% snap average across all three seasons
- At least 50% in each of first three seasons
- Players who do not hit any of those benchmarks will receive the average of the third-25th top salaries at their position
PFR’s Offseason Outlook series examined each of these decisions in-depth. Twenty-two options were exercised this year. Here is how each team with an option decision proceeded with 2023 first-round contracts:
- QB Bryce Young, Panthers ($25.9MM): Exercised
- QB C.J. Stroud, Texans ($25.9MM): Exercised
- DE Will Anderson Jr., Texans ($21.51MM): Exercised
- QB Anthony Richardson, Colts ($22.48MM): Declined
- CB Devon Witherspoon, Seahawks ($21.16MM): Exercised
- LT Paris Johnson Jr., Cardinals ($19.07MM): Exercised
- DE Tyree Wilson, Saints ($14.48MM): Declined
- RB Bijan Robinson, Falcons ($11.32MM): Exercised
- DT Jalen Carter, Eagles ($27.13MM): Exercised
- RT Darnell Wright, Bears ($19.07MM): Exercised
- G Peter Skoronski, Titans ($19.07MM): Exercised
- RB Jahmyr Gibbs, Lions ($14.29MM): Exercised
- LB Lukas Van Ness, Packers ($13.75MM): Exercised
- LT Broderick Jones, Steelers ($19.07MM): Declined
- DE Will McDonald, Jets ($13.75MM): Exercised
- CB Emmanuel Forbes, Rams ($12.63MM): Declined
- CB Christian Gonzalez, Patriots ($18.12MM): Exercised
- LB Jack Campbell, Lions ($21.93MM): Declined
- DL Calijah Kancey, Buccaneers ($14.48MM): Exercised
- WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seahawks ($23.85MM): Exercised
- WR Quentin Johnston, Chargers ($18MM): Exercised
- WR Zay Flowers, Ravens ($27.3MM): Exercised
- WR Jordan Addison, Vikings ($18MM): Exercised
- CB Deonte Banks, Giants ($12.63MM): Declined
- TE Dalton Kincaid, Bills ($8.16MM): Exercised
- DT Mazi Smith, Jets ($13.93MM): Declined
- RT Anton Harrison, Jaguars ($19.07MM): Exercised
- DE Myles Murphy, Bengals ($14.48MM): Declined
- DT Bryan Bresee, Saints ($13.93MM): Exercised
- LB Nolan Smith, Eagles ($13.75MM): Exercised
- DE Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Chiefs ($14.48MM): Declined
Giants To Decline CB Deonte Banks’ Fifth-Year Option
Deonte Banks has not panned out for the Giants, and they have since made other plans at cornerback. A year after signing Paulson Adebo and weeks after their Greg Newsome addition, Banks will not see his contract extended to 2027.
The Giants are making the expected call to decline Banks’ fifth-year option, ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan tweets. Exercising Banks’ option would have guaranteed him $12.63MM for 2027. Today is the deadline on fifth-year option decisions for the 2023 draft class.
[RELATED: 2027 NFL Fifth-Year Option Tracker]
Also using a second-round pick to add Tennessee corner Colton Hood, the Giants appear to be transitioning away from Banks now that John Harbaugh is running the show. GM Joe Schoen drafted Banks 24th overall in 2023, but the fifth-year GM has lost considerable organizational power and is not a lock to be on the job when the season starts. Banks and Evan Neal not delivering on their first-round draft slots have gone in Schoen’s loss column.
Adebo, Newsome, Hood and slot corner Andru Phillips will be roster locks, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan offers. While the Giants reporter expects Banks to make the team, not including the Maryland alum among the locks is notable. Cor’Dale Flott overtook Banks last year, and while he ended up joining a Titans team that now employs Brian Daboll, the Newsome and Hood additions look to leave Banks as a trade candidate. The Colts inquired about Banks at last year’s deadline, and while he did not a kick-return touchdown in the team’s Week 17 win over a noncommitted Raiders squad, the fourth-year cover man has not shown much as a pro.
The Giants used Banks as a full-time starter in 2023 and ’24. The 2024 season did include an effort-based benching, and that seemed to move him to the wrong track. The team signed Adebo to a three-year, $54MM deal in 2025 and eventually gave Flott the top boundary job opposite the ex-Saint.
Major changes have occurred throughout the Giants’ roster this offseason, as Harbaugh now holds the personnel hammer. Banks does not have ties to this coaching staff, making it realistic he is not on the team’s roster by Week 1. The trade deadline may also be relevant for Banks, in case the Giants — as they did with the underperforming Neal last year — carry him onto their 53-man roster as a backup.
Pro Football Focus has viewed Banks as one of the NFL’s worst CBs throughout his career. The advanced metrics site has ranked him outside the top 105 players at the position in each season, slotting him 110th (third-worst among qualified options) in 2025. The team traded up one spot for Banks three drafts ago and deployed him as a starter opposite Adoree’ Jackson. But the once-promising prospect may need a fresh start soon.
Giants Will Release K Graham Gano
7:20pm: Though the transaction has yet to be officially processed, Gano is indeed set to be released, SNY’s Connor Hughes confirms. That will end his six-year tenure in New York and leave him looking for another kicking job, provided he can stay healthy.
1:56pm: Graham Gano was limited to five games in 2025. The veteran kicker still finds himself on the Giants’ roster at this time, but it remains unlikely he will play again for the team. 
Gano is dealing with the neck injury which cut short his 2025 campaign. He has yet to recover, something which The Athletic’s Dan Duggan recently surmised was the reason a release has not yet taken place in this case. His latest piece on the matter confirms Gano is still recovering from surgery. Duggan maintains a cut will be coming at some point, but likely not until the 16-year veteran is able to pass a physical.
Due to the Injury Protection Benefit, a release followed by Gano not signing anywhere could leave the Giants with a $2.1MM cap charge, as Duggan notes. As such, the team can afford to wait until a return to full health in this case. Cutting Gano, 39 next month, any time before or after June 1 will generate $4.5MM in savings against just $1.25MM in dead money. That added flexibility will help a New York team which is currently near the bottom of the NFL in terms of cap space.
Gano has spent the past six seasons kicking for the Giants. He has largely remained one of the league’s more accurate kickers when available during that time, but injuries have increasingly become an issue. Gano has only played 23 games since the start of the 2023 campaign. To no surprise, then, the Giants were among the teams which added a kicker in free agency, signing Jason Sanders. The former Dolphin is joined by Ben Sauls on the roster.
In other roster news, Duggan notes recent addition Greg Newsome is in line to handle the starting cornerback spot vacated when Cor’Dale Flott departed on the open market. With Paulson Adebo in position to operate as a perimeter starter once again, that will relegate former first-rounder Deonte Banks to backup duties. Banks was a starter during his first two seasons, but his playing time dropped sharply in 2025. He could be in store for another year spent without a notable defensive role.
Latest On Sauce Gardner Trade; Jets HC Aaron Glenn’s Job Is Safe
The Jets’ deadline trade sending cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Colts in exchange for a 2026 first-rounder, a 2027 first-rounder, and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell caught many by surprise. However, the foundation for those types of deals is typically laid well in advance of the agreement itself. That is exactly what happened here, as multiple reporters, including Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic (subscription required), detail that the framework of the Gardner deal – and the other swaps New York made – began to take shape in Week 4.
At that time, GM Darren Mougey and his staff began to hold weekly meetings to discuss, among other things, the trade value of each player on the roster. The idea was to avoid recency bias as the November 4 deadline approached and other clubs began making trade offers.
So, although ESPN’s Rich Cimini says the Jets never intended to move Gardner – whom they signed to a four-year, $120.4MM contract extension in July – they did establish what it would take to consider trading him if an offer came in. Per Cimini and Albert Breer of SI.com, that price was indeed two first-rounders and a quality player.
After the Colts’ Week 6 victory over the Cardinals improved their record to 5-1, Breer says Indianapolis’ assistant GM, Ed Dodds, placed calls around the league seeking CB help (Charvarius Ward suffered a concussion prior to the Arizona contest and landed on injured reserve as a result, and rookie Justin Walley sustained a season-ending ACL tear in August). Dodds’ efforts led him to Mougey, who indicated he would listen to offers on anyone on the roster, even if he was not actively looking to trade certain players.
Mougey and Colts GM Chris Ballard then discussed the possibility of a Gardner trade. While Cimini says Ballard initially balked at the asking price, Mougey himself noted Indianapolis’ offers “kept getting richer and richer.” The Colts inquired on the Giants’ Deonte Banks (per Cimini) and the Saints’ Alontae Taylor (as previously reported), but Gardner is on an entirely different tier.
As Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon put it during a conversation with Ballard on the eve of the deadline, “[d]o you want to Band-Aid [the cornerback position] or fix it for the long-term?” (via Breer). When Ballard explained how valuable Gardner could be, particularly considering the importance of CBs in defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s scheme, Irsay-Gordon agreed the long-term fix was the right choice.
According to Cimini, the Jets were emphatic about including Mitchell in the trade. Breer adds Indianapolis grew increasingly amenable to moving the 2024 second-rounder, who had become an afterthought in the team’s offense. With the Jets high on Mitchell and the Colts prepared to move on, all of the pieces for the Gardner trade were in place.
Of course, Gardner was not the only elite defender Mougey jettisoned at the deadline. Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams was sent to the Cowboys in a swap that netted the Jets DT Mazi Smith, a 2026 second-rounder, and the higher of Dallas’ two 2027 first-rounders. Per Breer, Mougey knew the Cowboys would not give back everything they had gotten in the offseason Micah Parsons trade, which is one of the reasons why the GM began to consider a first-rounder in 2027 instead of 2026. The other reason is that he and his staff believe the ‘27 draft class offers more promise than the ‘26 crop. Now, thanks to the Gardner and Williams deals, the Jets have three first-round selections (including their own) in a year they consider to be rife with quality prospects.
Both Brian Costello of the New York Post and Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network write that head coach Aaron Glenn was heavily involved in the trade discussions, which bolsters Rapoport’s report that Glenn will not be a one-and-done coach. Owner Woody Johnson recently called Glenn “the real deal,” and sources tell Rapoport that Glenn will not be judged by the Jets’ 2025 record and will be given a chance to guide the club through its rebuild.
Johnson has a history of being something of a meddlesome owner, but Cimini suggests that was not the case at this year’s deadline. Instead, when his first-year GM and HC told him of the plan to trade Gardner mere months after authorizing a lucrative extension for him, Johnson simply reaffirmed his faith in his top power brokers.
AFC North Rumors: Hendrickson, Njoku, Browns, Ravens
Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic recently reported the Bengals would keep DE Trey Hendrickson through Tuesday’s trade deadline, even if they drop their Week 9 matchup with the Bears to fall to 3-6. ESPN’s Adam Schefter offers some pushback on that front.
Notwithstanding Dehner’s report and similar ones that preceded it, Schefter’s sources say a loss to Chicago could indeed change Cincinnati’s calculus. The Bengals will still see themselves as championship contenders in 2026, and trading Hendrickson will deprive them of exclusive negotiating rights with their top defensive player this offseason.
But negotiations between player and team over the past several years have become contentious and have not yielded a new long-term contract, and a franchise tag will surely not sit well with the four-time Pro Bowler. As such, it would not be surprising if the teams that have already attempted to pry Hendrickson from Cincinnati keep trying to do so, and those efforts may well intensify if the Bengals lose the Chicago contest.
Now for more AFC North trade rumors:
- TE David Njoku has been mentioned as a trade candidate, and while the Browns want to keep as many talented pass catchers as possible in the fold in order to properly evaluate their young signal-callers, SI.com’s Albert Breer believes the right offer could convince them to pull the trigger on Njoku (Breer says Cleveland would also want Njoku to sign off on such a deal). In the same report cited above, Schefter says the Browns are not only disinclined to move Njoku, but that they could actually be aggressive deadline buyers.
- Despite sitting at 3-5, the Ravens are the betting favorites to win the AFC North, so they could look to strengthen their roster at the deadline rather than sell off players on expiring deals. Cornerback had already been identified as an area of need, and Dianna Russini of The Athletic (subscription required) recently reiterated that point. The Athletic colleague Dan Duggan names the Giants’ Deonte Banks – a Baltimore native who has seen a dramatic reduction in playing time this year – as a possible target (though Duggan suggests a Banks trade may be more likely in the offseason).
- Although they are in the market for a CB addition, the Ravens have jettisoned Jaire Alexander to the Eagles in exchange for a minimal return, which is reflective of Alexander’s brief and disappointing Baltimore tenure.
- A club that has been among the most aggressive in seeking a wide receiver, a recent report confirmed the Steelers are still on the lookout for WR help. They have inquired about Raiders wideout Jakobi Meyers, who is arguably the top trade candidate at the position.
CB Rumors: Flott, Giants, Sneed, Titans, Hill, Bengals, Barron, Broncos, Diggs, Packers
The Giants used a first-round pick on Deonte Banks in 2023 but have not seen the Maryland product justify his draft slot yet. This led to the Paulson Adebo signing. While Adebo is entrenched as a first-stringer, Banks may not be merely set to slide from New York’s No. 1 cornerback to a sidekick role. Cor’Dale Flott‘s latest summer ascent continues, as The Athletic’s Dan Duggan notes the fourth-year defender received the first crack at the CB2 role during team drills. This appears a full-on competition. Flott had received minicamp work with the 1s, doing so after he impressed last summer en route to a slot-to-boundary shift.
Banks has started all 29 games he has played; being unable to hold off Flott would represent another setback for the former No. 24 overall pick. Flott would not have a path back to the starting slot role were he to lose this battle, as 2024 third-rounder Dru Phillips resides there now. This competition represents a big chance for the 2022 third-round pick, who is due for free agency in 2026.
Here is the latest from NFL secondaries:
- A quad injury led to a lengthy L’Jarius Sneed absence last season; it was severe enough to end his season five games in. The trade acquisition did not receive full clearance during the Titans’ offseason program; this came before he proclaimed himself fully healthy in late June. Sneed has since landed on the active/PUP list. Brian Callahan said (via ESPN.com’s Turron Davenport) a knee surgery led to placement on the injured list. The knee cleanup, rather than the quad injury, kept Sneed out of Tennessee’s offseason program. An ominous June report suggested anything the Titans receive from Sneed in 2025 would be “a bonus.” This is a situation to monitor, as Sneed is on a four-year, $76.4MM extension.
- In better AFC CB news, Dax Hill avoided Cincinnati’s active/PUP list. Coming back from a Week 5 ACL tear, Hill avoided the Bengals‘ camp injured list despite not participating during Cincy’s offseason program, SI.com’s Jay Morrison notes. While Hill will be eased into work slowly, new DC Al Golden said the former first-round pick — a converted safety — has the flexibility to play outside or in the slot. Hill saw just 23 slot snaps last season before going down, playing mostly on the boundary. Despite Hill not contributing much just yet, the team picked up the young DB’s fifth-year option in May.
- On the versatility topic, Jahdae Barron could land at multiple positions in Denver. While the first-round pick has been viewed as most likely to replace Ja’Quan McMillian in the slot this year, the Denver Post’s Luca Evans notes he opened Broncos camp as the starting outside corner opposite Patrick Surtain. This would threaten Riley Moss‘ job security, but the Broncos have been cross-training their top draftee. Barron played across the secondary at Texas, including at safety, giving Denver a chess piece of sorts, but primarily manned the perimeter during his standout 2024. Moss impressed before a late-season MCL injury last year, but Barron could carve out some time at the CB2 spot rather than merely being a slot-focused cog.
- Bo Melton‘s wide receiver-to-corner switch is sticking. With the Packers loaded at wide receiver following first- and third-round investments, Matt LaFleur said (via The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman) Melton will indeed play mostly corner during training camp. A wideout during his first three seasons, Melton began working at corner during the Pack’s offseason program. While not a roster lock at corner, Melton will switch and avoid a logjam that includes the team’s four top incumbent WRs (Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks, Christian Watson) along with Matthew Golden and Savion Williams.
- Trevon Diggs saw a $500K salary reduction for not working enough at the Cowboys‘ facility this offseason, per the Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins. Diggs needed to attend 84% of Dallas’ offseason workouts to ensure the $500K. Although the former All-Pro corner said he was surprised the Cowboys are withholding the $500K, he indicated he remains happy in Dallas (Twitter links via Watkins and CBS Sports’ Patrik Walker). Diggs, whose knee rehab leaves him likely to miss early-season time, is due $8.5MM in base salary this season.
Giants Could Have Starting Battle At CB
Last year, we saw Cor’Dale Flott overcome Adoree’ Jackson for a starting role as an outside cornerback, playing across from fellow starter Deonte Banks for much of the season. Jackson departed and in walks Paulson Adebo on a three-year, $54MM contract. All of the sudden, Flott is pushed to a CB3 role again. According to Dan Duggan of The Athletic, though, Flott may, once again, be making moves for the first-team defense. 
Despite missing more than half of the 2024 season, Adebo is making starter money. While this is largely based on a phenomenal 2023 campaign, in which Adebo had four interceptions, 18 passes defensed, 76 tackles, two forced fumbles, and a ranking as the 15th-best cornerback in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Adebo was arguably setting up for an even more impressive 2024 season. In only seven games before breaking his femur, Adebo had already logged three interceptions, 10 passes defensed, and 52 tackles.
The Giants are certainly counting on Adebo to make a full recovery and still be the same player, and so far in camp he’s been participating and working with the first team. The other starting spot is the one held in question, though. Banks was a full-time starter in 2024 for 14 games. He failed to log an interception, but his 12 passes defensed led the team.
Flott started for most of the season before an injury kept him out for two weeks late in the season. When he returned to the field, he worked behind Jackson for a bit before regaining starting honors in the regular season finale. In all, Flott had 10 starts in 14 games with an interception and seven passes defensed in 2024.
While it seems by the metrics of history and experience that Banks has the upper hand, Flott has the analytics on his side. According to PFF, Flott ranked as the 68th-best cornerback of 116 players graded at the position. Banks was all the way down at 108th. While analytics aren’t always a good measure of which player stands a better chance at starting, in this case they might end up being a decent indicator.
Duggan reports that at Organized Team Activities, Banks and Flott continued rotating at the cornerback spot opposite Adebo. Duggan adds that, “notably, Flott was with the starters while Banks was with the second-stringers when the defense broke into separate groups for an install period.”
We know that Flott is a strong camper. We saw it last year when he secured the starting job across from Banks. This year, it appears it’s Banks’ playing time that’s in danger here. There is still plenty of time for things to get shaken up, but at the moment, it’s looking like Flott is in play to relegate a prior year’s starter to CB3 for the second year in a row.
Giants Notes: Daboll, Schoen, Tisch, Barkley, Banks, Eluemunor, Nunez-Roches
When the Giants decided to retain Brian Daboll after a 3-14 season, multiple players expressed surprise, ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan notes. This was not the only instance of a team retaining a coach after a 3-14 campaign this offseason, as the Browns and Titans joined Big Blue here, but New York’s operation had trended downward from 2022 — even though that initial Daboll-Joe Schoen season came as a surprise.
Schoen’s decision to let Saquon Barkley walk turned out to backfire, and the NFL may have a difficult time presenting a viable HBO offseason project after how much the Giants’ offering made the Schoen regime look. While a disastrous 2024 did not cost Schoen his job, players viewed his decision not to submit Barkley an offer doubled as an underestimation of the running back’s value on the field and in the locker room, per Raanan.
[RELATED: Internal Push For Daboll To Cede Play-Calling Role Builds]
Barkley, who had said numerous times he wanted to finish his career a Giant, rampaged for the ninth 2,000-yard rushing season in NFL history and would likely have broken Eric Dickerson‘s single-season record had the Eagles allowed him to play in Week 18. Barkley already delivered a strong revenge performance earlier in the season, and he joined fellow Giants defector Xavier McKinney on the All-Pro first team.
John Mara did not ultimately hold Schoen prioritizing Daniel Jones over Barkley as a fireable offense, as the owner played a key role in that 2023 pecking order forming. Still, as a result of the 2024 offseason decisions and the terrible season that followed, Schoen and Daboll will be candidates for in-season firings if the 2025 slate does not start off better. Distrust emerged in Daboll’s program as well, multiple players told Raanan, though it does not sound as though the fourth-year HC lost the team. He will face a difficult task in completing a rebound, as the Giants do not have a starter-level quarterback rostered just yet.
The team did attempt to fix a cornerback issue in 2023, drafting Deonte Banks in Round 1. That has not worked out just yet, with the Maryland product being benched for his effort level during a midseason game. Several players indicated Banks’ benching against the Steelers was “a long time coming,” which points to the former top pick being a lingering issue — at least leading up to that point. Pro Football Focus ranked Banks outside the top 100 among CB regulars this past season, and neither second-round center John Michael Schmitz nor third-rounder Jalin Hyatt has impressed from Schoen’s 2023 class.
Still, Schoen will hold the keys going into a 2025 draft that may well send a first-round quarterback to New York. When Schoen and Daboll met with ownership regarding their futures last month, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan notes the pair only met with Mara, who then spoke with co-owner Steve Tisch separately. Tisch is not in the team’s facility daily, with Duggan classifying the descriptor “silent partner” as applicable for the 20th-year owner, who has outside business interests. Tisch has not spoken in public about the Giants since 2020.
One of the lead drivers for this Giants season unraveling came when Andrew Thomas suffered his latest injury, a Lisfranc issue that required surgery. The Giants went through multiple plans to replace Thomas, ultimately moving right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor to the left side and bringing Evan Neal off the bench to reprise his RT role. Eluemunor, who had begun offseason work at guard before sliding to RT during training camp, was not a fan of the LT shift, per Duggan, as he has wanted to showcase himself as a reliable right tackle.
A three-year RT starter in Las Vegas, Eluemunor preferred a two-year deal — as opposed to a three-year pact — in an effort to cash in once again in free agency. The nomadic blocker not becoming a steady starter until 2021 did not produce even a midlevel free agency deal until the Giants offered a two-year, $14MM accord. Eluemunor appears to be aiming at another RT season making him a viable option on the 2026 market.
The Giants have several issues to address during this year’s free agency, and they will likely turn to some in-house players to create cap space. One appears to be Rakeem Nunez-Roches, whom Duggan labels a cap casualty candidate. Nunez-Roches operated as a spot starter in 2023, playing behind since-departed D-linemen Leonard Williams and A’Shawn Robinson. A 10-year veteran, Nunez-Roches started all 15 games he played in 2024. The Giants could save $3.6MM by moving on.