In 2019 the Giants were 28th in opponent quarterback rating with 101.4. They were 30th in opponent passing yards per attempt with 8.0 yards.They ranked 26th in opponent touchdown percentage with 5.4% of passes going for a touchdown. Then Antoine Bethea ranked third to last among qualifying players allowing a 143.4 passer rating when targeted. Corey Ballentine was not much better allowing a 126.4 rating They were only slightly bested by Michael Thomas, .DeAndre Baker and Grant Haley who all allowed a 111.8 or better passer rating. These five defensive backs all ranked above 200 among 263 qualifying players at all defensive positions. The two best Giant defensive backs were Jabrill Peppers and Julian Love who allowed an 84 and 81 passer rating respectively.
Julian Love and Jabrill Peppers are back in 2020 and I would have seen them staring at cornerback and safety respectively. The other projected starters are free agent signing James Bradberry at cornerback and and would have been rookie Xavier McKinney at safety. McKinney broke his foot in the preseason and will miss 8-10 weeks. In his absence I see the Giants moving Julian Love to safety and starting Corey Ballentine at corner.
Last season among NFL 21 year old secondary players Julian Love allowed the second lowest passer rating (81) when targeted and he had the 15th lowest yards per target (6.6 yards) for secondary players under 25 years old. Pro Football Focus picked Julian Love as the Giants’ most underrated player going into 2020. In his last season in college in 2018 Love was selected as a Consensus All-American. In college he had a career 39 passes defended which ranks number ten in the NCAA since 2005. In his last year in college he forced 18 incompletions and earned a 90.7 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus which was third best among draft eligible cornerbacks. His college position was cornerback though he played safety last season on the Giants. he is currently listed as a cornerback on the roster.
Jabrill Peppers played in only 11 games in his first year on the Giants due to injury. However he matched his 2018 solo tackles on the Browns where he played 16 games. Peppers had the second highest solo tackles to games number on the Giants. His six quarterback pressures was one better than the prior year. Peppers’ passer rating allowed when targeted dropped from 110 on the Browns to 84 on the Giants. His 5 passes defended matched the prior year in five less games. In his last year in college in 2016 Peppers was a Consensus All American, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and won the Ronnie Lott Trophy.
James Bradberry was a four year starter at cornerback at Samford (2012-2014). There he had two interceptions in each of his four years. He continued that average in his four year NFL career having interceptions of 2, 2, 1 and 3. He is one of only 14 active players that in their first four years had 8+ interceptions and 45+ passes defended. Out of those 14 players Bradberry had the third most solo tackles and the second most sacks. He matches up pretty closely with former Giant Janoris Jenkins who is also on that list of 14. In 2019 Bradberry’s passer rating allowed when targeted of 70 was 21st among qualifying cornerbacks.
Logan Ryan was signed by the Giants on August 31st. Ryan had an 88.7 opponent passer rating when targeted in 2019. That would have been the third best among qualifying defensive backs on the Giants in 2019. Ryan had 18 passes defended in 2019 which was the third most in the league. His four interceptions was tie for 13th in the league. Pro Football Focus reported that Ryan was tie for first in quarterback pressures by a cornerback in 2019.
There you have the projected starters of
Cornerback
James Bradberry
Logan Ryan
Safeties
Julian Love
Jabrill Peppers
I envision this group to improve significantly on what was a dismal 2019 season in the secondary. Go Giants! Enjoy the scrimmage on Channel 4 at 6:00 PM Eastern Time on today Saturday August 29th. That program is for the NYC area only. Are you ready for some Football?
