{"id":143974,"date":"2025-06-20T04:11:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T04:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/143974\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T04:11:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T04:11:16","slug":"giants-seem-to-have-hidden-gem-in-their-secondary-waiting-to-break-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/143974\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants seem to have hidden gem in their secondary waiting to break out"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Giants<\/a> wrapped up spring football on Wednesday with the conclusion of their mandatory minicamp. As he was throughout OTAs, fourth-year safety Dane Belton was among the top performers at minicamp.<\/p>\n

Belton recorded an interception once again during Wednesday\u2019s practice<\/a>, placing an exclamation point at the end of an excellent spring campaign.<\/p>\n

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Now entering the fourth season of his career, Belton seems like a hidden gem in the Giants\u2019 crowded defensive backfield, just waiting for the opportunity to break out.<\/p>\n

Dane Belton has quietly developed into a quality safety<\/p>\n

Throughout his NFL career, Belton has had a nose for the football. He has totaled five interceptions, 11 pass defenses, one forced fumble, and five fumble recoveries, despite never playing more than 42% of defensive snaps in a season.<\/p>\n

\"Jul<\/p>\n

Credit: Lucas Boland-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

Belton has been a rotational piece in the Giants\u2019 defense since he was drafted in the fourth round in 2022. However, the Iowa product has quietly become a valuable member of the unit.<\/p>\n

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Last season, Belton was on the field for a career-high 459 defensive snaps. This resulted in career-highs with 56 combined tackles and six pass defenses. He also added one interception, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.<\/p>\n

The Giants need to get Belton involved in 2025<\/p>\n

Entering 2025, the Giants\u2019 top two safeties are locked in. They spent big to sign Jev\u00f3n Holland in free agency, pairing him with last year\u2019s second-round pick, Tyler Nubin. The duo of Holland and Nubin will start this season.<\/p>\n

But that shouldn\u2019t cause Belton to be overlooked completely. Depth is important in the defensive backfield, as injuries are a frequent occurrence. Belton should see playing time at some point as a result.<\/p>\n

\"nfl:<\/p>\n

Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

He should also see playing time in different nickel and dime defensive packages. Having three good players at a position that only starts two is a good problem to have. This should allow the Giants to get creative, finding ways to get this young ballhawk on the field.<\/p>\n

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Belton finished the spring with four interceptions at practice and a handful of pass breakups. As he enters the final season of his rookie contract, Belton seems primed for a breakout. Now, he just needs the opportunity \u2014 and he\u2019s earned the right to receive one.<\/p>\n

Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Giants wrapped up spring football on Wednesday with the conclusion of their mandatory minicamp. As he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[25037,18652,7,6193,519,3924,1917,56,2321,2469,6,1799,7786],"class_list":{"0":"post-143974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-dane-belton","9":"tag-defensive-backfield","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-forced-fumble","12":"tag-giants","13":"tag-jevon-holland","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-giants","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkgiants","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-the-giants","20":"tag-tyler-nubin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114713741505556445","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}