EAST RUTHERFORD \u2014 Deonte Banks has not lived up to his status as a first-round draft pick.<\/p>\n
The third-year Giants cornerback suffered what he described Tuesday as a \u201csophomore slump\u201d last season because he struggled with \u201cfinishing plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banks was routinely beaten by opposing NFL teams\u2019 top wide receivers and faced public scrutiny for showing poor effort on certain plays, leading to the Giants benching him in the second quarter of a Monday night game at Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just getting better every day,\u201d said the often short-worded Banks when asked if he feels urgency to live up to the hype that came with being the 24th overall pick out of Maryland.<\/p>\n
Much of the pre-draft talk in 2023 was that Banks excelled primarily in man coverage and would be less effective in zone schemes.<\/p>\n
That has rung true as Banks regressed from his rookie to sophomore season when the Giants changed coordinators from Wink Martindale to Shane Bowen, who utilizes more complicated zone defenses.<\/p>\n
But the Giants hope that signing Paulson Adebo in March to become their top corner will take pressure off of Banks, and that Banks will improve with a year of experience under Bowen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely feel more comfortable, just because it\u2019s my second year on this defense, so I feel good,\u201d Banks said.<\/p>\n
The Giants also brought in a new cornerbacks coach in Jeff Burris and a new secondary coach Marquand Manuel. Banks said he likes how they teach and communicate with him.<\/p>\n
Still, it\u2019s not a given that Banks will be the No. 2 corner as the Giants have had him splitting first-team reps with fourth-year pro Cor\u2019Dale Flott during training camp to compete for a starting job.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good competition,\u201d head coach Brian Daboll said. \u201cCompetition brings out the most in people most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
In terms of the coaching, this is Burris\u2019 second stint in the NFL as he was the Dolphins assistant defensive backs coach from 2013-15. He was LSU\u2019s co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach last year.<\/p>\n
Manuel, meanwhile, enters his 13th season coaching in the NFL, the last four spent as the Jets\u2019 defensive backs\/safeties coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to teach (Banks) what to do, show him how to do it and really demand that they do it that way,\u201d Daboll said. \u201cIt\u2019s ultimately the responsibility of the player to go out there and do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of how much Banks improves \u2014 or whether he even secures a starting job this summer \u2014 the Giants should be able to perform better in the secondary with the additions of Adebo and safety Jevon Holland, plus a defensive front which should be among the NFL\u2019s best.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just knowing that you\u2019ve got a dominant front up there that can get after the quarterback, that can stop the run and put pressure on quarterbacks,\u201d Adebo said, \u201cit makes them able to try to get the ball out quicker and helps us on the back end as far as timing, rushing coverage, working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adebo, the Saints\u2019 third-round pick in 2021, ranked among the league leaders in passes defended in the last two seasons (28 total) despite missing the final 10 games last season with a broken femur.<\/p>\n
He signed a three-year, $54 million deal with the Giants to become the league\u2019s 14th-highest paid corner.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it\u2019s about being present, being where your feet are, and obviously that situation led me here,\u201d Adebo said of his broken femur. \u201cI\u2019m incredibly grateful, honestly, that that happened because I\u2019m in the position I\u2019m in right now with a great team, great group of guys, and a great opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Second-year safety Tyler Nubin is impressed with the example that Adebo is setting for the younger defensive backs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think all the corners are learning from him,\u201d Nubin said. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that\u2019s not afraid to talk and let you know what he\u2019s thinking, his techniques and things that he likes to work on. I think the corners are doing a really great job just working with him and allowing that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Adebo said he feels there are position battles for everyone \u2014 even himself \u2014 until the Giants make their depth chart official. In camp, that makes for especially fun battles between receivers and defensive backs, such as Adebo matching up with rising star Malik Nabers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just so explosive,\u201d Adebo said. \u201cI think his ability to get in and out of his releases, in and out of his breaks, the suddenness which he moves with that all the elite receivers have, I think that\u2019s something that makes him incredibly tough to cover.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banks likely won\u2019t be tasked with covering that level of receiver this year if all goes according to plan. The Giants hope that will help get his NFL career on track.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust getting better at finishing plays and being a better me,\u201d Banks said.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: July 30, 2025 at 1:14 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAST RUTHERFORD \u2014 Deonte Banks has not lived up to his status as a first-round draft pick. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[7,519,14285,1917,56,2321,2469,6,9,41877],"class_list":{"0":"post-248551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-giants","10":"tag-new-jersey","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-giants","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkgiants","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-top-stories-trt"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114943395429147234","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248551","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=248551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}