Giants: Mckinney emerging as top safety
Julian love said earlier this season he would dye half of his hair blond to match Xavier Mckinney’s blackand-white cookie ‘do if his teammate made the Pro Bowl. At the time it seemed like a safe statement to make.
He probably should start thinking about making a barber appointment now, though.
Mckinney is quickly emerging as not just one of the key pieces in a surging Giants defense, but one of the top playmaking safeties in the NFL. No one who plays his position has more than his five interceptions, and no safety in the NFC even has more than three.
That he has played just 17 games in the pros, essentially a rookie season’s worth, and is producing at such a high level is catching the eyes of many around the league.
The Giants? They knew he had it in him all along.
“Zay is a very, very intelligent player,” Joe Judge said of the secondround pick from a year ago. “Very intelligent. He’s a guy that when you evaluated him coming out of college [at Alabama], you saw him all over the field making plays, blitzing, playing the deep part of the field, matching up in man. He’s got a really, really, big skill set. For us, we can use him in a lot of different ways.”
They way they have been doing it mostly has been as a centerfielder.
“At this point, the most effective thing we can do with him for the betterment of the defense is playing a lot of the deep part of the field,” Judge said. “You’ve got to have someone back there who has the range and ability to play the deep part of the field sideline to sideline, but then also someone who has the awareness and instincts to get there and get a good jump on [the ball],” Judge said. “The reality is that the arms of the quarterbacks in this league are better than the feet of the guys tracking them down, so you’ve got to make sure you get a good jump on it, take the right angles, and have the ball skills to finish.”
Notes: S Logan Ryan was activated off Covid/reserve on Tuesday, but at the expense of another defensive back. Second-year CB Darnay Holmes was placed on injured reserve with a rib injury suffered on his return of an interception Sunday. His designation leaves the Giants thin at cornerback with starter Adoree’ Jackson suffering a knee injury Sunday that knocked him out of the game (although he remains on the active roster).