CUTTING IT CLOSE

Diminutive Deayon hoping this is year he sticks with GIants

There were two NFL footballs positioned in Donte Deayon’s locker and he gazed at them as if they were priceless possessions. When he was finished describing the way he came to own them — he intercepted two passes in the Giants’ preseason finale against the Patriots — Deayon tucked the balls under his arms, looking every bit like a kid walking away from the Christmas tree hugging two coveted new toys.

“Man, it’s lovely, and they’re two Patriots ones,’’ Deayon exclaimed, “so it feels a little better.’’

This was the way Deayon wanted and probably needed to end his summer. He is a pintsized cornerback who always hears he is too small. At 5-foot-9 and 159 pounds, he may be. A strained hamstring put him on the sideline for more than two weeks, a lifetime during training camp when you are sitting squarely on the roster bubble. He finally got back on the field and played exceedingly well against the Patriots’ backups. Now the wait begins, again.

Perhaps the eye-catching way Deayon, 24, ended the preseason will allow him to exhale, with the massive cut-down from 90 to 53 players looming as all NFL teams are mandated to be at the roster limit by 4 p.m. Saturday.

“No,’’ Deayon said firmly. “Honestly last year that’s how I felt going into the last game, I kinda felt I kinda laxed, it just didn’t sit well with me, I had a little sick feeling in my stomach Going into this game I wanted to lock in and give my all and see what happens.’’

In 2016, Deayon was undrafted out of Boise State and signed by the Giants. He was impressive enough after he got cut to stick around on the practice squad. Last year, the popular, affable Deayon made a more serious push but fell short, again landing on the practice squad. When in-

juries hit, Deayon was signed Oct. 12 to the active roster and played in four games before landing on injured reserve with a fractured forearm.

He is best-suited lining up in the slot, where 27-year-old B.W. Webb seems to have secured a spot behind starting corners Janoris Jenkins and Eli Apple. The previous coaching staff took a liking to Deayon. It is difficult to say if the new regime feels the same way. Soon enough, we will have our answer.

“I look at our players and I say, ‘OK, this is what you can do, this is your strength or your redeeming qualities, this is the value you bring to the team, and here are the areas you need to improve,’ ’’ coach Pat Shurmur said Friday. “When you put the 53 together, you’ve got to just pick the right 53. We’ve got a decent idea of the direction we’re going to go with things, but we still have some conversations.

“I told that to the players, it’s a credit to them. Every year, the players want to make it tough on us as to this guy or that guy. I think sometimes you can be in a situation where it’s pretty cut and dry, but I think we’ve had some guys that have played themselves into the mix.’’

One of those guys could be Deayon, who is hoping no news is good news, as players are not called when they make the 53-man roster, only when they are going to be waived. Shurmur said the plan is to personally speak with every player he cuts.

“I’m going to try to,’’ Shurmur said. “On a rare occasion for whatever reason, it’s not possible logistically, but I intend to try to meet with everybody that we’re going to have to part ways with.’’

It is always a rough day and even more so this year, with no cuts leading up to the wholesale 90-to-53 slashing. Even veterans who know they are on the team feel it.

“For the guys that won’t be here, I definitely try to let them know you never know what the reason as to why you’re not here,’’ linebacker Alec Ogletree said. “But, I make sure to tell them I appreciate the work that they did to help us get to the point we are now, and wish them good luck. For the guys that do stay, I try to make sure that they know that the bullets are about to be flying for real in the next week. It’s a bittersweet day.’’

Deayon has been there before. He hopes the third time is the charm.

“At this point I put it all out on the table,’’ he said. “I put my best foot forward so at this point what happens, happens.’’