Jevon Holland listed among the best
The New York Giants have retooled their safety room over the last couple of seasons. In the Giants’ 2022 playoff season, their safety room consisted of Xavier McKinney, Julian Love, and rookie Dane Belton. Both McKinney and Love were Pro Bowl-caliber safeties who are no longer on the team.
Joe Schoen and the Giants have replaced the departed with second-round pick Tyler Nubin and Jevon Holland, who signed a three-year, $45.3 million contract in March.
Zoltan Buday of Pro Football Focus ranked the Top 32 safeties ahead of the 2025 NFL season. Jevon Holland cracked the Top 10 and was the tenth-ranked safety behind Brandon Jones of the Denver Broncos. Here’s PFF’s synopsis of Holland:
Holland’s rollercoaster career continued in his fourth and final season with the Miami Dolphis. While he earned PFF overall grades of 84.7 and 90.4 in his first and third seasons, the Oregon product finished with PFF overall grades of 67.2 and 63.0 in his second and fourth seasons.
The difference was apparent in coverage, as he was unable to replicate his 2023 play when he earned an 89.9 PFF coverage grade. 2024 was also the first season in Holland’s NFL career in which he failed to record an interception.
Two familiar faces consecutively trailed Holland: Julian Love at 11 and Jabrill Peppers at 12. Here are the synopsizes for both:
Similar to several safeties as of late, Love’s play improved significantly under head coach Mike Macdonald. His 82.2 PFF overall grade in 2024 was a career high in his sixth season and ranked seventh among all safeties. His 89.5 PFF run-defense grade ranked second at the position, too.
Peppers missed significant time in 2024 while on the commissioner’s exempt list due to off-field issues, but his 82.3 PFF overall grade still ranked sixth. Over the past three seasons, he has earned a 90.1 PFF overall grade, which ranks third among 96 qualifying safeties.
According to Pro Football Focus, Kyle Hamilton of the Baltimore Ravens is the top-ranked safety in the NFL. Another former Giant ranked second in the league; that is — of course — Xavier McKinney:
McKinney’s first season in Green Bay went superbly. He was among the best safeties in coverage in 2024, with his 90.2 PFF coverage grade ranking second at the position after he recorded eight interceptions — tied for the most among safeties. He allowed a 56.4 passer rating in coverage, the third-best mark at the position.
Holland is the top-ranked safety in the NFC East. Reed Blankenship of the Philadelphia Eagles ranked 15th, and Malik Hooker of the Dallas Cowboys ranked 17th; there were no other safeties ranked in Top-32 within the NFC East. Don’t be shocked to see Tyler Nubin represented on this list next June. New York is in a better position at safety than they were in entering the 2024 season.
