Despite the New York Giants fielding one of the absolute worst offenses in the NFL over the last two seasons, it was the defensive side of the ball that got the biggest injection of talent this past offseason.
The Giants’ inability to stop opponents when it mattered rankled John Mara enough that it got a specific call-out, despite the looming mess at the quarterback position. And so the Giants added two of the top free agent veterans in Jevon Holland and Paulson Adebo, as well as selecting two of the 2025 draft’s best pass rushers (at their respective positions) in edge Abdul Carter and defensive tackle Darius Alexander.
The hope is that the infusion of talent would give the Giants one of the best, most athletic, and deepest defenses in the NFL. From there, it would fall to defensive coordinator Shane Bowen to make it all work.
Bowen spoke to the media before Wednesday’s practice, praising the growth of his young players, as well as talking about the challenges of getting them all on the field at the same time.
On Abdul Carter
There are plenty of threads to follow as Shane Bowen builds the Giants’ defense. But one way or another, they all seem to come back to rookie edge defender Abdul Carter. The third overall pick has garnered rave reviews from everyone who’s faced him in camp as well as observers from around the media landscape.
The Giants’ defensive coordinator is no different, and seems incredibly impressed with his newest weapon. Notably, Bowen is as encouraged by Carter’s instincts as his raw athletic tools.
“Obviously, the talent shows up out there on the field,” Bowen said. “I think he’s a very instinctive player. Finds ways to get to the football. He’s got a natural feel to dip, to lean, to bend. You see those traits show up out there on the practice field. He’s continuing to work consistency day in and day out. With the effort, the technique, the fundamentals. But I like his versatility and what he’s going to be able to bring for our defense.”
Perhaps the most exciting — but not often discussed, at least compared to what he’s doing in practice — aspect of Carter’s development is that he’s truly just scratching the surface of his potential. He started his career at Penn State as an off-ball linebacker and only has one year under his belt as a true edge defender. So in addition to learning how to play in the NFL, Carter is also still learning how to play his position at a high level.
“Yeah, he’s got a history of playing off the ball, so I think that helps him.” Bowen said. “Obviously, the ability to rush different spots. There’s a lot of things he can do, and he does really well. It’s just a matter of making sure as a coaching staff we do a good job not overloading him. Obviously being a rookie, continuing to focus on the techniques and fundamentals. But finding ways for him and all these guys to impact the game for us.”
On the cornerback competition
One of the other threads to follow is the battle for the starting cornerback job across from veteran free agent addition Paulson Adebo. It’s expected that Deonte Banks will be the starter once the season starts, but Cor’Dale Flott has been pushing him hard. The two were splitting first team reps before Flott missed some practice time with injury, and the Flott has flashed in camp.
“I think they’re both doing a really good job,” Bowen said. “Obviously, Flott’s missed a little bit of time here the past couple days, but I think they’re doing a really good job. I like the growth of Tae. I think competition’s been good for both of them. I really do. But you’re seeing Tae battle and going up against Malik and finding ways to get PBUs and some other guys. He’s been able to get his hands on footballs more, I feel like, this early on in training camp, we’re 10 days in, but early on, more so than what it was last year. He’s working. He’s working. He’s competing for the job. He’s trying to earn it, just like everybody else is trying to earn their play time.”
“I thought Flott was doing a really good job,” Bowen added. “From the spring to now, he was probably one of the guys that had the most pass breakups. So just continue that competition. The versatility is no different than all these other positions. There’s going to be time and place where the numbers kind of shrink and we’ve got to figure out ways of how do we fit based on who’s available and who’s not. So some of the versatility stuff is going to come into play as well.”
Interestingly, the two are listed as co-starters across from Adebo on the Giants’ unofficial depth chart.
Fitting it all together
One of the Giants’ biggest hopes this year is that Bowen is faced with the very good problem of having more good players than he can easily get on the field at the same time.
The word “versatility” came up a few times in Bowen’s remarks, and it’s enough to make one think that’s a trait that will figure heavily into the Giants’ plans on defense.
Bowen mentioned both Cor’Dale Flott’s and Abdul Carter’s versatility to play multiple positions. About Carter, Bowen said his history playing off-ball linebacker as well as rushing from different defensive alignments. For Flott, he has a history of playing both slot corner and outside corner.
“I think there’s a time and place,” Bowen said with regards to playing each Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Carter at the same time. “I think there’s a time and place for all that stuff, finding ways to get them on the field and what we ask them to do. And it’s not only what you’re asking Abdul to do, it’s what you’re asking Burns and KT to do in those situations as well because it’s not traditional – four down, two guys on the edge at that point.”
The phrase ‘A time and place’ also came up a few times in Bowen’s remarks, which sounds as though the Giants are planning on active rotations — both to play situational football as well as keep their defensive weapons fresh.
“I think we’ve got to do a good job, myself, our coaching staff, of finding ways to get our impact players on the field,” he said. “And we think all three of those guys are impact players in this league. They’ve shown it. The other two guys have shown it. We’ve got to make sure we do a good job of finding ways to utilize them. Situationally, it comes into play, right? Early downs, what is that? Third down, what is that? We get in the red zone, what is that? So it kind of changes a little bit based on the situation, how much you’re able to utilize them more in certain situations than others. But excited to have three there. As you know, it’s a tough league. At some point, somebody’s going to get banged up too. So to have that ability to have three guys that can roll and play and do different things for us, it really opens up the creativity for us and what we’re able to do defensively.”
He also complimented the leadership brought by linebackers Bobby Okereke and Micah McFadden, safeties Jevon Holland and Tyler Nubin, and nickel Dru Phillips. Bowen praised the communication up the middle, and the work that they all do lining the defense up.
“There’s got to be some adjustments where you’ve got to be able to communicate, get all 11 on the same page,” he said. “We’ve got to see it through the same set of eyes.”
“I think it starts really with our inside backers and our safeties,” he added. “That’s where the bulk of it falls. I think our nickel position falls into that category because he’s kind of hybrid. I do see growth in (cornerback) Dru
(Phillips) there, just being year two, his understanding, awareness, his conviction, making some of those calls. I feel really good about (safety, Jevón) Holland and (safety, Tyler) Nubin. I think they see things the same way. They’re both great communicators. They talk. Then obviously that filters down to the front with (inside linebacker) Bobby (Okereke) and (inside linebacker) Micah (McFadden), all those other guys, and even up front.”
Bowen was asked about the looming joint practices with the New York Jets, but insisted that his focus is on the Buffalo Bills this weekend. We’ll likely have to be patient to see the full scope of how the Giants plan on getting all of their defenders on the field, but we might get our first glimpse on Saturday.
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