Dru Phillips has been on a question to make playing nickel cornerback, long thought of as the third and least important cornerback spot, cool.
When the Giants drafted him in Round 3 of the 2024 NFL Draft, Phillips made it clear that the nickel, or slot, is where he felt he belonged.
“I remember when I was growing up people thought nickel was almost a bad thing,” Phillips said during his first offseason as a Giant. “Kind of just throwing a guy in there. Especially with how the game is going now and how there is so much passing in the league – and also in college.
“When I went to Kentucky, I always wanted to play nickel the whole time. I didn’t really get an opportunity until my junior year. Once I got the opportunity I kind of like – I embodied it. I felt like it’s who I was. That’s what I did best, so I went all in on it. It carried over here, so I’m out here playing nickel now.”
Phillips played 506 of his 614 snaps in 2024 as a nickel cornerback, and played it at a high level.
Entering his second year, Phillips now realizes that as a rookie even he did not understand the complexity of and importance to an NFL defense of the nickel cornerback.
“I didn’t realize the importance of it when I got in,” Phillips said. “In college, I played nickel but it’s still college, and then I came here, and you have to be so vocal and communicative and you have to run parts of the defense and it’s a lot more than what people think. I’m in the run-pass and as well as setting up the defense as well so it’s a lot more complicated but it’s a good job to have. It’s fun.”
Phillips, 23, knows that nickel cornerback has become a valued position rather than a place teams stick players who can no longer handle the outside.
“I think almost probably every team has a nickel, a kind of quick guy that can cover slot well as well as being a run fit so it’s pretty cool,” Phillips said.
As well as he played in 2024, Phillips said the game was “just really fast” for him.
“I was young but I feel like I’ve really learned the game and it’s slowed down for me a lot so I can make adjustments and calls on the field that I wouldn’t have made last year, I would’ve missed out on, see things that the offenses are doing so it’s a lot of growth, especially just mentally,” he said. “That mental part is what I’ve grown in.”
Phillips had zero interceptions during his college career at Kentucky and only one last season. He and the Giants hope to create more turnovers this season, aiming to keep adding to the turnover chest defensive coordinator Shane Bowen implemented.
“That’s just really cool. That’s a cool little treat,” Phillips said. “You get a turnover; you can go slam it in the chest and it’s a cool little thing. Coach (defensive coordinator) Shane (Bowen), he talks about being a pirate so it kind of adds a little something to it, kind of an identity.”
0 CommentsSee More:
