Make or Break: Is Dane Belton set to break out in 2025?

Will the former Hawkeye be a ballhawk in 2025?

The New York Giants have sunk a lot of resources into their defense over the last three years.

And finally in 2025 they have a secondary that is young, athletic, and potentially very deep. It isn’t proven yet, but the Giants’ secondary could be an absolute terror to rival the best in the NFL if some young players take the next step. The flip side is that their depth and number of talented players on their defense could make it difficult for some under-the-radar defender to prove their worth.

Safety Dane Belton has been on the periphery of the Giants’ defense since being drafted in 2022. Over the last three years he’s played in 49 games with 13 starts, though he’s never played more than 42% of the possible defensive snaps.

However, Belton has a knack for producing big plays and generating turnovers when he’s on the field. He has five interceptions over the last three years and always seems to be around the ball. He was lauded for his natural ballhawking skills at Iowa, and has proven to be instinctive in the NFL.

So far, Belton has had at least three interceptions in the Giants’ OTAs.

All reports seem to indicate that Belton has been extremely active in practice and that he’s making quarterbacks pay for mistakes. Could he be primed for a breakout season and lead the Giants into a Golden Age of Piracy?

Why he could make it

When the Giants made Belton the 114th overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, they likely targeted him due to his blitzing acumen. Belton was a tremendous reach according to the Consensus Big Board, which ranked him 198th overall, but he had a skill set that made sense in Wink Martindale’s defense. Most notably, he was experienced in lining up at multiple positions in Iowa’s defense and he was used as a blitzer at the eighth-highest rate in his draft class.

Since then, Belton’s versatility and playmaking ability have been his calling cards.

Belton played 459 defensive snaps in 2024, the most of his career. And while he was listed as a “strong safety” on the overwhelming majority of those snaps, he actually played all over the Giants’ secondary. Belton was asked to line up as a slot defender, box safety, free safety, and even as a “STAR” safety/linebacker hybrid.

He’s an active communicator and able to execute from each of those alignments, giving him the versatility to help the defense effectively disguise coverages. Belton is at his best playing in off or zone coverage, where his instincts, processing, and athleticism allow him to make plays.

Belton has a quick downhill trigger, the size to be a factor at the point of attack, and the speed to arrive in a hurry.

Belton starts the play as a deep safety, and from there he’s able to read the play accurately, come down, and position himself well to defend the run. Credit to MLB Micah McFadden for forcing Derrick Henry to redirect, but it’s still impressive for a 205-pound safety to bring down Henry essentially unaided. His explosiveness and positioning allow him to meet Henry’s power and a good from tackle limits the big back to just 2 yards.

Solid run defense and good tackling are great to see in a safety, particularly one who routinely lines up as a hybrid linebacker. But if Belton is going to make enough of an impact on the Giants to ensure a second contract, it will be through his ballhawking skills.

The Giants have struggled to consistently create turnovers in recent years — and in 2024 particularly. Belton, however, has always had a nose for the ball and a habit of generating big plays. He typically does a great job of reading quarterbacks’ eyes from off coverage, understanding route concepts, reacting quickly, and using his closing burst to make a play on the ball.

While Belton only had one interception in 2024, he just missed multiple other opportunities.

He also directly created an interception for Cor’Dale Flott.

Why he may not make it

There are a couple outright issues with Dane Belton’s game that can make him vulnerable on the field and limit how the Giants are able to use him.

The root cause of it all is that Belton is a linear athlete with limited quickness and agility. He has impressive speed and explosiveness, but his change of direction is mediocre.

But how does that show up on the field?

First and foremost, it limits how he’s able to play coverage. Despite his ballhawking nature, teams weren’t afraid to isolate Belton in man coverage. In fact, several teams went out of their way to scheme one-on-one matchups with Belton in man coverage, and it typically worked out for them.

As we see above, Belton doesn’t quite have the agility to stay in phase with pass catchers in tight man coverage, leading to him giving up separation if they execute their routes well. He can also be juked by particularly quick and agile ball carriers, such as on this catch-and-run by Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Finally, Belton’s speed gives him good range in run support and allows him to rally to the ball from a good distance away. Likewise, his aggressiveness usually means that he can limit yardage when playing downhill. However, if he misjudges the ball carrier, his limited agility means that his aggressive angles become over-aggressive and poor angles to the ball.

On this play, for instance, Belton comes from the deep middle of the field and has plenty of speed to get there in time to limit the run to a four or five yard gain. However, his angle is too steep and he isn’t able to adjust to Hubbard’s move.

One of the persistent themes with Giants’ players facing “Make or Break” seasons, money and the numbers game is going to be a major factor.

Belton will almost certainly be the Giants’ third safety and a part time player in a secondary that will (hopefully) have significantly better depth than in previous years. As with players like Daniel Bellinger and Jalin Hyatt, Belton will need to prove that is he a consistently valuable enough player to be worth a second contract. So he’ll have to convince the Giants that giving him that contract is a better use of resources than finding a new third safety.

However, snaps to prove his worth on the field could be hard to come by with the addition of Jevon Holland and the continued development of Dru Phillips and Tyler Nubin.

The Giants were roughly league-average in their use of sub-packages last year (14th in rate of Nickel, 17th in rate of Dime), but were sixth in their use of base defense personnel. Considering the Giants’ front seven should be better and deeper than last year, the math gets even more complicated.

These are definitely good problems to have for Shane Bowen, but just plain problems for players like Belton.

Final thoughts

Belton has the ability to be solid safety depth and a three-down player thanks to his ability in run defense. He might not be suited for a true free safety role, or to be a slot defender in man coverage, but he’s good enough in coverage when playing with his eyes in the backfield.

The Giants played more man coverage than we gave them credit for last year. It was a good adjustment considering the strengths of Deonte Banks and Cor’Dale Flott. If they choose to lean into that and play more man coverage across the board, it could be bad news for Belton. However, if they play more zone, pattern matching, or hybrid coverages, Belton could be a solid candidate to be reliable depth.

That said, he could be more than that if his work in practice and the preseason convince the coaching staff to give him a larger share of the reps. Belton hasn’t played many snaps (relatively speaking) on defense over his three years as a Giant, but he’s had an impact when he’s been on the field.

More opportunities, with more disruptive play up front, could put Belton in position to use his ballhawking skills. The Giants would obviously welcome a big season full of highlight reel plays from Belton, and having a breakout year would be ideal.

The Giants brought in Jevon Holland and Paulson Adebo to help generate the turnovers the defense was missing in 2024. Given the chance, Belton could be an X-factor that opposing offenses learn to respect.