Months after signing his deal, Greg Newsome II is finally a Giant, and the veteran cornerback is already drawing heat before he’s played a snap in New York.
Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton pegged Newsome as the Giants’ biggest bust for this season, a label that feels a little hard to square with the contract itself. New York gave the 26-year-old a one-year, $8 million deal early in free agency, including $3 million guaranteed and another $2 million available in incentives.
The move made sense on paper. Newsome split last season between the Browns and Jaguars, and the Giants are still very much a team in transition. A cornerback with 58 career starts can help a secondary, and nobody was asking him to arrive and look like a blend of Darrelle Revis and Patrick Surtain II.
That’s why the criticism lands so strangely. Cornerback was a need, but not one that demanded a first-round investment. Whether the Giants should have gone with Caleb Downs instead of Arvell Reese is a separate argument entirely.
Moton also pointed to cap space as a reason to question the signing, but that argument carries more weight when the money is much bigger than this. This was a modest commitment, not the kind of deal that should set off alarm bells.
He also said that, for the purposes of his list, “bust” applies to draft picks or veterans under the most pressure. By that standard, Newsome still feels like a reach. Kayvon Thibodeaux, Abdul Carter, and Darius Slayton would all seem to carry more weight in that conversation.
Odell Beckham Jr. might even have a stronger case than Newsome, if only because of how much attention the three-time Pro Bowler has gotten all offseason.
So yes, the Giants have heard the doubts before. This time, though, the target feels misplaced.
In Other News...
Giants Are Still Trapped By The Darius Slayton Gamble
The Giants made Darius Slayton one of their more notable investments last offseason, handing the veteran wideout a three-year, $36 million deal in hopes of keeping a familiar target in place. Instead, the contract has become another reminder of how expensive it can be to bet on continuity at receiver, especially when the player in question has been uneven and his role has steadily thinned out over the past two seasons.
Slaytons production has not matched the size of the commitment, and the drop issues have only sharpened the frustration around the deal. For New York, the problem is not just what Slayton has or has not done on the field, but how little flexibility the contract leaves if the Giants decide they want to move in another direction before the end of the deal. [Read more 🡒]
Three 2027 Prospects Are Already Fueling Giants Roster Debate
The Giants are already showing up in early 2027 mock draft chatter, and the names attached to them point to three very different roster conversations. David Stone, Cam Coleman and Ellis Robinson IV have all been floated as possible fits, giving a first look at how analysts think New York might try to address the lines and the secondary while the teams long-term picture continues to take shape.
Stone is being viewed as an interior defensive option, Coleman as the kind of receiver who could change the shape of the passing game, and Robinson as a young corner with the sort of ball production teams notice early. None of it is official, of course, and it is far too soon to treat any of these projections as more than educated guesswork, but the fact that the Giants are already being linked to such distinct talents says plenty about where the debate around the roster is headed. [Read more 🡒]