Giants CB Deonte Banks, treading water in his development, must start to swim
Deonte Banks #3 of the New York Giants looks on against the Indianapolis Colts at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Giants were counting on Deonte Banks to make a big jump from his rookie season to this one. They wanted their number one pick in 2023 to become their number one cornerback in 2024.
It did not happen.
Banks had a year with more downs than ups and struggled to adjust to his added responsibilities. There were times in the middle of the year when he was taken off the field because of effort or technique. There were games he missed because of injury in more recent weeks. There were opponents who seemed to relish targeting him, whether it was the two touchdowns Terry McLaurin scored against him in November or the two times the Colts elicited pass-interference penalties against him for a total of 63 yards on Sunday.
Pro Football Focus grades of cornerbacks are notoriously flimsy because the analysts rarely know what the defensive call was and who is to blame for a breakdown, but even with that caveat, Banks’ numbers have been hard to stomach.
His overall grade of 50.8 ranks 183rd among the 219 cornerbacks in the league and his coverage grade of 48.9 ranks 185th. His passer rating allowed is 127.7.
Banks’ assessment of his performance?
“Just gotta be better,” he told Newsday.
That’s fair. But it can’t be something the Giants are counting on happening.
Among the long offseason shopping list the organization will have for this offseason — quarterback, offensive line, bread, milk, etc., all the staples — the team needs to find a veteran who can line up opposite Banks and take some of the schematic pressures off him.
The leap they were hoping to see from Year One to Year Two did not materialize. Expecting it to show up from Year Two to Year Three is not a plan, it’s a wish. It may come true, sure, but it’s far from guaranteed.
Ideally, Banks should be the centerpiece of a young and developing secondary. The Giants added two pieces to that group this past offseason when they drafted Tyler Nubin and Dru Phillips. Both met or exceeded expectations and should be part of the future. Banks, though, has yet to live up to his projections since arriving.
Now, halfway through his rookie contract and a little more than a year away from the Giants having to decide if they will use a fifth-year option on him, it’s worth wondering if Banks ever will.
“He’s a young player,” defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said on Thursday. “Obviously, he would like to have a little bit more production than what he’s had. Hopefully we can get there and he can continue to progress to that. But again, he’s got the right mindset. It’s just a matter of continuing to grow up.”
Bowen said the best way to accomplish that is to have Banks on the field.
“You’ve got to get out there and play, keep learning, and hopefully we can show some of that accountability,” he said. “You learn by fire sometimes. That’s the NFL . . . Go play.”
But it’s hard to balance that recipe against the needs of a team. Certainly, at this point in this season, there is not much on the line in terms of organizational goals for him to impact, but the start of next season — whether it is with the same or a new coaching staff and front office — will be a very different time. One way or another, the Giants will be in a very different place.
They need to make sure Banks is, too.
Banks told Newsday he wants to spend this offseason focusing on “finishing more” and “doing my job, doing me.” He also wants to come back as more of a veteran and someone the other players look to for guidance.
“I can be a leader,” Banks said. “I’m not really a big vocal guy, but I lead more by example.”
For that to work, though, the example needs to improve. A lot.
“I think I can get a lot better,” Banks said. “But it’s also my second season and I’ve had two different defensive coordinators. There’s been a lot of adjusting.”
Having stability in the system and the staff, he said, will help him “100%.”
Having less on his plate? Having someone to ease his burdens? Adding a veteran who the Giants know can do all the things they wanted to see Banks do this season and moving forward?
That might be the better solution.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.