Giants' Tre Hawkins is off to flying start in defensive backfield

As soon as the Giants drafted cornerback Deonte Banks in April, he was ticketed to be a Week 1 starter in the NFL.

Why else would Joe Schoen move up a slot, to the 24th overall pick, unless it was to make Banks an instant starter for the Giants in a position of need?  

The answer: He wouldn’t.

The rookie would be expected to play from Day One.

As soon as the Giants drafted Tre Hawkins III in the sixth round of the NFL, the Giants seemed to acquire a developmental player, a long corner — 6-3, 195 pounds — out of Old Dominion, who wasn’t even invited to the Scouting Combine.

A project? Perhaps.

About all of that, Hawkins clearly had other ideas.

Hawkins has been one of the revelations of this Giants training camp.

How well has he played?

Well enough to take Adoree’ Jackson’s job. (Jackson still has an important one.)

As it stands now, it seems likely that Banks and Hawkins will be the Giants outside corners to start the season, two rookies in premier roles. Jackson will continue to acclimate to the slot, a role in which the Giants believe he will embrace and excel.

All of this is because Hawkins has acclimated to the NFL game quicker than expected from a late-round pick out of a Sun Belt school.

As Hawkins told Newsday on Tuesday, he believes his ascent with the Giants has mostly been because of the open-mindedness of coordinator Wink Martindale.

“Wink doesn’t worry about what round you go in, he’s going to put the best player on the field,” Hawkins said. “You have to respect that. So far, it’s been good. I’m taking it day by day, just trying to grow as a person and as a ballplayer to just get better.”

Asked why he believes he lasted until the 209th pick, Hawkins took some personal responsibility.

“That’s a hard question because it wasn’t up to me,” he said. “But I’d say I left some things out on the field in college. I could have had a better career. That’s the only way I can describe it.”  

More splash plays? More interceptions?

“More everything,” Hawkins said.

Maybe that is why Hawkins has been leaving nothing to chance with the Giants.

By his play on the practice field, Hawkins has impressed teammates and Martindale.

He has bonded with Banks. The two locker next to each other.

“So every time I turn on the film, I show him a bad play and he’ll tell me what I could have done differently,” Hawkins said, “and vice versa. He’s been a great teammate to me, as well. He’s a great guy.”

Of Jackson, Hawkins said: “Adoree’ is a cool guy, a funny guy. On the field, he’s a leader. He’s a teacher, also. I’m thankful for him.”

For Martindale, all of this has to be pretty rewarding.

He has a veteran corner who is willing to do what is best for the team. He already got the first-round draft pick he was hoping for. And the sixth-round corner could be turning into a gem.

“I think that when the lights came on [in Detroit] in a real game, they both played very well,” Martindale said. “Very well. That was fun to watch. I think that the practices on Tuesday and Wednesday [against the Lions] helped them with their confidence going into the game, the unknown fear of, ‘What's this going to be like going against somebody else?’ So, I thought that was really good for them.”

Certainly, it was good for Hawkins, who has bigger dreams, and why not?

“I just want to get better,” Hawkins said. “It’s been a journey. But the journey’s not done yet. There’s still a story and a book to be written.”  

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.