Giants sign LI native Elijah Riley to deal

Elijah Riley can go home again.

The 25-year-old Port Jefferson native signed Thursday with the Giants. A 6-foot, 205-pound defensive back, Riley then joined his new teammates on the practice field.

Riley had a workout with the Giants on Wednesday.

“I was very fortunate to be picked out of the group [of tryouts],” he told Newsday. “I feel like I put on a good showing and I’m happy to be here. It’s nice being close to home. Pretty cool.”

The Giants have two weeks of spring workouts remaining. Riley said his goal is to “get my feet wet and show that I can have an impact here. Learn the defense as quickly as I can, build relationships with the guys and coaches, and if there is space for me to lead, I’d like to do that.”

Riley won the Hansen Award after leading Newfield to the Long Island Class II championship in 2015. Asked if Giants fans from Long Island have been reaching out, Riley said they have.

“It’s been low key, though,” he said. “There’s been no grand announcement. But it’s cool how it has all come together.”

The move adds more depth to a Giants safety group that saw starter Xavier McKinney leave for Green Bay in free agency. The team also signed veteran Jalen Mills and drafted Minnesota's Tyler Nubin in the second round of April's draft.

Giants assistant general manager Brandon Brown said the team likes the versatility Riley provides.

“When you look at Elijah, he’s a West Point grad, Army kid, really bright, has played in the nickel, has played safety, and has been a productive special teamer,” Brown said. “There is experience there with a guy who is still young, he’s 26 years old [as of June 12], and he’s local. You take all those factors and you put them together. And there is a comfort level there from the people who had a crossover with him on different staffs.”

He signed with Philadelphia as an undrafted free agent in 2020, appearing in six games over a season and a half before the Jets signed him off the Eagles' practice squad midway through the 2021 season. Riley started seven games at safety for the Jets that year, then spent the last two seasons with the Steelers. He played a career-high 13 games last season with Pittsburgh, lining up for 50 snaps on defense and 216 on special teams.

Riley has played in 30 games in four NFL seasons, recording 62 tackles, two sacks and a pass defensed.

At Army, Riley had 79 tackles and three interceptions as a senior captain. He made 201 career tackles, including 17.5 for a loss, 6.5 sacks, seven interceptions, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and one blocked field goal, which he returned for a touchdown, in 44 career games. His meeting with President Trump in 2019 led to a change in the Department of Defense policy to allow student-athletes at service academies to defer their active-duty obligation as they pursued professional careers.

In a corresponding move, the Giants waived/injured running back Gary Brightwell.

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.com,tom.rock@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.