Giants Moving on From Defensive Snap Count Leader: Report

Giants Release Safety Antonio Bethea

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Veteran safety Antoine Bethea was brought into town a season ago to serve as a veteran presence on the backend of an extremely young New York Giants defense. Now, a season after, the team has decided to move on from the soon to be 36-year old safety.

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Giants Decline Bethea’s Contract Option

On Wednesday, Big Blue decided they will not be picking the option on Antoine Bethea’s contract, in return ending his one-year tenure with the team, this according to Dan Duggan of The Athletic.

Bethea was set to count for more than $2.4 million against the team’s cap this coming season. Instead, the decision to move on from the safety frees up $3 million in cap space for the Giants without any dead-money hit.


Bethea Struggled in 2019 Despite a Massive Usage Rate

Bethea’s 2019 season was a fairly interesting one. Brought into New York mainly due to his association with then-Giants defensive coordinator James Bettcher during their time together in Arizona, the safety was expected to serve more in a leadership role than an actual week-in, week-out on-field contributor.

Instead, all Bethea did was lead the Giants’ entire defense in snaps with an absurd 1,132 snaps played. Not only did that number lead the way for New York, it was actually the fourth-most snaps played by any defender league-wide in 2019.

Bethea’s usage rate led to rather solid statistics, as one would expect. He accumulated 110 total tackles, one interception, and six pass breakups. However, he rarely passed the eye test, constantly being beat on deep routes, and found lingering out of position on way too many occasions.

The Giants are now expected to dive in headfirst on the veteran free agent safety market in hopes of finding a player to serve as a third safety alongside Jabrill Peppers and Julian Love, ala Deon Grant back in New York’s Super Bowl days.


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