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The New York Giants selection of safety Xavier McKinney in the 2nd-round of the 2020 NFL Draft has received no shortage of praise over the past month.
Many have pegged the former Alabama standout as the steal of the draft following his previously unfathomable slip out of the 1st-round. Count 3x-Super Bowl winning executive and current NFL Network analyst, Charley Casserly, in that group of puzzled Draft experts who believe McKinney’s skillset was deserving of a 1st-round selection.
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Casserly is a Huge Fan of McKinney’s Game
This is far from the first time Casserly has gone on record applauding the Giants’ selection of McKinney, and it likely won’t be the last.
Following the conclusion of the three-day event last month, the former 23-year NFL exec pegged McKinney as his best pick in the entire draft after being posed the question from NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano.
Xavier McKinney Alabama safety in the 2nd-Round to the New York Giants, why? I interviewed 12 teams from the end of the season to before the draft, they all had him as their top safety. He was my top safety. I gave him a 1st-Round grade. You get him in the 2nd. What do I like? Natural free safety when he’s deep. He’s got range, got instincts, can get to the ball. He’s a phsycial tackler, he’ll come down to the box and tackle and you’ll see him run with tight ends. I saw him in press coverage. 4.63 (forty) he ran, so what? I think he’s faster, but it’s all about instincts when you play safety.
Mr. Versatility
The Giants already had themselves one of the league’s more versatile safeties in Jabrill Peppers. However, where Peppers’ game falls a bit short of McKinney’s is in the coverage department.
In 984 coverage snaps at Alabama, McKinney allowed a meager three touchdowns, per Pro Football Focus. He’s also just one of five safeties to play over 450 snaps in the box, as well as slot and free safety over the past two seasons in college football, producing 70.0+ grades at all three alignments.
Many Giants fans were gutted when the team opted to pass on swiss-army-knife prospect Isaiah Simmons in favor of offensive tackle Andrew Thomas with the 4th-overall selection in the draft.
However, with the combination of Thomas and McKinney, New York appears to have come out of the draft with the best of both worlds.
In Thomas, Big Blue gets a potential franchise tackle for the next decade to grow alongside quarterback Daniel Jones. In terms of McKinney, the team gets a player who is arguably just as, if not more versatile than Simmons, yet at a more valued position in today’s pass-happy NFL.
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