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The New York Giants can’t really afford another injury in their secondary. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what occurred during the team’s intrasquad scrimmage on Friday night.
Standout rookie cornerback, Darnay Holmes, by most accounts the MVP of New York’s training camp thus far, left the scrimmage with a lower-body injury. Holmes spent the entirety of the second half on the sidelines after getting on the board early with a pass defended.
Thankfully, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan appeared to play down the severity of the injury, noting that there “didn’t appear to be any major injuries” on Friday night. The Giants have yet to release a formal injury update on Holmes since being diagnosed with what the media was informed to be simply, “lower.”
Giants Being Bit by the Injury Bug
Holmes is the second Giants rookie defensive back to suffer an injury within the last week. The team’s projected starting free safety, Xavier McKinney, underwent surgery on a fractured left foot on Wednesday and is expected to remain sidelined for approximately two-to-three months.
Injuries have been an unfortunate, yet somewhat common occurrence during Giants camp thus far. Special teams ace Cody Core will miss the entirety of the 2020 NFL season with a torn Achilles. The team’s second-leading tackler from last year, Linebacker David Mayo, is likely to miss a month following surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Fellow linebacker, Blake Martinez is dealing with an injury of his own, and while the coaches have downplayed the severity, their unwillingness to relay information on the matter has raised a few eyebrows.
Safety Jaquarius Landrews, center Spencer Pulley and tight end Evan Engram were each held out of the team’s scrimmage. The team wrote off Engram’s DNP as “load management” with head coach Joe Judge deeming it a “calculated decision.”
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Holmes’ Expectations Are Far From Your Typical 4th-Rounder
If you’re a Giants fan, you likely don’t need to be reminded about your team’s secondary troubles. However, for all the outsiders, we’ll jog your memory real quick.
2019 first-rounder and returning starter, DeAndre Baker? Facing a potential life-sentence in prison on four counts of robbery with a firearm. His projected replacement, 2018 supplemental draft pick Sam Beal? Opted out of the 2020 NFL season.
Baker, Beal and the aforementioned McKinney were huge parts of what the Giants were looking to do on defense this season. Yet, here we are in late August and two have quite possibly played their final game in a Giants uniform, while the other may not make his NFL debut until late November.
In return, a hopefully-healthy Holmes is primed to man a role far superior than your typical fourth-round selection is asked to. A role, which even the Giants themselves likely would have found farfetched a mere four months ago when they decided to pull the trigger on the UCLA product with the 110th selection in the 2020 NFL draft.
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