Giants Sign Ex-Jets’ Multi-Faceted Defender, Special Teams Maven

Getty New York Giants add to their secondary.

The New York Giants already boast one of the league’s premier secondaries. Yet, that’s not to say there aren’t depth adds to be made on the backend.

On the same day rookies reported for training camp, the team announced the signing of versatile defensive back Jordyn Peters. The former Auburn Tiger was part of a two-man roster move on Wednesday, as former Dallas Cowboys running back Mike Weber was also inked to a deal.

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Peters Offers Position Flexibility

Peters’ signing comes 19 days after he was released by Big Blue’s neighbor’s, the New York Jets, who signed the defender as an undrafted free agent back in May. Fittingly enough, Peters’ release was made in order to create space for free-agent signee Morgan Moses, who started at the right tackle in the NFC East for the previous six seasons as a member of the Washington Football Team.

Checking in at 6-foot-1-inches and 200 pounds, Peters has the build of a prototypical safety, the position he played predominantly over his final three seasons with the Tigers. However, he also flaunted position flexibility during his collegiate days, lining up as a nickel back as a true freshman in 2017. For what it’s worth, that season he was also selected to the SEC first-year academic honor roll and named Academic Top Tiger.

Serving as a starter during his senior campaign, the Alabama native recorded 42 tackles, four pass breakups and one interception. Over his entire 36-game Auburn career, Peters accumulated 101 total tackles,  two sacks, two fumble recoveries, one forced fumble, eight pass breakups and one interception.

Special Teams Upside

While Peters offers promising traits for the safety position, chances of him cracking the safety rotation in East Rutherford are slim to none. Not only do the Giants have quite arguably the most versatile starting safety duo in all of football in Logan Ryan and Jabrill Peppers, but they also have Julian Love and a healthy Xavier McKinney in the fold as well.

In other words, any hope of Peters making his way onto New York’s 53-man roster likely means proving himself as an asset on special teams. The good news for him, his resume certainly bodes well for such an outcome. Peters recorded one special teams touchdown and four blocked kicks during his time at Auburn. Although, as he informed The Draft Network’s Justin Melo, it was more like 4.5 blocked kicks.

They credited me with four blocks but it’s really five (laughs). They called one of them a partial block and they didn’t record it officially. The ball didn’t go down the field, which is apparently a criteria that’s deemed necessary. I would say I blocked 4.5 then (laughs).

It comes down to hard work. You have to ‘want to’ be out there on the field during special teams. It takes a certain attitude and mindset. It’s all about effort, you know? I feel like special teams are sometimes the forgotten phase of the game. I try to take advantage of every special teams rep I get. I hope to continue playing on special teams at the next level.