Position Preview: Safety (It’s All About the Knee)

Let’s face it, this position is all about 1 player.  Every Giants fan now knows what microfracture surgery is, a tidbit of knowledge I’m sure many wish they didn’t have to learn about, at least not this way.  But without a doubt, the first thing we need to talk about when it comes to the Giants' safeties is Kenny Phillips, more specifically, his knee.  The term “cautiously optimistic” has become the hackneyed mantra of the Giants’ brass when asked about Phillips.  Phillips himself has generally been less cautious in his optimism, but let’s face, when was the last time you heard a young player say “yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ll never be the same.”  He has been limited to running along the sideline during OTA’s, but at least he’s running.  I don't think anyone can really predict what will happen, so I won't try.  I doubt we’ll really know until the season starts if Phillips is going to be OK, and even then his long term health remains a mystery.

The Giants deserve credit for how they’ve handled the situation at least.  They’ve gone out and signed 2 veteran free agents in Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant, and used a 3rd round pick on Chad Jones.  Some have overreacted to these signings by suggesting they mean that the Giants don’t believe Phillips will be back, but the Giants have just simply (and smartly) hedged their bets.  After last year, it was clear that they needed another safety (or two) regardless of Phillips’ health.  Rolle was a great signing, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  The team also released CC Brown and Aaron Rouse (addition by subtraction).  They also retained veteran Michael Johnson (more on him later).  Best case scenario, Phillips returns and starts alongside Roll.  They have a smart veteran back-up in Grant (and/or Johnson), and a young player who can learn from the veterans and slowly develop.  Worse case scenario, Phillips can’t make the return, or suffers a set-back, Grant becomes the stop-gap option this year along side Rolle, and Jones becomes the teams safety of the future.  Most likely, Phillips will be back, but will need to rest those knees now and again.  Either way they now have 4 safeties who they likely will feel comfortable putting on the field this year, which is 4 more than they had last year once Phillips went down.

The question is how many safeties will the Giants carry on their active roster.  Rolle, Phillips (barring a set-back landing him on the IR), and Jones are obviously in.  Unless he’s got nothing left, I’m pretty sure you can count Grant in as well.  The Giants learned their lesson from a year ago when they only had 3 safeties on their roster.  That was simply horrific roster management when you consider that they knew that Phillips had some knee issues—but that’s for another rant.  If they only take 4, then veteran Michael Johnson could be on his way out.  Johnson’s poor play landed him in Jerry Reese’s doghouse, as the GM—who’s never been shy about calling out a player (see Manning 2007)—publicly criticized Johnson’s play last season.   The other 2 safeties on the roster are Sha’reff Rashad, who spent ’09 on the practice squad, and rookie free agent and fellow UCF product Michael Greco (NOTE:  The Giants’ roster online lists Seth Williams as a Safety from Cal-Poly, but this appears to be a mistake, as he was a corner at Richmond.  Whether or not the Giants are trying to convert him to a safety or not I don’t know, but considering they currently have his school wrong I’m leaving him out for now).  Greco is probably just hoping for a spot on the practice squad, so Rashad is Johnson’s only competition.  Well that and whether or not the Giants even have room for a 5th safety.  I think Johnson can play, he’s shown that before.  He's more of a cover guy (like Rolle), he gets lost in space when he's playing deep middle though.  From what I've heard, that's the opposite of what can be said about Grant and Jones.  So I expect the Giants to keep 5, Johnson to back up Rolle, and Grant and Jones to be behind Phillips.

It all comes back to that damn knee though doesn’t it? It’s interesting that Phillips, who has only 5 career starts, can be looked at as such an essential commodity.   He has shown tremendous play-making ability in his limited action, and it’s his potential that has fans and the Giants excited.  I hope and expect he’ll be back, whether or not he will ever be as good as he “could have been”, we’ll likely never know for sure.