The Giants went into the 2023 NFL Draft with a few obvious needs and one of them could be considered glaring.
A team needs as many capable cornerbacks as possible and the Giants’ roster did not have enough of them.
Now they have one they will count on to vastly improve their defense.
General manager Joe Schoen saw which way the board was moving and decided not to sit tight.
He moved from No. 25 to 24, trading up one spot with the Jaguars to take cornerback Deonte Banks of Maryland.
To move up one spot, the Giants sent a fifth round pick (No. 160 overall) and a seventh round pick (No. 240 overall) to the Jaguars.
That leaves the Giants with a total of eight picks in this draft.
Banks should immediately challenge for a starting job opposite Adoree’ Jackson.
Banks has good size at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds and was considered to be one of the top corners in this draft.
With his size comes great speed: 4.35 in the 40-yard dash.
The Giants had to like the way the players came off the board in the first half of the first round.
In the first 15 picks, only one cornerback and no wide receivers were selected.
The run on corners started at No. 16, when the Commanders took Emmanuel Forbes of Mississippi State and the Patriots at No. 17 took Christian Gonzalez of Oregon.
The first receiver to come off the board, Jaxon Smith-Njigba of Ohio State, went at No. 20 to the Seahawks.
Catch up with the entire list of Giants picks from the 2023 NFL Draft, including round-by-round analysis.
That started the run on wide receivers, a run that essentially took all the most enticing targets off the board for the Giants.
Incredibly, Giants cornerbacks in 2022 managed to get only one interception.
The isolated turnover was by seldom-used Rodarius Williams in a Week 11 loss to the Cowboys.
The Giants and Raiders were at the bottom of the NFL team interception list, with only six.
In order for defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s blitz-heavy, uber-aggressive system to operate crisply he must have faith that the back end of the defense can hold up.
Martindale in 2022 did not have a reliable stable of cornerbacks and the group was really stretched thin when injuries limited Jackson to only 10 games.
Jackson, 27, is set to make $11 million this season (and count $19 million on the salary cap) and is entering the final year on his contract.
There are a few youngsters on the roster the Giants hope will challenge for extensive playing time, leading with Cor’Dale Flott.
The 2022 third round pick from LSU is skinny but talented and has the skill-set to be a perimeter corner.
He started six games as a rookie but missed six games with a strained calf.
Get the complete list of first-round 2023 NFL Draft picks, with analysis and more from the New York Post.
There was hope that Aaron Robinson, a 2021 third round pick from Central Florida, would develop after missing half of his rookie year with a core muscle injury.
Robinson won a starting job coming out of training camp last summer but did not hold onto it.
He underwent an appendectomy after the season opener and in Week 4 went down with a knee injury that landed him on injured reserve.
The other options at cornerback returning on the roster are Darnay Holmes and Nick McCloud.
Armani Oruwariye, with 36 NFL starts (and nine interceptions) in four years with the Lions was signed in free agency.
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