Giants safety Xavier McKinney is entering the final year of his rookie deal scheduled to make $1.754 million in base salary and count $2.670 milion against the cap. Dan Duggan of TheAthletic.com reports that “there are no indications the Giants have initiated extension talks.”
The Giants, though, could try to get something done now when McKinney doesn’t have as much leverage as he might later.
McKinney missed eight games in the regular season in 2022 after an ATV accident in Cabo during the team’s off week. He required surgery on his left hand after breaking multiple fingers and played both playoff games with a protective cast on his hand.
Duggan suggested the Giants might be able to sign McKinney to something in the range of the three-year, $36 million extension signed by Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson last year.
McKinney has played only 32 games in the three seasons since they made him a second-round choice, but his 2021 season showed his value to the Giants defense when healthy. He played all 17 games and totaled 93 tackles, five interceptions and 10 passes defensed his second season.
Pat Shurmur did not coach last season, but he’s back in the game.
He is joining Deion Sanders’ staff as an offensive analyst at the University of Colorado, Carl Reed Jr. of 247Sports reports.
Shurmur, 58, most recently was offensive coordinator with the Broncos in 2020-21. He has not coached in the college ranks since 1998 when he was offensive line coach at Stanford.
He coached in the NFL for 23 seasons with the Eagles, Rams, Browns, Vikings, Giants and Broncos. Shurmer served as head coach of the Browns in 2011-12 and for the Giants in 2018-19.
Shurmur has a 19-46 record as a head coach, including two games as interim head coach of the Eagles in 2015.
Giants assistant special teams coach Anthony Blevins is leaving Brian Daboll’s coaching staff. The XFL announced Friday that Blevins has accepted the job to become the Vegas Vipers head coach.
Blevins was entering his sixth season with the Giants, and his fifth as assistant special teams coach.
In 2021, Blevins also was the assistant linebackers coach, and in 2020, he was the team’s assistant defensive backs coach.
Blevins, 46, coached at four college programs before joining the Cardinals as assistant special teams coach in 2013. He stayed in Arizona for five seasons before joining the Giants. Blevins coached under three head coaches with the Giants.
Blevins played in the XFL with the Birmingham franchise in 2000-01.
Former NFL linebacker Johnie Cooks died Thursday, Colts owner Jim Irsay confirmed on social media. Cooks was 64.
Cooks became a star at Mississippi State, manning the middle of the defense and earning a spot in the Davis Wade Stadium Ring of Honor. Cooks and D.D. Lewis are considered the best Bulldog linebackers ever.
The Baltimore Colts made Cooks the second overall pick in 1982, and he earned all-rookie honors his first season.
He played 83 games with 74 starts over seven seasons with the Colts, moving to outside linebacker in 1984 and making 11.5 sacks that season.
The Colts released him during the 1988 season, and the Giants signed him. Cooks earned a Super Bowl ring with the Giants.
Cooks ended his career in Cleveland, retiring after the 1991 season.
He is a member of both the Mississippi State and State of Mississippi sports halls of fame, and one of Mississippi State’s SEC Legends.
The Giants have 14 wide receivers on their roster, but do they have a WR1? Darius Slatyon answers emphatically, believing he is a No. 1 receiver who merely hasn’t gotten his opportunity.
“I wouldn’t say it bothers me, because everybody doesn’t know what I know ,” Slayton told Ryan Dunleavy of The New York Post. “Everybody is not in the Giants’ building. At the end of the day, you can only judge based on what you see from afar.”
Slayton re-signed with the Giants in the offseason, joining Sterling Shepard, Isaiah Hodgins, Parris Campbell, Wan’Dale Robinson, Jamison Crowder and third-round pick Jalin Hyatt in the receiver room. Slayton has led the Giants in receiving three of the past four seasons, but his career highs were 50 catches for 751 yards in 2020.
Slayton caught 46 passes for 724 yards last season.
Odell Beckham was the team’s last receiver to top the 1,000-yard mark, going for 1,052 yards on 77 catches in 2018.
“You see this guy go for 1,010 [yards] or see a guy go for 100 yards every week, and you go, ‘He’s really good,’” Slayton said. “Some of these guys play with nobody. I play with Saquon [Barkley]. Where do you think the ball is going first? Not me. We had [Shepard], Evan Engram and now Darren [Waller].
“I didn’t play with just a bunch of bums. That’s a little annoying, because at the end of the day, it’s not like I’ve ever been the only person or one person to get the ball, whereas somebody [else] is. It is what it is. At the end of the day, I just play to win. As long as the Giants win, I’ll be all right.”
The Giants aren’t paying Slayton WR1 money as he signed a two-year, $12 million contract, but Slayton believes given the opportunity, he can be just that.
“I believe in myself. I believe in my ability. I believe in the work I put in the offseason,” Slayton said. “Whether we add 10 guys, whether we add all of you guys, I believe I’ll find my way on the field.”