Giants CB Deonte Banks was a PERFECT addition to their defense: Film Breakdown

Disclaimer: The following is a transcript of a YouTube video titled “Giants CB Deonte Banks was a PERFECT Addition to their Defense: Film Breakdown” The content is for informational purposes only and was originally presented in video format.

The Giants took cornerback Deonte Banks with the 25th pick of last year's draft and overall I think he's been really good. He's given up a handful of plays, but the Giants are one of the most man coverage heavy teams in the NFL, so that's expected. And he's offset that by making plays on the ball. He got his first interception in week 7 against the Washington Commanders. 

So in this video we're going to look at where he's had success and where he needs to improve. The reason the Giants drafted Deonte Banks is because of his press man coverage ability. He's really aggressive. He plays with great leverage at the line of scrimmage. He's almost always lower than the receiver he's going up against. And he's a fluid enough athlete where he can overextend a little bit and press coverage and still be able to get his hips turned around and recover downfield. I remember watching his week one tape and I saw this play and just immediately knew he was going to translate to the NFL. 

Regardless of whether or not this should be holding, he kind of hangs on for an extra yard or two. The ability to just land a two hand punch and drive a player to the sideline, you can't teach that. He had a similar play against Ohio State last year that I can't show, but he basically just bench presses a Emeka Egbuka five yards off the line of scrimmage. And when you're blitzing as often as Wink Martindale is, the ability to win within the first two or three seconds of the rep is what's most important. On this play against Washington, they're sending a six man pressure, overloading the left side of the line of scrimmage. 

So you've got four pass rushers for three pass blockers. So it's inevitable the Pass Rush is going to get home. All you need from the corners is to hang on for 2 or 3 seconds and take away those quick throwing windows. He lands a two hand punch on Curtis Samuel, physically restricts him from getting off the line of scrimmage. Eventually he's able to get some separation on this drag route, but by that time the pockets collapse, Sam Howell takes a sack. Right here Terry McLaurin takes an outside release, he single hand punches with the inside hand. 

Good job staying on top of the route, reading the break, he stops his feet at the right time, doesn't allow any separation. Something I really liked from his college tape was his awareness and zone or match coverage picking up routes from the opposite side of the field. So right here, the Giants are in cover three. Deonte Banks has the deep third, which means any deep route to his side of the field. The first tight end runs a deep over and the second tight end chips and then releases to the flat. 

So his eyes go across the formation. He identifies Jahan Dotson the ball's definitely underthrown, but he is able to undercut it, get his first career interception. This is another nice zone coverage rep from week one. They've got a flat route from the number one and a corner from the tight end. Deonte Banks takes away the flat route, reads the quarterback's eyes, sees that he's targeting the corner route, and then slides over the top and breaks up the pass. I also like how comfortable he is playing trail technique where you're purposely getting underneath leverage on the receiver. 

A lot of times you'll see this in 2 man or really any coverage where you know you have safety help over the top and you aren't worried about getting beat deep. So right here he gets into trail technique on Jahan Datson. What's almost always going to happen in this situation is the receiver is going to headfake one way and then break in the opposite direction , and he's able to play really tight coverage and have the patience to not fall for the receiver's body language, Sam Howell doesn't have anywhere to throw, and as always, he takes a sack.

Another place you'll see a lot of trail technique is in the red zone, where the back sideline is basically your safety help. The Miami Dolphins are running a switch release with Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill. Deonte Banks waits for him to declare his release. He stays outside and underneath the route. Ideally he could turn around and have a chance at an interception here, but that's not actually a rule that you have to turn around and play the football. from a cornerback's perspective or really any position. It's not your job to not commit penalties. 

Your job is to not get called for penalties. So, getting your head turned around and playing the ball definitely signals to the referee that you're not committing a penalty and you're less likely to draw a flag. But the fact that he's face up with the receiver here doesn't make it a penalty. Right here he's covering this out route from Deebo Samuel. Brock Purdy is getting hit as he's thrown, so the ball's a little bit behind him. But really good break on this route. Good job establishing body position in front of the receiver. On Deonte Banks college tape, he had a lot of pass breakups, but not very many interceptions. Only two interceptions for his college career. 

And it's a small sample size type of thing. I didn't think he had any problems playing the ball in the air. It was actually just coming down with the interception. So we'll see how that develops. But Brock Purdy's receivers have done a great job this year of breaking up passes that should have been intercepted. I also like the start stop ability and the short area change of direction. Right here the 49ers are running play action with a dig route and then a 7 stop. 

A 7 is a corner route, so a 7 stop is you break on the corner route and then cut it off really quickly. The Giants are in cover 3, so Deonte Banks has his back to the sideline. It would be really easy to overreact to the corner route and get his hips out of control, but he's able to cover this first break, stop his momentum, stay tight to the route. There's so many plays like this on banks tape so far where he's playing really tight coverage and he either forces a sack or forces a check down. And it doesn't show up anywhere on the stat sheet, but it has a positive impact on the game.

So there's a lot of good from his tape. He's playing the most difficult job in the NFL at a high level But, as expected with a rookie corner that's playing a lot of pressed man, he has given some plays up. He was matched up with Terry McLaurin in week 7, and they definitely went back and forth. But a lot of the receptions he allowed were actually pretty tight coverage. Just great ball placement, great contested catch. Right here, McLaurin fakes the inside release, that gets Banks to drop step with the inside foot, so he isn't able to slide over and stay on top of the route. But still a good job recovering down the stem. 

As he starts to look back to play the football, he kind of gets tripped up. And that creates just enough of a window for Howl to drop in this hole shot. But ultimately this is just an incredible catch by Terry McLaurin to bring it in as he's getting hit by the safety.This is another play from Week 7. I like the first 80% of the rep. Good jam at the line of scrimmage. Good job transitioning downfield. But again, as he's looking back to play the football, he loses a step and they're able to complete this whole shot. This play against DK Metcalf, I'm not exactly sure what you would call this release. I'm sure someone has a cool name for it. 

But he's going to elongate this step with the outside foot and then accelerate into an outside release. Really good patience here at the line of scrimmage by Deonte Banks He plays tight coverage down the field but at the break DK Metcalf just swings this right arm to try to create separation. he isn't able to actually release contact, but it does get Deonte Banks off balance. And then he works back to the football and makes the catch. And then he's given up two touchdowns. Both of them came in the red zone. This first one's really more of an incredible throw by Brock Purdy. 

The The Giants are rushing six, so there's no safety help over the middle. What that means is Deonte Banks has to play this route from the slot with inside leverage. So he has to be shaded to the inside because if he allows separation on an inside break, there's no help. And the pass rush is able to get through, but Purdy just starts a dime off of one foot leaning backwards. Ronnie Bell is able to create about a step of separation out of this break... But if Purdy doesn't throw this with perfect ball placement, then Banks probably has a chance to break this up.

And then his second touchdown is, I don't want to say like a fluky play, but I don't know how many more times he's going to see this. DK Metcalf runs this sluggo route where he's faking the inside break and then releasing to the back corner of the endzone. Banks covers that up and then the play goes on for about 3 or 4 seconds. He's faceguarding the receiver. DK Metcalf does a great job of selling that the play is over. But Geno Smith breaks out of the pocket, throws it to the pylon.

 At the last second, DK Metcalf raises his hands, brings in the touchdown at a certain point here, if you haven't heard the whistle, you need to turn around and figure out what's going on in the play. But he thought this one was over. So overall, I think it's been a really solid start to Deonte Bank's rookie season. Like I've said, when you're playing this much Press Man, you're just going to give up plays. That's a given.