Stapleton: Giants to sign Ross Cockrell

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into opposing offensive coordinators.

In comment 14946243 SFGFNCGiantsFan said:

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into opposing offensive coordinators.

How can he? You have said NUMEROUS times that you can't see a season taking place.

Dan Duggan
⁦‪@DDuggan21‬⁩

Makes sense. Competent NFL veteran, can play slot or outside, likely comes cheap


Bobby Skinner
⁦‪@BobbySkinner_‬⁩

Giants sign CB Ross Cockrell

2019 opponent stats:
14 games played
37/67 55.2% 450 yds 1 TD 2 INT

Those are decent numbers for a guy who played 2/3 of the snaps.

I think they'll do their best to plow through, but do they finish? Time will tell. It depends what the country looks like this fall when flu/cold season come back around along with COVID showing no signs of abating. But I think they'll get it off the ground because there's too much $ at stake.

In comment 14946247 Defenderdawg said:

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Dan Duggan ⁦‪@DDuggan21‬⁩ Makes sense. Competent NFL veteran, can play slot or outside, likely comes cheap Bobby Skinner ⁦‪@BobbySkinner_‬⁩ Giants sign CB Ross Cockrell 2019 opponent stats: 14 games played 37/67 55.2% 450 yds 1 TD 2 INT Those are decent numbers for a guy who played 2/3 of the snaps.

And if im not mistaken (I could be off by a season) this was coming off of a horrific injury which put him on the shelf for a year. Im happy with this, liked him when he was here before.

I still hope that they sign Dre Kirkpatrick but Cockrell is still a solid veteran. They need all the help they can get across from Bradberry.

can't be much, last contract was $3mil annual, can't imagine he got more than that.

could use it for a trade. Wonder if we could swap lorenzo carter for someone decent.

not a bad pick up at this stage.

giving the kids all the reps sounds good until they are getting burned and flagged constantly like Baker, Haley, and Ballentine. Having 1 or 2 guys get obliterated isn't good for anybody, demoralizes them and the team around them.

I still wouldn't be shocked to see them add another CB at some point. Balentine and Holmes are both intriguing prospects but it remains to be seen if they are ready for every down roles.

A competent #2 boundary CB that’s familiar with the organization. Can’t ask for much more at this point.

Was a Giant in 2017 (McAdoo’s final year) so Patrick Graham is familiar with him.

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And at 29....should still be playing well.

2 years removed from a broken leg....should also help.

Good pick up and competition for the other CB spot.

there was all sorts of concern in the off-season about who would be our fourth corner. We had Jackrabbit, DRC and Apple but nobody behind them. Much of BBI was quite distressed over this. Well we found that guy in Ross Cockrell who did a nice job but we sprung a few leaks elsewhere...lol.

I assume its a budget friendly one year deal and Cockrell will provide some veteran stability.

They are down 2 corners, but only Beal's salary is freed up. Been a while but he did have a good year for us a few years back.

He could be a decent system fit as well.

...competent, third-tier vets like Cockrell could be more valuable than usual. Setting a floor under key positions figures to be even more difficult than in a normal year.

In comment 14946254 CMicks3110 said:

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could use it for a trade. Wonder if we could swap lorenzo carter for someone decent.

We have the Leonard Williams 4th round pick. It's the Leonard Williams 5th round pick that we don't have.

What are we doing?

I'm okay with this. Guessing it will be pretty darn cheap.

In comment 14946345 Dave in Hoboken said:

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I'm okay with this. Guessing it will be pretty darn cheap.

Ditto.

In comment 14946249 SFGFNCGiantsFan said:

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I think they'll do their best to plow through, but do they finish? Time will tell. It depends what the country looks like this fall when flu/cold season come back around along with COVID showing no signs of abating. But I think they'll get it off the ground because there's too much $ at stake.

The coronavirus is here to stay, even with a vaccine. I have yet to read or hear from any scientist, medical personnel , government official, how we learn to live with it, as we do with other contagions, other than the stifling mitigation’s still in place.

Do we ever do what Sweden did? The latest CDC shows maybe it is behind them, dear God, I hope so, but we shall see.

While Sweden s death rate surpassed ours, and their recovery rate was slower than ours during the lock down, it might be behind them now.

This is a legitimate question, maybe borne of ignorance, but legit nevertheless.

Please don’t make it political. I for one am willing to move forward, respect others, but make my own personal choices.

Said giants to sign the other two players who visited also. Jackson Dennis and Cody White

It is either eradicate or live with....we seem to be in some weird middle ground.

I assuming it is waiting game until the vaccine....as

Heard immunity while protecting the infirm..is only way we move forward. More cases less deaths....is what we need.....as we are well passed eradicating it.

In comment 14946391 CMicks3110 said:

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Said giants to sign the other two players who visited also. Jackson Dennis and Cody White

A WR and an OL who have zero chance to make the team ... I wonder if the plan is to bring in numbers that would have some knowledge of the playbook if needed in an emergency later in the season ... fills 2 positions of guys who opted out.

Science has, with less sophisticated technology beat far worse illnesses into submission ... and science will again prevail sending those nasty pangolin microbes back into the ground.

As roster players missing games due.to covid is likely....

I am sure things will work out....i wish it wasn't so political, but I guess we are in that season.

the team actually got better in my mind with this

Better then they will ever become, he is a solid player, has anyone forgot the mess we had last year. There is no longer a mess back there now. I believe McKinney will be good, I think Love will improve greatly, we may actually have a pretty good secondary now, that was not a certainty with Beal or Baker. A lot of people like Holmes to, and we have Peppers. I wanted this guy back, I love this move.

Better then they will ever become, he is a solid player, has anyone forgot the mess we had last year. There is no longer a mess back there now. I believe McKinney will be good, I think Love will improve greatly, we may actually have a pretty good secondary now, that was not a certainty with Beal or Baker. A lot of people like Holmes to, and we have Peppers. I wanted this guy back, I love this move.

I don’t think he has the athletic ability to play an outside CB. I think he’s ok at the slot and certainly an upgrade over Haley if he’s healthy. The plan was to bring in Holmes to play the slot and it’s questionable if he has the size to play the outside. So, unless Love or somebody else can play the outside CB, I think there’s still a problem.

In comment 14946413 Samiam said:

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I don’t think he has the athletic ability to play an outside CB. I think he’s ok at the slot and certainly an upgrade over Haley if he’s healthy. The plan was to bring in Holmes to play the slot and it’s questionable if he has the size to play the outside. So, unless Love or somebody else can play the outside CB, I think there’s still a problem.

Why do you feel Cockrell can't play on the outside?

I think everybody should read this. There is a blurb about how the Pats use their guys that I think Graham may implore with us.
Link - ( New Window )

In comment 14946424 robbieballs2003 said:

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In comment 14946413 Samiam said: Quote: I don’t think he has the athletic ability to play an outside CB. I think he’s ok at the slot and certainly an upgrade over Haley if he’s healthy. The plan was to bring in Holmes to play the slot and it’s questionable if he has the size to play the outside. So, unless Love or somebody else can play the outside CB, I think there’s still a problem. Why do you feel Cockrell can't play on the outside? I think everybody should read this. There is a blurb about how the Pats use their guys that I think Graham may implore with us. Link - ( New Window )

And what athletic ability is he lacking that he cannot play on the outside?
At his Duke pro day, Cockrell ran a 4.40 40-yard dash at 6-feet tall and 190 pounds. He also logged an explosive 39-inch vertical jump and 12 bench press reps at 225 pounds. Entering the 2017 season, Cockrell had never allowed a touchdown in primary coverage, according to PFF.[/quote]
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he is competent in a few different positions and won't kill you, but he also isn't a guy who teams will be afraid to test.

He is however 100% an upgrade over what they got out of both Baker outside and Haley in the slot last year. He makes the team better and in that respect it is a good signing since it's also likely very low cost. He will allow Holmes and Balentine to progress as their own pace and the defense/team to not suffer in the process if they need more time.

Ryan is a better player with extra versatility and may have been more of a multi-year piece (similar to the Golden Tate signing) but there's also some reason to be concerned his play may be falling off a little so I can understand if their evaluation of him doesn't line up with the price tag he's looking for having come off a pro bowl season.

is Ryan better? When I look up how they have played the last few years I can make the argument that Cockrell has been better.

is an excellent signing. As others have noted, he's been effective outside and in the slot. He's also much cheaper than someone like Ryan.

In comment 14946443 robbieballs2003 said:

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is Ryan better? When I look up how they have played the last few years I can make the argument that Cockrell has been better.

Ryan was certainly more dynamic if you look at his big play production and he's got 1 extra layer of versatility having played safety before.

4 ints / 18 passes defensed
4 FF
4.5 sacks
4 TFL's
8 QB hits (which would have been as many as anyone on our roster except LW, MG, and Carter).

That amount of turnovers and negative offensive plays probably stacks up with any defensive player in football last year.

Whether the pro bowl alternate/top 100 stuff is more name recognition that goes along with those big plays, or legitimate I don't know. If his tackling and coverage took a step back on the other 99% of snaps he played as PFF says I can understand the hesitation at signing him over the risk that perhaps the big play production was a little flukey.

In comment 14946465 Eric on Li said:

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In comment 14946443 robbieballs2003 said: Quote: is Ryan better? When I look up how they have played the last few years I can make the argument that Cockrell has been better. Ryan was certainly more dynamic if you look at his big play production and he's got 1 extra layer of versatility having played safety before. 4 ints / 18 passes defensed 4 FF 4.5 sacks 4 TFL's 8 QB hits (which would have been as many as anyone on our roster except LW, MG, and Carter). That amount of turnovers and negative offensive plays probably stacks up with any defensive player in football last year. Whether the pro bowl alternate/top 100 stuff is more name recognition that goes along with those big plays, or legitimate I don't know. If his tackling and coverage took a step back on the other 99% of snaps he played as PFF says I can understand the hesitation at signing him over the risk that perhaps the big play production was a little flukey.

Correct. He has a big advantage in big plays but also gave up the most passing yards of any DB and was targeted the most. Great DBs don't get targeted a ton. He had like 20 kissed tackles last year as well.

lol, obviously missed.

among all defensive players last year those numbers qualify as:

6th most in FF behind just TJ Watt, Barrett, Chandler Jones, Mack, and Ryan Anderson.
13th best in INT (league leaders had 6)
3rd most passes defensed behind Gilmore and Carlton Davis
most QB hits + sacks among DBs

if you add that all up it amounts to 38 negative plays which like I said is probably highest among all DB's and maybe even all defensive players.

but there were 1000+ other snaps he played that are a huge part of his evaluation we can't evaluate as easily.

which may mean more upside. The missed tackles and poorer coverage grades may also mean more downside to go along with more $ cost.

I would have understood NYG either way and would have been happy to sign either player (even both) on team friendly contracts.

Given where we are in the offseason, this is a solid move. Cockrell seemed relatively reliable when he was here in 2017(?) - it's decent depth.

Obviously it's not Logan Ryan, but it's a vet who has been around and should be able to step in and not be a disaster if we need him.

If he winds up on the field a lot, that's not a good sign. But, in a pinch, we could do worse.

and did not flat out say Cockrell is better. If I am running a defense I don't want basically an all or nothing guy in Ryan at this stage especially for the price tag he supposedly wants. If I am Graham I want players doing their job and a lot of time a good DB is like a good OL, if you don't hear their name that is a good thing. Tennessee was 24th in passing YPG last year. I was interested in Ryan but the more I look into it I am happier with Cockrell. He has size, speed, experience, flexibility, and is familiar with us. And the price should be much cheaper than Ryan. I wonder if it is a multi-year deal or not.

On other threads, it has been argued that signing veterans to fill gaps isn’t worth the cap space, and that the Giants should be developing younger players until the team is competitive a couple of years down the road. At this point, with a lot of 2-year and 3-year players, the team needs to show some improvement, at least to encourage those players to stick around and put out the effort to move forward. We need more than another 4-5 win season. We need a 7-9 win season to show future FAs that this team is going to be a regular playoff caliber team.

Cockrell is a very serviceable player, solid depth at worst, who should not cost very much money and is not a long term contract.. Even if he has to be starting on the outside, he is better than some schlub who would be the weak link of the defense, no matter how the scheme tries to hide him.