So I was looking at the All-22 of the 49ers game for the defense via Big Blue Banter and something that came up in discussion (approx. 32 or 33 minutes in) was that Xavier McKinney isn't being used to the best of his ability. He seemed to have his best work as a free safety under Graham where he could high-point the ball and make an interception on the back level, while under Wink, he's been playing strong safety closer to the line of scrimmage where he has to sift through traffic and guess which direction the ball carrier's going to go.
Would it be better for the defense if he was a single-high safety who could cover the back end and move someone like Dane Belton in who can cover the flats?
All-22 DEF Film Review: Leonard Williams responds, is McKinney’s usage maximizing his skill set? - (
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Both Giants safeties play almost the same position.
And if not, is it the system or the player?
He's in the box some, he's deep some. They are run blitzing Pinnock a lot, so McK's getting plenty of reps deep, too.
He's just not a very good football player. Kind of average for an NFL S. Personally, I never understood the push he was getting as one of the best in the league.
He's made a couple really good plays in his career, aside from that it's kind of ordinary. This is not a special player, IMO.
Both Giants safeties play almost the same position.
More like a bad season. I have seen nothing in the 3 games that make me think they will even entertain signing him to the money he wants.
A lot of people talk about him as if he was an all pro. He is in his fourth year, and really had one good year.
IMO his hand is hurting his play substantially - physically and probably mentally as well. I’m not sure he will ever be the same player. Hopefully he’s still healing?
At least the Giants didn’t pay him yet. I feel bad for the kid, he’s likely lost millions. And not just a few.
His rookie year? He missed almost all of it with a broken foot. Are you talking about year 2? My recollection was he looked OK year 2 - promising, still very young - enough there to hope he'd ascend into a great player - but he's never really taken that next step. IMO.
Still remember that odd tweet before the season about being disrespected too. Something never sits well when a self-proclaimed leader like McKinney is "leading" a unit that is playing like shit and giving poor effort.
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The sky appeared to be the limit and was pretty decent last year with his safety mate Love. After the accident, which coincidentally crushed his hand, he hasn't been the same player. Don't know if he's favoring the hand still? But he certainly looks like he's shying away from tackling. It's not that he's in a bad position as he's usually there, however his tackling has been piss poor. The safeties need to start getting some turnovers too. It appears like he's trying to do too much and trying to strip the ball instead of just wrapping up and tackling.
His rookie year? He missed almost all of it with a broken foot. Are you talking about year 2? My recollection was he looked OK year 2 - promising, still very young - enough there to hope he'd ascend into a great player - but he's never really taken that next step. IMO.
Still remember that odd tweet before the season about being disrespected too. Something never sits well when a self-proclaimed leader like McKinney is "leading" a unit that is playing like shit and giving poor effort.
Yea, sorry, his second year
Both Giants safeties play almost the same position.
IMO, at his best (so far) he looks like a solid starter -- which occasionally makes him stand out on a team that doesn't have many solid starters.
I don't see prowbowl. Not yet.
But in a position less defense they are asked to play any where and not necessarily where they play best.
I am beginning to wonder if Wink has become too infatuated with the concept of the position less defense to the detriment of the defense.
BBV “Vanishing act: Why has McKinney disappeared?” - ( New Window )
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just fine. He is a big guy with good tackling most games. Tough, hard nosed player. He had a bad night, like most everyone else on defense.
Both Giants safeties play almost the same position.
He has been bad this season, not just last Thursday.
Meh, can't agree. Thursday was bad.
It's a ludicrous article. "From 2020-22, McKinney posted rates of 4.2%, 9.3%, and 8.7%. In 2023, though, his rate is a whopping 14.3%". So in other words, his missed tackle rate dropped under Wink last season (really stayed the same because of the ludicrous false precision of these numbers).
McKinney has 4 missed tackles this season. 2 against SFO. A single missed tackle skews the results. A single bad game would screw a whole season's results.
Lets cherry pick another stat from his 12 quarters of 2023 play McKinney has 18 total tackles. Last season he had 45 total. He's on a record pace!
BTW there's a whole debate on whether lots of tackles for a safety is a feature or a bug.
So in his first and second year, he played mostly deep safety and showed a lot of promise. When Wink arrived, he decided to more fully use McKinney’s skills at other positions. That could be a great idea but you better have a good player in the role that McKinney isn’t filling on any particular play. Last season, Love could take most of the snaps at deep safety that McKinney had taken in 2021. This season, the deep safety role isn’t Pinnock’s strength and he isn’t playing that role as well as Love did.
Two possible solutions: Switch McKinney with Pinnock OR find someone like McCloud, Belton or McCain who can play the deep safety role better than Pinnock.
The issues are fundamentals, not the way they are using McKinney
Those 2 fundamentals have never changed
Right now at this moment we are not doing a good job at football fundamentals
The issues are fundamentals, not the way they are using McKinney
I would argue the reason teams get the ball out fast and run against us isn't just to avoid pressure, but simply because we haven't shown we can stop it. I believe purdy only threw one pass over 20 air yards. I could be mistaken. Screens and runs seem to be kryptonite to our D
Smart - smashes hand during season with risky activity; Nope, not smart
Dependable - missed tackles, missed games; I’m calling this a Nope
Goodbye X, no second contract for you. Wasted potential.
Xavier needs to start tackling better and hitting hard. Blow up players and cause some turnovers. He is one of several “stars” on Defense that isn’t doing this. That is the problem.