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The New York Giants' 2026 training camp is just a little over a week away, and there's lots of optimism with incoming head coach John Harbaugh at the helm.
As we do every summer at Giants Wire, we drop short previews of each unit before the team begins camp to get our readers ready for another season of Giants football.
Today, we focus on the cornerback unit, as well as the coaches and players you need to know.
Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson
Wilson, 44, comes over from the same role with the Tennessee Titans, which he held for the past two seasons. Before that, he ran the secondaries for several NFL teams during his 14-year career: Baltimore, the Jets, Philadelphia and the Rams. He has vowed to return the Giants' defense to an attacking force after two passive and disjointed seasons under Shane Bowen.
“We’re gonna play a New York brand of football. That’s violent defense," Wilson said this past spring.
Defensive backs coach Addison Lynch
Lynch is entering his first year with the Giants and brings a well-traveled resume, having coached the secondaries in Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles with the Chargers. He's basically going to be charged with taking this group and rounding it into a cohesive unit.
In an interview earlier this year, Lynch said the secondary's issues were many, but believes consistency was the main culprit for the many breakdowns in coverages.
“We studied every player,” Lynch said during spring practices. “We make these tapes called Get Better tapes, and there are things we need to get better at.”
Secondary coach/defensive pass game coordinator Donald D'Alesio
D'Alesio is another former Ravens assistant who followed Harbaugh to East Rutherford this year. The Youngstown, Ohio native has only been coaching in the NFL since 2021 but has seen much early success in his career thus far. Before his one season in Baltimore, D'Alesio was an assistant in Kansas City under coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. The Chiefs won three AFC titles and two Super Bowls during D'Alesio's time there.
Left Cornerback
Paulson Adebo (starter), Deonte Banks, Korie Black, Jarrick Bernard-Converse
This is Adebo's job to lose, and he's not likely to lose it. In his second year of a three-year, $54 million deal, the former third-round pick of the New Orleans Saints out of Stanford in 2021 was coming off a serious knee injury in 2024 and missed five games last season. He is fully healthy heading into camp.
Banks, the Giants' 2023 first-round pick, is getting a "clean slate" this summer by the incoming coaching staff, who hope to refocus him and unlock his potential. The others will be on the roster bubble and need to show improvement to make the 53-man roster.
Right cornerback
Greg Newsome II (starter), Colton Hood, Art Green
Newsome was the 26th overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns out of Northwestern. He has basically underperformed in his time in Cleveland and Jacksonville. The Giants see something redeeming in Newsome, however, and gave him a one-year, $8 million deal this past March.
Newsome will face a stiff challenge from this year's second-round pick, Colton Hood, a quick, aggressive disruptor who has a penchant for making a splash.
Slot/Nickel corner
Dru Phillips (starter), Ar'Darius Washington, Nic Jones
This position may not be the traditional slot or nickel that the Giants have played the past several seasons with Phillips. The role could be more of an additional box safety to bolster run support efforts. Phillips is a solid performer in the old role but needs solid safety play around him to really prosper. That didn't happen last year.
The interesting addition here is Washington, another former Raven, who is more of a safety. Don't let his size (5'8", 180 lbs.) fool you; he is a jackknife who can be used in multiple roles. The only issue is that he is coming off an Achilles injury that held him to four games last season.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: New York Giants training camp preview: Cornerback remains unsettled
