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Giants' Most Surprising Roster Cut is Flying Under the Radar
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- Giants' Most Surprising Roster Cut is Flying Under the Radar
(Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)
The New York Giants trimmed their active roster down to 53 players on Sunday, and while wide receiver Braxton Berrios may have seemed like the most jarring cut based on everything we've been hearing, the Giants are apparently planning on bringing him back, anyway.
But there was another, less-discussed cut somewhere else on the roster that was definitely surprising: cornerback Art Green .
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New York waived Green with an injury settlement due to an undisclosed minor issue. It should note that he also had some muscle tightness last month, so perhaps that problem surfaced again.
The Giants decided to keep six cornerbacks, retaining Paulson Adebo , Deonte Banks , Greg Newsome II , Colton Hood, Dru Phillips and Nic Jones .
The first five were obviously expected, and while Phillips is nominally a cornerback, he primarily plays the nickel role for New York. So he won't be outside.
That's what make the Giants' decision to keep Jones over the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Green all the more surprising.
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Green had been with New York since 2024, primarily being featured in a special teams role. But with the Giants being so thin at corner , you would have thought they would have given him a chance based on his size and athleticism .
But evidently, New York did not want to wait for Green to get healthy, even though his injury was minor. Either that, or John Harbaugh simply felt Jones was the superior player.
Jones played in 13 games for the Giants in 2025, with the vast majority of his snaps coming on special teams. He did get 20 snaps defensively last season, logging one pass defended during his time on the field.
Perhaps Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson really like what they see out of Jones, who was originally selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
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The 24-year-old had a really solid season at Ball State in 2022, finishing with 12 passes defended, and the Chiefs thought enough of him to give him some brief playing time in 2023 and 2024.
Physically, there is no doubt that Green is the more intriguing defensive back, which is what makes New York's decision to dump him all the more peculiar. But obviously, the coaching staff saw something that none of us did.
