With the Giants losing all their veteran safeties and missing their free-agent targets, the position was going to be in a state of flux this season anyway. The movements already have begun, with Big Blue using their third different combination just four days into training camp — and for the first time, Landon Collins wasn’t part of that combo.
Bennett Jackson and Mykkele Thompson worked with the first team on Monday, the former a converted cornerback just learning the position and the latter a rookie fifth-round pick. Before that, Collins, Cooper Taylor and Nat Berhe had all gotten starter reps, and the Giants plan to rotate until they find a mix that works.
“There’s no one that has a job that they can just walk in there and we’re saying, ‘Hey, it’s your starting job,’ even though a lot of people want to put it on Landon Collins,’’ safeties coach Dave Merritt said. “But right now, there is no clarity.’’
That’s not a big shock, after the Giants saw veterans Antrel Rolle, Stevie Brown and Quintin Demps leave, and target Devin McCourty re-sign with the Patriots.
Collins, a second-round pick, was a nominal starter throughout the spring, but Merritt said that guarantees nothing in the fall. Merritt recounted Kenny Phillips arriving as a 2008 first-round pick and getting beaten out by Michael Johnson and James Butler, a free agent and a seventh-round pick, respectively. Chemistry will trump raw talent.
“I’m still looking for the chemistry. Hopefully that will iron itself out over the next few weeks,’’ said Merritt, who praised Jackson as a self-starter and gave him first-team reps Sunday and again Monday. “That kid sees the ball, he goes and gets the ball. … This kid is able to get his hands on a couple of balls and passes already, by far more than any other safety I’ve had in camp.’’
In last year’s camp, Jackson, a native of Hazlet, N.J., had been a rookie sixth-rounder, and a corner at that. He has had to not only recover from microfracture surgery on his knee in October, but learn a new position. Apparently, it’s one that suits him.
“I like that view back there in the middle of the field, being able to run and attack the ball in the air, and being able to run down and hit somebody,’’ said Jackson. “It’s different. It’s something that excites me, and I’m looking forward to it.’’
Coach Tom Coughlin has noticed a commonality in all the players he has seen successfully make position switches.
“They have an awareness, and the big picture of how to play, what the game is all about,” Coughlin said. “They listen, they see, they listen to corrections. There’s the commonality, I think: You’re a football player.’’
Jackson is a player who actually could force his way into a major role.
“I see him being a productive member of the secondary,” Merritt said.
“As far as starter, it’s wide-open. I told him, ‘Once you get in there and you’re able to step into a first-team role, don’t give it back. Don’t sit up here and have me turn around and throw another guy in there. If you’re in there as a starter … hold your position.’ ”
That’s what he’ll try to do, attempting to fend off Collins, who has tried to soak up the wisdom of coaches and veteran DBs like Prince Amukamara and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. And while they’ve talked about him getting into his backpedal quicker and deeper, they’ve offered more general advice.
“All of them just say continue working and learning the playbook as quick as possible, and overall, not just my position, and try to be a coach on the field,’’ Collins said. “The best advice they gave me is learn as much as possible, study day in and day out, and just be accountable and be on the same page we are.’’
