Rating players by position is a favorite of many NFL sites around the net these days. These exercises are purely subjective and actually cause more confusion and controversy than bringing clarity to the subject.
In Pro Football Focus’ latest safety rankings, “The 32 best safeties entering the 2021 NFL season“, analyst Sam Monson makes his case for the league’s top safeties. The New York Giants have three safeties that warrant mentioning, yet Monson only mentions one and does so very late in the process.
26. JABRILL PEPPERS, NEW YORK GIANTS
Between being a former first-round pick, used in a debatable way early in his career and then used as a makeweight in the trade for Odell Beckham Jr., it would be easy to dismiss Jabrill Peppers as a bust, but he is far from a bad player. Peppers has made 27 defensive stops in each of the past two seasons and has at least 10 total pressures in each of the last three.
Peppers arguably played at a Pro Bowl level in 2020 racking up 91 total tackles (eight for a loss) with 11 passes defensed and 2.5 sacks in 14 games started. His partner, Logan Ryan, made 94 total tackles, forced three fumbles (recovering two) and had four QB hits. Ryan was leading in the Pro Bowl voting for much of the campaign last year but lost out to Budda Baker of Arizona and Chicago’s Eddie Jackson.
This year, the Giants are expected to get a full training camp and season out Xavier McKinney, their second round pick last year out of Alabama. McKinney has been picked by several experts to be a ‘breakout’ player in 2021.
