The Giants believe they are well-stocked at cornerback, but also believe a team can never have too much depth there. This is why on Monday they traded for Keion Crossen, sending the Texans a 2023 sixth-round draft pick as compensation.
Crossen, 25, has some history with Giants head coach Joe Judge. Crossen was a 2018 seventh-round pick of the Patriots when Judge was the special teams coordinator in New England. Crossen played 113 special teams snaps as a rookie and must have made a positive impression on Judge.
After winning a Super Bowl in his only season with the Patriots, the product of Western Carolina was traded to the Texans for whom he played in every game the past two years, making his only four NFL starts in 2020. In 43 career games, Crossen has 73 tackles and six pass breakups. Perhaps just as significantly, he played 516 snaps on special teams the past two seasons — 59 percent of all special teams snaps for the Texans.
The Giants have James Bradberry and Adoree’ Jackson as their starting cornerbacks, Darnay Holmes as their slot corner and Isaac Yiadom, Madre Harper, rookie Rodarius Williams and Sam Beal as part of their depth. They are high on the potential of rookie Aaron Robinson, taken in the third round out of Central Florida, but Robinson is coming off core muscle surgery and has yet to practice in training camp.
Crossen is entering the final year of his rookie contract and is set to make $920,000 this season.
The Giants might not go with three quarterbacks on their final roster — as a matter of fact, they most likely will not — but they certainly need at least three arms now, during training camp, the preseason and especially with two joint practices with the Browns this week.
And so, when Clayton Thorson went down with a concussion in Saturday night’s preseason-opening loss to the Jets, the Giants needed an immediate replacement. This is why on Monday they signed Brian Lewerke. The bad break was costly for Thorson, who was waived/injured.
Lewerke, 24, went undrafted in 2020 and spent time last spring and summer with the Patriots. In four seasons at Michigan State, he played in 41 games and completed 57.7 percent of his passes, for 8,293 yards, 47 touchdowns and 32 interceptions. He also ran for 1,697 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Thorson spent most of the 2020 season on the Giants’ practice squad. The Northwestern product was injured on the Giants’ final offensive snap of the 12-7 loss when he was sacked in the end zone for a safety by rookie defensive linemen Jonathan Marshall and Hamilcar Rashed.
The Giants have Daniel Jones as their starting quarterback and Mike Glennon as the backup.
Three players who were injured in Saturday night’s loss — guard Kyle Murphy, LB TJ Brunson and safety Joshua Kaliu — were placed on injured reserve.