Walter Thurmond had has a significant history of injuries, but he graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 31^st ranked cornerback last season on just 480 snaps. He dominated on the slot, ranking 7^th in the NFL among eligible cornerbacks, allowing 0.85 yards per coverage snap on the slot on 229 snaps. For that reason, I was worried someone would overpay him as an above average starting outside cornerback. He’s still an injury risk. There was still no guarantee that he could be as dominant outside. And there’s still no guarantee that he’d be the same play outside of Seattle’s system, without Seattle’s pass rush in front of him, and without the rest of Seattle’s secondary around him.

That being said, the Giants were really wise to give him just a one-year deal, worth just 3.5 million. Worst case scenario, they’re not out of a lot of money. Best case scenario, the Giants have a great value on a high level cornerback for a year. He’ll man the slot in between Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Prince Amukamara. The Giants now have a very solid secondary all of a sudden. They’re playing free agency very well, waiting for the off-season to come to them (with the exception of overvaluing Jon Beason).

Grade: A

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Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie has a very interesting history. A 2008 1^st round pick, DRC made the Pro-Bowl in 2009 and looked on his way towards cementing his place as one of the league’s best cornerbacks, grading out as Pro Football Focus’ 4^th ranked cornerback that year. However, 2010 was the exact opposite for him, as he graded out as Pro Football Focus’ dead last ranked cornerback, which turned him into a throw-in to Philadelphia in the Kevin Kolb trade.

His tenure in Philadelphia wasn’t good, as he graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 86^th ranked cornerback out of 109 eligible in 2011 and 98^th ranked cornerback out of 113 eligible in 2012 as part of a massively disappointing Philadelphia secondary. That earned him a one-year prove it deal in Denver, worth about 4 million dollars, but he did prove it, grading out 5^th among cornerbacks. However, he made some questionable comments before the Super Bowl about potentially retiring which, combined with his history of inconsistency and lethargy, raised some eyebrows.

The Broncos offered him a 6-year, 54 million dollar deal, which he turned down. That ended up not being wise as the Broncos gave similar money to Aqib Talib, while DRC was left as the odd man out on a dried up buyer’s market at cornerback. He was left “settling” for a 5-year, 35 million dollar deal with the Giants, with about 14 million guaranteed. He could still coast now that he’s gotten paid, but it’s a lot less money than he could have gotten with the Broncos, so it’s not nearly as bad of a deal as it could have been.

Credit the Giants for once again letting the off-season come to them and getting DRC at a “discounted” rate. Jerry Reese does this kind of thing almost every off-season and he’s been one of the most successful GMs in the NFL in his tenure. They had a need for a shutdown shadow cornerback and DRC could very well become that if he continues playing well. This deal could still backfire, but it could have been a much worse deal if they had signed him to it earlier in the off-season and it’s hardly the worst deal given to a cornerback this off-season. Sam Shields (4 years, 39 million), Vontae Davis (4 years, 39 million), and Aqib Talib (6 years, 57 million) were overpaid by much greater sums.

Grade: B-

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Jon Beason was a decent linebacker, drafted in the 1^st round in 2007, but he was massively overpaid going into the contract year of his rookie year on a 5-year, 50 million dollar deal. Making things even worse, he missed 27 of 32 games from 2011-2012 with a variety of injuries. Upon his return in 2013, he had his contract slashed to a one-year deal at the veteran’s minimum, was moved to outside linebacker, and forced into two-down work as a pure base player. He was then benched and sent to the Giants for a late round pick.

The popular narrative is that he rehabbed his value in 12 games with the Giants, back at his natural position at middle linebacker, but that’s not exactly the case. His tackle numbers look good, with 93 tackles in 12 games with the Giants, but people get too caught up in that. He was torched in coverage, grading out as Pro Football Focus’ 4^th worst ranked middle linebacker in terms of coverage grade, and 6^th worst ranked middle linebacker overall. He’s simply not the same player he was before the injury and he never graded out higher than 26^th among middle linebackers on Pro Football Focus even before the injury. The Giants got hosed in those contract negotiations, paying him 16.8 million over 3 years, which is embarrassing because Beason was his own agent.

Grade: D

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