Giants CBs Cor'Dale Flott and Deonte Banks are competing for a starting job.
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New York Giants cornerbacks Cor'Dale Flott and Deonte Banks have been rotating throughout training camp.
The New York Giants seem to have made a decision on their cornerback battle heading into week one. Cor’Dale Flott and Deonte Banks have been battling all preseason for the CB2 position and according to Dan Duggan of The Athletic, the decision has been made that Flott will be the starter while Banks will enter the game on third downs.
A compromise resolution to the CB2 competition: Cor’Dale is expected to start on Sunday with Deonte Banks coming in on third downs, according to a source. That and much more in a monster Week 1 preview: https://t.co/skOeBqsQjX
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) September 5, 2025
Both 24-year-olds had decent seasons last year. Flott and Banks had 53 and 52 tackles, respectively, and both played in 14 games. Flott had an interception while Banks did not, but Banks defended more passes than Flott, so coming into training camp, both had very similar resumes for the Giants to consider.
Clearly the Giants coaching staff values both, as they’ll each get an opportunity to prove themselves at the CB2 position, at least to start the season. If both are successful, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to be able to rotate both through the position to keep the other well-rested.
Optimism for Giants Defense This Season
With the secondary sured up, the Giants have good talent across the board on their defense, maybe even top-10 level talent. The Giants added an absolute menace of an edge-rusher in Abdul Carter in the Draft, while they still have Dexter Lawrence who had nine sacks last season. Even more, they have Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux, making their defensive line a legitimate contender to be one of the better in the NFL.
With Flott, Banks, Paulson Adebo, Tyler Nubin, Jevon Holland and Dru Phillips making up the secondary, there is talent out the wazoo in that unit.
It’s obviously been a frustrating number of years for the Giants with a rotating door at quarterback and inconsistent play on both sides of the ball, but there’s real reason for hope on defense with the newly constructed roster.
Even with their offense lacking much firepower outside of Malik Nabers and Tyrone Tracy Jr. the Giants have a path to a winning record through defense and timely offense.
Russ Taking the Helm at QB
Although rookie Jaxson Dart had an impressive training camp, veteran Russell Wilson will be the Giants quarterback to start the season. Wilson signed a $10.5 million contract with New York in the offseason.
Although Wilson is likely bound for the Hall of Fame once his playing career is over, he hasn’t been the Russell Wilson of the mid 2010’s in a long time. In his last three seasons, he has a record of 17-24 as a starter with Denver and Pittsburgh. He still throws the deep ball just as well as anyone in the league, but the one time dual-threat menace is pretty one dimensional at this point in his career.
He has a great WR1 to throw to in Malik Nabers and it will be interesting to see how much he relies on him with the rest of the wide receiver room lacking in talent.