‘That’s how I want it’: Deonte Banks up for any challenge

Banks played impressively as a rookie, tying for the team lead with 11 passes defensed, intercepting two passes, and finishing fifth on the team with 64 tackles. He believes his productivity will increase in year two.

“I feel way better,” Banks said. “I was always a confident guy, but I feel way more confident. I feel more comfortable. Everything comes to me way easier.”

Banks won’t have an opportunity to ease into the season. The Giants open at home on Sept. 8 against the Minnesota Vikings, who feature three-time all-pro receiver Justin Jefferson, the 2022 NFL Offensive Player of the Year.

Jefferson was a three-year star at LSU, so it’s fitting that Banks’ best prep for that showdown will be his daily practice competition with another former Tiger, Malik Nabers, the sixth selection in this year’s draft. The coaches are pitting the Giants’ last two No. 1 draft choices against each other in both one-on-one and team drills, which accelerates the development of each player.

“I like competing against Leek (Nabers),” Banks said. “It’s really fun. He’s good. He’s really explosive. Real quick. I like him.”

The budding rivalry is not contested silently. Like many players, Banks and Nabers pepper each other with verbal barbs.

“I love it,” Banks said. “We are just competing. We talk to each other, and it’s really fun. I already knew he was a talker. I’m always talking back. Every time.

“It’s just a good matchup; I like it. We’re both competing. We have the same body type. Quickness. We are both quick and fast. It’s fun.”

Although he has played only 15 NFL games (he missed the final two games of the 2023 season with a shoulder injury), Banks has become a leader in the secondary. It’s a role he relishes.

“It means a lot,” he said. “It means the Giants believe in me, so I got to do it.”

Aside from Banks, the Giants’ cornerback situation is…fluid. McCloud, Cor’Dale Flott, third-round draft choice Dru Phillips, Darnay Holmes and Tre Hawkins are among those competing for playing time outside or in the nickel spot.

“We got a lot of practices here to kind of figure out whoever rises to the top,” coach Brian Daboll said. “Like we’ve always said, we’ll play the best guys.

“We’re using a lot of people. We’ll go through these practices as we get going through training camp, we’ll have better answers for you (regarding who will play). But let all these guys compete it out and play the best ones.”

“Everything is competition right now,” McCloud said. “We’re just coming out here trying to compete, trying to make plays, make plays in the defense. That’s the mindset of everybody right now.”

McCloud said he is equally comfortable at either position.

“I don’t have a preference,” McCloud said. “Wherever I’m going to be out there, I’m going to help the team. Playing both gives me more of an opportunity to get on the field, more chance to go out there and have an impact on the defense.”

Banks said he enjoys working with the group.

“I like my guys,” he said. “They always give me feedback after reps. It’s just fun out there.”

The key for Banks is to be able to make the same statement after covering some of the NFL’s best wide receivers.