New York Giants Training Camp Preview: CB Nick McCloud

The early years of New York Giants cornerback Nick McCloud’s NFL journey have been a battle to make an active roster and prove he can provide a real impact on the defense. Entering his third season in East Rutherford, he’ll have another chance at the former and the possibility of doing more of the latter for the team’s secondary. 

A fourth-year player undrafted out of Notre Dame, McCloud’s first full season was spent hopping on and off practice squads in Buffalo and Cincinnati. He was waived twice by the Bills during roster cuts in August 2021 and 2022 and spent limited time on the field with the Bengals in between those two stints, earning just 14 snaps in coverage. 

McCloud finally broke the trend at the end of the 2022 preseason when he was claimed off waivers by the Giants. Appearing in 14 games during the 2023 campaign, the 25-year-old became an important piece to the deep field, playing in 537 snaps as both an outside and slot corner and tallying 43 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and seven pass deflections. 

McCloud played in 295 coverage snaps, the fourth-most among his fellow cornerbacks, and gave up an opposing reception percentage of 61.9 percent, which was good for the third-lowest average in the position group. He allowed just 92 yards after contact and helped keep the secondary intact with a 3.7% missed tackle rate.

In addition to defense. McCloud supplemented his responsibilities with some work in the special teams department returning and covering for kickoffs and punts, developing into one of the team’s best punt gunners. That would be the only area his role grew in the following season and that’s something he should look to change in the season ahead. 

Height: 6-1
Weight: 193 lbs.
Experience.: 4 Years
College: Notre Dame
How Acquired: FA-22

The ironic part about Nick McCloud’s performance in 2023 was that he improved in certain defensive statistics but actually took a dip in the amount of work he received in that phase of the game. 

While he was active in all 17 games for the Giants, McCloud finished fifth among cornerbacks on the leaderboard with 28 total tackles, three forced fumbles and one interception in 312 total snaps. 

His opponent reception percentage went up to 68.2 percent, but he cut his targets in half and limited opponents to just one touchdown allowed. 

McCould finished as the fifth-highest player on the Giants in terms of defense in overall coverage grade, but his status on the depth chart fell behind guys like veteran  Adoree’ Jackson and Cor’Dale Flott who took a bigger share of the snaps as inside slot corners while Deonte Banks and Tre Hawkins III held down the outside positions. McCloud was relegated more to special teams work for all three phases—kick, punt and field goal blocking—where he earned the third-highest snap count on the team.