Giants need Deonte Banks to be exactly what he wasn’t last year

Deonte Banks — and his failures — were at the heart of one of the Giants’ more significant moves this offseason. 

It didn’t come on the field but rather on the sideline, when they fired defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator Jerome Henderson after the season. He was a respected member in the organization, having been hired in 2020 under head coach Joe Judge and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, then retained under head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, who called him the best defensive backs coach in the league. 

After the Martindale fiasco resulted in his exit, Henderson interviewed for the defensive coordinator position, and though he didn’t get the gig, he got a promotion with the passing game coordinator title added to his responsibilities. 

That promotion lasted just one year before he got canned, however. The Giants’ secondary was a disaster last season, and Banks was in the middle of it. Beyond his poor play, what was more concerning was repeated lack of effort, which resulted in a benching during a Week 8 loss to the Steelers.