Dane Belton recovered a fumble on his first career NFL play. What he did for the Giants on 46 others might have been just as important.
In his return from a broken collarbone suffered early in training camp, Belton patrolled the deep part of the field Sunday and freed up starting safeties Julian Love and Xavier McKinney for unique assignments. Suddenly, the Giants were back to counting on three safeties like when it was Logan Ryan, Jabrill Peppers and Love or McKinney in 2020 — or, dare to say, Kenny Phillips, Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant in the 2011 heyday.
Love moved into the box on 38 of his 58 defensive snaps to essentially replace inside linebacker Austin Calitro and was used seven times as a pass rusher, including on a blitz resulting in the third-down sack that ended the Panthers’ final possession. McKinney shadowed All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey’s every move in a one-on-one matchup and thought he “did a pretty good job of taking him out of the game.”But Belton’s seamless debut made it all possible.
Belton made four tackles and didn’t allow a reception. He was the third-highest-graded rookie safety in Week 2 by Pro Football Focus, though he took a bad tackling angle on a 49-yard run by McCaffrey.
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