Is Kenny Phillips NFL-ready?
Yes, according to his position coach, Dave Merritt, who’s had a few days to work with the first-round draft pick at safety.
“This kid, in the classroom, has shown unbelievable recall for the defense,” Merritt said. “We put in things back early in the (rookie) minicamp and he’s able to recall it here it is a week or two later. I’m very excited about that.
"As far as his God-given ability mentally, this kid is very good."
Phillips still has some work to do on covering routes and finding proper angles, but Merritt said Phillips’ approach is perfect so far.
He’s also showing some signs of a top-notch ballhawk. Merritt said there was one play in the rookie minicamp in which Phillips was able to get from the middle of the field to the outside edge of the numbers. Phillips didn’t show much of that ability in college; he was mostly an in-the-box safety at Miami.
“Kenny going back and playing the middle post, I would have no problem with that,” Merritt said. “As far as a box safety, he’s got the size of a linebacker. He’s not as heavy as some of the linebackers, but the kid has a nice bone structure to him. I think he’s gonna be able to play both. I know he is. He’s gonna have to.”
Merritt said that right now James Butler is the starting strong safety and Michael Johnson is the starter at free safety. New additions Sammy Knight and Kenny Phillips will be learning both positions.
“Once the season comes along we’ll start to weed it out and put the guys in their position,” he said, “but right now we’d like for these guys to learn it all, both positions.”
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Comments (5)
They're still underestimating Phillips. He'll be a starter soon, and then some.
Everything I read about him excites me more and more. I can't wait to see this guy on the field.
I'm with you guys LT and Winston. Can't wait for training camp.
Thanks for the updates T-Rock.
He is going to be a monster ball hawk in the middle of the field. We won't see those easy completions to the TE down the middle anymore. With our pass rush and the cover skills of Ross, Phillips, Webster and Thomas our linebackers will be able to roam and make plays too.
I think the opposing offenses are going to be scared like they were when we had LT. he was the missing piece.
This guy should have been a top 15 pick and I bet the Pats would have taken him if they had that pick, count on it. Another monster draft by Reese who out thought and out worked his fellow GM's.
Now if you go down the middle on us you better be paying attention.
BD-
He wasn't top 15 because Miami's D didn't have enough good players. So the good ones had to cover for the eh, and looked like lesser players for it. If Miami had been stronger, he'd have been a top ten pick with great numbers.
The Giants were lucky to get him. They just got stronger this offseason. They'll still catch people by surprise though, not enough respect yet.