New York Giants Training Camp Preview: S Gervarrius Owens

Can Gervarrius Owens show enough development in his game to retain a roster spot?

Aug 11, 2023; Detroit, Michigan, USA; New York Giants safety Gervarrius Owens (31) somehow got a mouth guard stuck into one of the ventilation holes in his helmet during their game against the Detroit Lions in the second quarter at Ford Field. / Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports

New York Giants safety Gervarrius Owens found himself within a few picks of being the most irrelevant player in the 2023 NFL Draft. Now about to enter his second season in the NFL, he hopes that the chance to make a meaningful contribution to the roster comes sooner.

Owens, a native of Moore, Oklahoma, was selected 254th overall in the seventh round by the Giants, a selection made to add depth to the safeties room depleted by free agency. However, the 24-year-old came in with technical deficiencies for the NFL level and was a frequent healthy scratch as a rookie, appearing in just three games in mainly a special teams role.  

Owens played his freshman year at a community college before becoming a four-year starter upon transferring to the University of Houston. He made 50+ tackles in three of those seasons, including a career-high 74 in 2022, to go along with 17 pass deflections, 0.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and four interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown in his 2021 campaign.

Owens also contributed to Houston’s special teams operations, notably the kickoff coverage, punt return, and field goal blocking units. He was a reasonably efficient contributor with the 15th most snaps in the 2021 season and posted two years of 70.0 or higher special teams grades. 

Owens brings an essential mix of physicality and aggressiveness to the field and isn’t afraid to crack down on the interior to make a play on the catch or fill in the holes in run support. He should look to put that on display again in camp, as the Giants will have an open competition for rotational players at safety.

It’ll be an uphill climb for the second-year player, even in a new defense under Shane Bowen that’s incredibly friendly to defensive backs. Owens is arriving behind the eight ball in terms of pro-level tape of how he could look in the Giants' defense, but there is always a special teams role that can at least help with that.  

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Gervarrius Owens, S

Height: 6-0
Weight: 200 lbs.
Exp.: 2 Years
College: Houston
How Acquired: D7-23

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2023 in Review

Any player selected in the seventh round of the NFL Draft signifies a team taking a flier on him in the hopes that he can develop into a quality contributor in their position. Owens’ rookie season was spent doing exactly that, and he almost never saw the field last season.

The Giants gave Owens some work in their three preseason games last summer. The Houston product played 126 snaps (63 in coverage) and was credited with nine total tackles and two pass breakups. 

He was targeted four times and allowed just one reception for 8 yards, which contributed to a 39.6 passer rating against him that was one of the lowest in the Giants' defense.

Along with the defensive snaps, Owens took 38 snaps with special teams, covering both kickoffs and punts. In the end, the Giants didn’t see him as entirely ready to be a full-time member of the active roster for the regular season, with Owens inactive for 14 of the 17 games. As such, he recorded no defensive statistics during the 2023 campaign. 

The Giants will likely look for improvements in coverage angles and on-field vision instincts as Owens gets his second tryout for the 53-man roster. His college tape showed a lot of good matching on route breaks to follow his receiver in man and zone coverage, but Owens still faced trouble taking the right angles to the tackle, which led to poor breakdowns and whiffed opportunities against the pass and the run.

As a senior with the Cougars, Owens had his career-high campaign as a tackler but posted his worst missed tackle rate of 18.4 percent while allowing 110 yards after the catch and a long of 35 yards. 

That number would have been good for second-highest on the Giants roster in 2023 and a problem that Owens must work out in camp if he wants to be involved in Shane Bowen’s secondary or even see the field this time.

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Contract/Cap Info

Owens is entering the second year of his four-year rookie contract worth $3,917,784. The deal has $77,784 in guaranteed money (his signing bonus) prorated over the contract’s life. 

With a cap number of $934,446 for the 2024 season, if Owens is released before the start of the regular season, the Giants will be hit with a $19,446 dead money charge this year and $38,892 next year. 

2024 Preview

Owens is facing an uphill battle to make the roster. The Giants drafted Tyler Nubin in the second round, arguably the best safety in this year’s draft class. The expectation is that at some point, Nubin will become the full-time starter. 

For the time being, though, it looks like there will be a rotation at that spot vacated by Xavier McKinney’s departure. The candidates to fill it likely will be Nubin, Dane Belton, and possibly veteran Jalen Mills.

The other thing working against Owens is the revelation of plans to have linebacker/safety Isaiah Simmons work as the nickel linebacker. Simmons has better size and more than adequate coverage ability, so his presence on the roster results in the need to carry one less pure safety.   

 If anything, a spot on the practice is more than likely in Owens’s immediate future if he can demonstrate growth from his rookie season. 

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