The only two members of the New York Giants to make the Pro Football Focus list of the NFL's top 101 players of 2013 are a player who wasn't even a Giant last season and one who might not be on the roster this season.
That would be cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who was ranked No. 36 overall for his work with the Denver Broncos, and Will Hill, the talented safety possibly facing the end of his time with the Giants as his third suspension in three seasons looms. Hill ranked 86th.
PFF's Khaled Elsayed wrote this about Rodgers-Cromartie:
You never know quite what you're going to get from DRC on a year-to-year basis, but fortunately for the Broncos the one year he got them was a good one. Finishing with the fourth highest coverage grade of any cornerback, DRC delivered and then some in his season at Mile High. With an impressive 13 combined interceptions and pass break ups as well as allowing just 44.1% of passes to be complete in his area, his performance made the team forget about Champ Bailey missing the majority of the year.
Elsayed also noted that Rodgers-Cromartie allowed only one reception for every 15.7 snaps in coverage, the third-best average in the NFL.
It makes you wonder which DRC the Giants are going to get. Elsayed is right about Rodgers-Cromartie -- he is the NFL's proverbal 'box of chocolates' cornerback in that throughout his career no one has ever known what they were going to get from him. Sometimes you get a lockdown guy who looks like one of the best players on the planet. Sometimes you get a disinterested guy whose performance doesn't measure up to his immense talent.
What will the Giants get for the five-year, $35-million contract ($13.9 million guaranteed) that they bestowed upon the 28-year-old Cromartie?
Giants' safety Antrel Rolle, who played with DRC as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, thinks Rodgers-Cromartie has yet to show exactly how good he can be:
"I still don't feel like [Rodgers-Cromartie] has shown what he can truly be in this league, which is one of the best corners in the NFL ... Now he needs to show how good he can be."
Can Rodgers-Cromartie reach that level? Well, the Giants have purchased the box. This fall they get to open it up and find out.
As for Hill, PFF's Elsayed summed him up quite well:
It remains to be seen when (or if) we'll next see Hill on an NFL field given his well documented off the field problems that look like ending his Giants career and leading to a third NFL suspension. Which makes it all the more a shame after he put forth a truly tremendous season in an otherwise rotten year for the Giants. Missing just four tackles and getting beat for one touchdown, Hill didn't make the kind of highlight-reel plays that will wow Pro Bowl voters, but his consistency and lack of mistakes were that of a player maturing on the field. A true disappointment he couldn't mirror that off it.
Hill truly is on the verge of throwing away what could be a tremendous career, if he hasn't already tossed it into the trash.