New York Giants sign rookie safety Mike Basile

The New York Giants have signed safety Mike Basile, an 6 foot, 1 inch, 185 pound undrafted safety out of Monmouth.

The Giants held a workout after Tuesday’s practice to fill the roster spot opened by the release of DB Teddy Williams, who had to leave to deal with family issues.

Though he comes from the FCS, Basile is a highly-decorated defensive back. He is Monmouth’s all-time leading tackler, as well as the defensive player of the year for the Big South Conference, and the FCS Athletic Directors’ Defensive Back of The Year. Even before his senior season, Basile was a starter at Monmouth as a true freshman, garnering the Big South conference’s “Rookie of The Year” award with 78 tackles, 4 interceptions, and 5 passes defensed.

As a senior he notched 126 tackles, 91 solo tackles (lead FCS in solo tackles per game), 9.5 tackles for a loss, and five passes defensed.

All told, Basile completed his four-year career with Monmouth records for total (433) and solo (285) tackles. He was the first player in school history to earn first-team All-Conference honors in four consecutive seasons and was the first Hawk to earn first-team AP All-America honors in the program’s 25-year history.

At his pro day, Basile recorded a 4.16sec short shuttle and 6.69sec 3-cone drill, both of which would have landed him among the quickest of defensive backs (safety or cornerback) at the 2018 NFL scouting combine.

Generally, it is considered that for a lower-level prospect to have a chance at the NFL level, he would have had to dominate his level of competition. Basile, a New Jersey native certainly did that at Monmouth. He likely won’t play in Thursday's preseason game, but we will have to see if he is able to translate his college production and accolades on to the NFL field.