CB Prince Smith, UDFA from New Hampshire, to be signed by Giants

He isn’t Ross Cockrell, the veteran cornerback the New York Giants had apparently intended to add to their 90-man roster, but it looks like former University of New Hampshire cornerbac

Smith, 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds, was waived last week by the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom he signed as a rookie free agent on April 25. k Prince Smith will join the team. He cannot formally join the Giants until he passes COVID-19 testing protocols and a physical.

He played in 35 games with 29 starts his final three seasons at New Hampshire, with 156 tackles (108 solo) and five interceptions.

With DeAndre Baker on the Commissioner’s Exempt List and Sam Beal having opted out of the 2020 season, the Giants are looking for cornerback depth.

“I don’t care if it’s a first-year player or a 10th year player. We’re looking for good players who can help build this program,” coach Joe Judge said Wednesday when asked about adding cornerbacks.

Can Smith turn into a player who can help build the Giants program?

Here is a quick scouting report from the Football Gameplan 2020 Draft Guide produced by Emory Hunt:

Strengths:

• Tremendous awareness and when you combine that with his excellent ball skills, you get yourself around the football like he does.
• Shows proficiency in zone coverage; displays the patience, route recognition and quickness to drive on the ball.
• Strong run defender; shows good tackling form and takes aggressive, but accurate, angles to the ball carrier.
• Also is a very good blitzer coming off the corner.
• Knows when to stay on track, or fall off the WR to make play.

Areas of Improvement:

• Doesn’t have the ‘burner speed’ or recovery speed to overcome a mistake at the LOS.
• Takes his physicality down the field at times and gets a bit handsy