New York Giants Training Camp Preview: CB Tre Hawkins III
New York Giants cornerback Tre Hawkins III was brought to the Big Apple with the hopes of becoming one half of a young perimeter duo with first-round draft pick Deonte Banks.
After impressing in training camp and getting the starting role at the start of the season, it became apparent that the game was still too big for Hawkins, a sixth-round draft pick who found himself reduced to spot duty on defense.
Still, there was much to like about Hawkins. In two seasons competing in the Conference USA, he compiled 133 total tackles, six tackles for loss, two interceptions, three forced fumbles, and six pass deflections and even graded very high against the run in that same span.
In the 2022 season with the Monarchs, Hawkins played in 840 snaps, posting a missed tackle rate of just 10.1% on 57 total tackles and cutting his touchdowns allowed in half with four. He also made strides in limiting the damage of vertical defenders on the outside, succumbing to a 61.4% reception rate and an average catch of 13.6 yards.
The 23-year-old strengthened his collegiate resume by having a streak of five games without allowing a touchdown and six contests with under 23 opposing yards given up.
Hawkins is a legit 6-3, 200-pound prospect who can run, but his mental processing is several levels below his physical gifts, and that was evident when, in Week 17, the coaches went with Nick McCloud over Hawkins when Banks was inactive.
TRE HAWKINS III, CB
Height: 6-3
Weight: 195 lbs
Exp.: 2 Years
College: Old Dominion
How Acquired: D6-23
2023 in Review
Arguably the biggest positive of Hawkins’s rookie campaign was the amount of meaningful snaps he earned. He was one of nine key defenders to appear in all 17 games for the Giants and earned a nice workload of snaps as an outside and inside slot cornerback.
Hawkins made 35 total tackles during the 2023 season, including 24 solo takedowns and one pass deflection. He was still fairly stout in the red zone, allowing just three touchdowns in that span, but it was the amount of targets thrown at him that was the issue in his rookie debut.
Per PFF, Hawkins played in 211 coverage snaps last season, a number significantly less than the reps he amassed in each season at Old Dominion.
In those snaps, he was targeted 26 times and allowed 21 receptions (80.8%) for 330 yards, 126 yards after content, and an average catch of 15.7 yards.
Four of those games had at least three targets and each had an opposing reception percentage of at least 75 percent.
Hawkins’s difficulties really showed themselves when he was tasked with covering some of the elite receivers and offenses in the entire league.
His Week 10 outing against the Cowboys was the strongest evidence of this, as early in the contest, he was targeted on a 41-yard pass that went straight to the endzone for a touchdown in the 49-17 routing of New York.
At certain points of the season, Hawkins was pulled from his position as the Giants tried to adjust their defense to the opposition.
Still, the Giants invested a pick in him and will need to let the young man continue his development this summer before considering a move elsewhere.
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Contract/Cap Info
Hawkins is entering the second year of his four-year rookie contract worth $3,989,520. His agreement includes $149,520 in guarantees and a signing bonus of $149,520.
In the 2024 season, Hawkins will carry a cap number of $952,390 if he remains on the Giants roster. If he is released, New York will consume $37,380 in dead money for the share of his guarantee money and save a majority of his number at $915,000 of cap savings.
Hawkins contract falls below the Top-51 cap designation per Over the Cap. Yet, his deal ranks 198th among 340 active cornerbacks which places him almos in the middle of that group and leaves an expectation that he should perform somewhere with the range of a team’s No. 2 to No. 4 cornerback.
2024 Preview
Heading into his second NFL season, the window of patience for Hawkins should remain open given he was a late round selection from a small program.
He was the fourth most-targeted corner with the highest opposing reception rate in 2023, but needs the extra time to further his development as a coverage defender, especially when the transition to the professional level isn’t the easiest for the position.
That said, the turnaround from Year 1 to the Year 2 needs to yield growth as the game should start to slow down and players start to understand the different coverage assignments.
The switch to new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s system, which doesn’t favor the blitz as much to leave cornerbacks on an island and features a lot more quarters and zone coverages, should lend to Hawkins’s benefit since he’ll have more help in the deep field.
Big corners who can run like Hawkins will always have a place in this league. The long legs limit him to the boundaries, as he lacks the quick-twitch and turning radius of the smaller athlete.
Hawkins did get some snaps late in the year as a punt gunner and performed well. It will be interesting to see what kind of player this kid shows this summer.
-1ca98c375b90186224f7ec5e456f6e73.webp "Stephen Lebitsch")
STEPHEN LEBITSCH
“Stephen Lebitsch is a graduate of Fordham University, Class of 2021, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communications (with a minor in Sports Journalism) and spent three years as a staff writer for The Fordham Ram. With his education and immense passion for the space, he is looking to transfer his knowledge and talents into a career in the sports media industry. Along with his work for the FanNation network and Giants Country, Stephen’s stops include Minute Media and Talking Points Sports.