If Adoree' Jackson can't go Sunday, rookie Rodarius Williams likely would start

In the spring, Logan Ryan lobbied the Giants to sign Adoree’ Jackson. He lobbied Adoree’ Jackson to sign with the Giants, too. He basically talked the acquisition into existence.

Now, months later, Ryan seems to be trying to do the same thing, only with Jackson’s availability for Sunday. The starting cornerback is coming off an ankle injury suffered two weeks ago, and Ryan is acting as if there is no doubt he’ll be on the field.

"Adoree’ is a very important piece," Ryan said Monday. "He makes everyone’s jobs easier. He makes my job easier with him out there … It’s good to get him back this week, so we can start running our stuff together."

There’s a problem, though. As of Monday, Jackson was still working on the side with trainers while the rest of the team practiced. And he still looked uncomfortable in the running he was doing during those workouts. While the Giants are optimistic about getting many of their injured offensive pieces back in time for Sunday’s opener against the Broncos – Saquon Barkley, Kenny Golladay, Kyle Rudolph and Kadarius Toney among them – the big offseason addition to their defensive secondary may need a little more time to recover.

If Jackson is unable to play – or unable to play a full game – it could mean a very large role for rookie Rodarius Williams. He’s been the one who has stepped in for Jackson since the injury on the field during a joint practice with the Patriots, and he could wind up being the team’s Week 1 starter.

"That would mean a lot to me," Williams told Newsday. "But I can’t get ahead of myself. I have to stay grounded, adjust to my role on the defense, and do it at full speed."

That’s something the Giants don’t have to worry about with Williams on the field. Since he arrived as a sixth-round pick in the spring, he’s been a 195-pound ball of energy. If he plays on Sunday, they expect the same.

"I feel like Rodarius is going to play his [butt] off," secondary coach Jerome Henderson said. "He’s going to make some rookie mistakes and we’ll try to manage those by the situations we put him in, but I think he’ll go out and compete and be ready to go."

This won’t be the first time the Giants find themselves shorthanded at cornerback. In the preseason game against the Browns – in which Williams started and played well – the team was so light at the position in the fourth quarter they had wide receiver Matt Cole playing on defense.

Henderson said he made sure Cole lined up on the side of the field closest to the Giants’ bench so he could shout directions to him from play to play.

Henderson said they wouldn’t have to do that with Williams against the Broncos. He’s a professional cornerback who has been studying the playbook and practicing his responsibilities for months now.

"But," Henderson said, "I still might."

Williams is a rookie, but he has a lot of football experience. He is 24, on the old side for a draft pick, and was a four-year starter at Oklahoma State. He is also the older brother of Browns cornerback Greedy Williams, which makes him more familiar with the NFL game than most first-year players.

Williams said all of that helps his confidence.

"I feel good," he said after his first training camp and slate of preseason games. "I just go out there and play ball. I just stay dialed in and do everything my coaches ask me to do. They’re not going to let me slack on anything. It’s all about perfection."

Perfection? That’s a high standard.

"Yeah," Williams said, "we set the bar high around here."

Especially if he has to step in for someone as valued as Jackson.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.