Rodarius Williams has his chance to show he belongs in Giants' cornerback rotation

The Giants are optimistic Adoree’ Jackson’s left ankle injury suffered this week in joint practices with the Patriots will not affect his availability for the opener on Sept. 12. The starting cornerback spent the past two practices working on the side with trainers, doing some light jogging and agility drills, without showing much of a limp.

"He’s moving along nicely," coach Joe Judge said.

That’s a big sigh of relief for the Giants, who have something of a loaded starting secondary but not much proven depth behind those first-teamers.

On Sunday, Rodarius Williams might get a chance to change that dynamic.

The rookie sixth-round pick figures to be in the lineup and on the field quite a bit in the preseason finale against the Patriots at MetLife Stadium, stepping into the spot Jackson will be leaving vacant for the time being. While other rookies will be scrounging for reps to prove their worth with the final roster cuts looming on Tuesday, Williams almost certainly will get a chance to showcase himself in a much larger way.

"You have to be ready," Williams said. "You never know when your turn is going to come and you have to take advantage of it."

Williams didn’t do that the first time he got an opportunity like this. Against the Jets in the preseason opener he was picked on with 10 targets, allowing eight completions. In that game the Giants put him in the slot to see how he could handle playing inside. They got their answer, and it was ugly.

Since then, Williams has mostly moved back outside where he is more comfortable, and it has shown. He played better against the Browns in the second preseason game and this week against the Patriots, stepping in after Jackson was injured, he showed even more improvement.

"He’s got a lot of ability, he’s got some good instincts," Judge said. "I think for any young player, it's about just getting into games and learning from the experiences. We've seen improvement the entire way through with him . . . He's done enough this training camp to show that he has that ability to develop in that position."

It’s a position that has been a bugaboo for the Giants for the past year and a half. They went through a half dozen starters at cornerback opposite Pro Bowler James Bradberry last season before they thought they solved the problem by signing Jackson. They still might have stability at that spot with him on the field in the regular season . . . but they won’t this Sunday.

Williams said he approaches every game with the same mentality: Show up and compete.

"Since day one, since I stepped foot in the New York Giants’ [facility], I’ve been trying to show them that I am going to come in and work, head down and humble," Williams said. "Whatever comes I want to show them I can perform. Whether I’m beat or I make a play, it’ still the same mentality."

If it’s more of the latter, he’ll be in a much better position to be one of the backup cornerbacks the Giants know they can trust on Sundays in the regular season.

"We're not bringing guys just to dress up and eat hamburgers," Judge said of his regular-season approach to determining who will be active and who won’t. "Like, if you're at the game, you’re there to play."

Because no one knows when Jackson or Bradberry or anyone else the Giants are counting on to man their starting defense this season will have to come out of the action, as Jackson did on Wednesday. At that moment, Williams jumped in and played the position on the next rep.

If Williams does well in this last preseason game, it might be his job to replace Jackson the next time he comes off the field, too.

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.