Korie Black goes from Giants draft pick to Jets practice squad
Korie Black speaks with the media during the Giants rookie minicamp on May 10. Credit: Ed Quinn
FLORHAM PARK, NJ – Korie Black was a seventh-round draft pick of the Giants who made their initial 53-man roster last week. The next day, though, the cornerback was waived when the Giants were awarded two other players in claims. But when the rookie cleared waivers the expectation was he would rejoin the Giants on their practice squad.
Nope.
In one of those minor personnel intrigues that hardly would register in any other market except one with two teams being covered by one group of media, Black did sign with a practice squad, only it was with the Jets and not the Giants.
“Some things happened,” Black told Newsday on Tuesday in the Jets locker room. “Nothing bad from neither side. But it’s a business. The NFL is a business. Things happen. My team decided this is probably the best fit for me.”
Black said he wasn’t aware of any offers to return to the Giants.
“I wasn’t told anything,” he said. “I don’t know if I was wanted back or not. Maybe.”
According to a Giants source, though, the team made it clear to both Black and his representation they wanted him to stay.
Black did say he received several other practice squad offers once he was briefly a free agent.
So why the Jets?
“It was just the best fit as far as helping out the team and stuff like that,” he said. “I felt like it was the best fit.”
Mystery solved. Well, sort of. It’s not really a mystery and it’s not fully solved.
Black said he was surprised by the Jets’ interest, especially since he had little interaction with them in the pre-draft process and was limited during the joint practices and preseason game against them last month. He was dealing with an injury so he was on the field for what he estimates was about six reps in the second joint workout. In the preseason game he played 12 defensive snaps and two on special teams. He made one special teams tackle (on the opening kickoff) and assisted on two others on defense.
If the Giants find themselves in need of a cornerback they can make an offer to sign Black off the Jets’ practice squad. But after being spurned the Giants would be unlikely to pursue that avenue anyway.
So for now a player the Giants thought highly enough of to scout (he came to them on a pre-draft visit) and select in the draft and then keep on their initial 53-man roster is a member of the Jets… and waiting to find out if he made the right business decision.
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.
More Jets
