NFL Rumors: Giants, Bengals interested in Leon Hall?
By John Buhler
Long-time cornerback of the Cincinnati Bengals Leon Hall will visit the New York Giants on Wednesday. He could still be linked to a return to Cincinnati.
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According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Cincinnati Bengals free agent cornerback “Leon Hall is visiting the [New York] Giants today…Cincinnati also interested. Looks like one of those two teams.”
Bengals free-agent CB Leon Hall is visiting the Giants today, per source. Cincinnati also interested. Looks like one of those two teams.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 3, 2016
Hall had spent all nine of his NFL seasons with the Bengals after being drafted by Cincinnati in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft out of the University of Michigan. Seemingly from day one with the Bengals, Hall had been a cornerstone in the Cincinnati secondary. In nine years, he had 26 interceptions, 112 passes defended, and 366 solo tackles in 105 starts over 121 games.
It’s interesting to see the Giants as one of the two teams vying for Hall’s services in 2016. Though the nine-year NFL veteran would be a great mentor for a rebounding Giants team in the defensive backfield, New York already has a few strong cornerbacks on their roster including Janoris Jenkins, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and 2016 first-round pick Eli Apple out of The Ohio State University.
New York is still a long way from being a NFC Playoffs fixture. If the Giants can turn around their porous defense, maybe New York can challenge the Dallas Cowboys or the Washington Redskins for NFC East supremacy. Hall could bring in a veteran presence in the Giants’ nickel and dime packages.
Though Cincinnati did part ways with their long-time cornerback this offseason, there is a good chance that the Bengals might now be willing to bring Hall back into the fold. This is coming off the potentially devastating injury suffered by first-round pick cornerback William Jackson out of the University of Houston.
Jackson tore his pectoral muscle in NFL training camp on Tuesday morning and will in all honesty probably miss the entire 2016 NFL season. Hall knows exactly what will be expected of him in a return to the Queen City gridiron. New York might have been the favorite to land Hall, but Jackson’s injury might make a Hall return to the Bengals seemingly inevitable.
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