Giants Release Veteran Safety Jalen Mills
The New York Football Giants have had a crazy second week of the 2024 Preseason, starting with injuries, signings, trades, and releases to their team. There will be plenty more during this coming season; this is only the beginning. The Giants made several decisions on Wednesday. One of those decisions was to release their safety, Jalen Mills.
The Giants signed two more safeties with the team, Raheem Layne and Jonathan Sutherland. There was no room left for Mills to continue on the team. This gave the Giants the option to let him go into free agency. Mills could have been in better shape when training camps started this year. He opened training camps with a calf strain and could not participate in any practices. He was listed on the non-football injury list.
Mills was the Eagles' seventh-round draft pick out of LSU in 2016. He played in Philadelphia for five seasons before moving to New England as a free agent in 2021. He spent three seasons with New England. At this point in the league, he is considered a veteran. The Giants signed him for this year, but things didn't work out.
With Mills out and Geravarrius Owens and Elijah Riley not practicing, the Giants had no safeties for this team, and the spot was looking weak. The Giants needed this position filled and had no other way to go about it. Mills has decent stats and is expected to be in free agency, but only for a short amount of time. He has played in 106 NFL regular season games. He has had 83 starts and has been in four postseason games. He’s recorded 406 tackles, 53 passed defense, seven interceptions, and one defensive touchdown.
With the release of Mills and the trade of Jordan Phillips to the Dallas Cowboys, the Giants removed a pair of experienced defenders from the 90-man roster that they are currently carrying. There is still a fighting chance that the Giants may actually have a decent season this year. It will just take a little bit more bodies to make things work and to ensure that all of their positions are filled.
