With the New York Giants, Rahim Moore will have the perfect opportunity to revive his once promising career.
The signings NFL teams make in January rarely yield players that will truly compete for next seasons’ 53-man roster, much less for a contributing role. However, veteran safety Rahim Moore could very well do both of those things for the New York Giants in 2017.The former UCLA Bruin had an encouraging start to his career with the Denver Broncos where he totaled 196 tackles, one sack, 20 passes defensed, and eight interceptions over four seasons. His play earned him a three-year $12 million contract from the Houston Texans in 2015, a deal he played just one season of. After seven rough games, Moore was benched and eventually found himself listed as a healthy scratch by the team down the stretch.
After his release from Houston, the Giants expressed initial interest in his services, but Moore, instead, signed on to the Cleveland Browns with a one-year, $1.85 million pact. He was cut by Cleveland just one day after making the team’s final roster.
Moore comes to the Giants with a lot to prove and a perfect opportunity to do so. Though the team will pencil in Landon Collins and Darian Thompson as their starters at safety, the Giants’ depth at the position got thin in a hurry last season. When Thompson, Nat Berhe, and Mykkele Thompson all missed time for injury the Giants had to turn to undrafted rookie Andrew Adams and veteran cornerback Leon Hall to play free safety.
Not to discredit Adams who exceeded expectations on the field, but with Hall entering free agency, adding a veteran like Moore was a wise move for New York.
Berhe and Adams will likely be the primary backups at the strong and free safety positions respectively. However, as things stand now, Moore should have no trouble beating out Mykkele Thompson for the final roster spot. Thompson has ended the first two seasons of his NFL career on injured reserve while Moore has playoff experience on his resume.
Moore’s addition is an excellent low-risk, high-reward move for the team. If he can even be somewhat of the player he once was for Denver, this signing will have been an absolute steal. At just 26-years-old it’s certainly possible he can return to form. Otherwise, New York can move on with no consequence.
