Antoine Beathea
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

New York Giants veteran safety Antoine Bethea can’t stop raving about his younger tag-team partner, Jabril Peppers. 

There was a bit of criticism when the New York Giants inked a deal with veteran safety Antoine Bethea this offseason. The former Colt, 49er, and Cardinal is currently 34-years-old and will be 35 when the regular season starts in September. A veteran of that age shouldn’t be relied on to take the free safety position in a secondary that struggled last season.

However, Bethea is remaining confident going into 2019. After all, he brings the most experience out of each of the defensive backs on the roster. Bethea spoke about this experience and playing with Jabrill Peppers this week at OTAs.

“So far so good,” Bethea said. “It’s the offseason, training is all about OTAs, sitting in the film room, talking and dissecting different things. Obviously going out there on the field. Just playing with one another — seeing how he sees things, and seeing how he plays. I think it’s going to be a good connection between the two of us.

“Being a veteran in this league, that’s what your job entails. I’ve seen a lot. Coming in here doing the things I’m going to do, trying to bring these young guys along as fast as I can. We got some smart young guys that came into the room. They’re listening, their taking notes, staying after. You just got to take the meeting room to the field, and they’ve been doing that.”

Bethea and Peppers will most likely serve as the starting safeties, with Janoris Jenkins as the top cornerback. The No. 2 cornerback is still undetermined at this point. The Giants have a few options in cornerbacks Sam Beal, DeAndre Baker and Julian Love.

All-in-all, Bethea will be looking to be a veteran leader on this defense.

Ryan Honey is a staff writer and host of the Wide Right Podcast.