Giants bringing back ST ace Nate Ebner (Report)

Special teams ace Nate Ebner will reportedly return to the New York Giants for his second season with the team.

Nate Ebner is back.

According to Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, the Giants plan to re-sign Ebner to a contract Tuesday. Ebner wasn’t with the organization this past spring due to the fact he was training for a spot on the United States Olympic Rugby team.

Ebner eventually had to drop out of the running for a spot because of an injury that led to offseason surgery.

#Giants are re-signing Nate Ebner today, per source.

— Ryan Dunleavy (@rydunleavy) September 7, 2021

Ebner was with Joe Judge in New England from 2012-19 before both departed Foxborough to join the Giants in 2020.

In 16 games last year, Ebner recorded eight total tackles (six solo). He was on the field for 81% of the team’s special teams snaps.

Expect Ebner to be a large part of what the Giants do in that specific facet of the game.

Ebner will be taking the roster spot of wide receiver/return specialist C.J. Board, who the Giants will sign to the practice squad, per Zack Rosenblatt of NJ.com. Rosenblatt additionally reports the Giants are signing offensive tackle Korey Cunningham to the practice squad while releasing defensive back Jordyn Peters and offensive lineman Kenny Wiggins.

Corresponding move will be WR CJ Board, who is expected to land on practice squad. #Giants https://t.co/QTpFAIA6nv

— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) September 7, 2021

The #Giants signed OT Korey Cunningham and WR CJ Board to the practice and released DB Jordyn Peters and G Kenny Wiggins.

— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) September 7, 2021

It’s now unclear what the Giants may do with Keion Crossen moving forward. New York traded a 2023 sixth-round draft pick to the Texans for Crossen, also a special teams weapon, last month.

Crossen participated on 59% of Houston’s special teams snaps last year along with 28% of its defensive snaps. In total, he recorded 46 combined tackles, 33 of which were solo.