Player
Andru Phillips
DB · Giants
A 12× PD jump is the statistical fingerprint of a corner moving from reactive to anticipatory — he's reading routes before the throw rather than reacting to the catch. That's the quality that keeps a CB on the field in nickel-heavy 3rd-down packages.
Year-2 leap: 12 pass defenses, tied for 18th in the NFL among all DBs.
TrendPhillips by season (defensive stats)
| Season | Team | Tkl | TFL | Sacks | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | NYG | 38 | 7 | 1.0 | 1 | 2 |
| 2025 | NYG | 47 | 8 | 0.0 | 12 | 0 |
2025 pass-defense leaderboard (12+ PDs, DBs only)
| Player | Team | PDs |
|---|---|---|
| Mike Jackson | CAR | 19 |
| Riley Moss | DEN | 19 |
| Tyson Campbell | CLE | 18 |
| DJ Turner II | CIN | 18 |
| Emmanuel Forbes | LA | 18 |
| Keisean Nixon | GB | 17 |
| Kamari Lassiter | HOU | 17 |
| Kool-Aid McKinstry | NO | 17 |
| Quinyon Mitchell | PHI | 17 |
| Cooper DeJean | PHI | 16 |
| Derek Stingley Jr. | HOU | 15 |
| Joey Porter Jr. | PIT | 14 |
| Nate Wiggins | BAL | 14 |
| Marlon Humphrey | BAL | 13 |
| Rasul Douglas | MIA | 13 |
| Dee Alford | ATL | 13 |
| Tykee Smith | TB | 13 |
| Donte Jackson | LAC | 12 |
| A.J. Terrell | ATL | 12 |
| Amik Robertson | DET | 12 |
| Pat Surtain II | DEN | 12 |
| Riq Woolen | SEA | 12 |
| Josh Jobe | SEA | 12 |
| Jalen Pitre | HOU | 12 |
| Montaric Brown | JAX | 12 |
| Andru Phillips | NYG | 12 |
| Mike Sainristil | WAS | 12 |
Phillips was a 3rd-round pick (No. 70) by the Giants out of Kentucky in 2024. Two seasons in, he's already a starting-caliber slot/outside corner.
The 12 PDs in 2025 is the headline: that ties him for 18th in the NFL among all DBs this season — a 1100% jump from his rookie line (1 PD). The trajectory is the rare 'slot CB who keeps getting more comfortable' arc.
Pass defenses per season
| Season | PDs |
|---|---|
| Rookie | 1 |
| Year 2 | 12 |
Why it matters. A 12× PD jump is the statistical fingerprint of a corner moving from reactive to anticipatory — he's reading routes before the throw rather than reacting to the catch. That's the quality that keeps a CB on the field in nickel-heavy 3rd-down packages.
17.6% TFL rate: No. 1 in his 2024 draft class among DBs with 30+ tackles.
Anomaly2024 draft class DBs — career TFL rate (2024-2025, 30+ tackles)
| Player | Rd | Tackles | TFLs | TFL% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andru Phillips | 3 | 85 | 15 | 17.6% |
| Jarvis Brownlee Jr. | 5 | 72 | 10 | 13.9% |
| Jarrian Jones | 3 | 60 | 7 | 11.7% |
| Kamari Lassiter | 2 | 95 | 11 | 11.6% |
| Tyler Nubin | 2 | 97 | 11 | 11.3% |
| Tykee Smith | 3 | 94 | 10 | 10.6% |
| Tarheeb Still | 5 | 79 | 6 | 7.6% |
| Cooper DeJean | 2 | 100 | 7 | 7.0% |
Phillips has generated a TFL on 17.6% of his career tackles — the highest rate in the entire 2024 draft class among DBs with at least 30 career tackles. That's nearly 4 points clear of Jarvis Brownlee Jr. (13.9%) and more than double Cooper DeJean's rate (7.0%).
Slot corners and nickel DBs are typically deployed as cover-down players, not run-stoppers. A 17.6% TFL rate signals that the Giants' defensive staff is actively deploying Phillips in the box and trusting him to shed blocks — an unusual assignment for a player still on a rookie deal.
Why it matters. TFL rate measures how often a tackler actually blows up a play, not just stops it. A DB ranking first in his class here means he's aligned and trusted in run-support situations that typically go to linebackers — scheme currency that inflates his value beyond the box score.
Tackles +24%, TFLs +14%, PDs +1100%. The Year-2 jump is real.
SplitRookie vs Year 2 — Phillips
| Stat | 2024 | 2025 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tackles | 38 | 47 | +24% |
| TFLs | 7 | 8 | +14% |
| Sacks | 1.0 | 0.0 | -100% |
| PDs | 1 | 12 | +1100% |
The Year-2 leap reads like a player who learned the coverage assignments. Rookie corners often have the physical tools but blow assignments — the PD count tells you how often they're in position to break up the throw.
Going from 1 PD to 12 means Phillips is now in the right zone, the right route concept, with the right hand timing. That's the bridge from 'rookie who plays' to 'starter who produces.'
Why it matters. Every number in this table trended the right direction except sacks, which is noise at a sample of one. A corner who improves all three core metrics simultaneously — stops, run disruption, coverage — in Year 2 is on the ramp toward a second contract year before his rookie deal expires.
Only 2024 draftee DB with 8 TFLs and 12 PDs in the same season.
Rare2024 draft class DBs — 2025 PDs and TFLs
| Player | Rd | PDs | TFLs | Tackles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kamari Lassiter | 2 | 17 | 7 | 57 |
| Kool-Aid McKinstry | 2 | 17 | 3 | 58 |
| Quinyon Mitchell | 1 | 17 | 0 | 35 |
| Cooper DeJean | 2 | 16 | 4 | 63 |
| Nate Wiggins | 1 | 14 | 2 | 57 |
| Tykee Smith | 3 | 13 | 6 | 60 |
| Andru Phillips | 3 | 12 | 8 | 47 |
| Mike Sainristil | 2 | 12 | 1 | 50 |
Among the 2024 draft class, several DBs put up either strong PD totals or strong TFL totals in 2025 — but only three players hit double digits in PDs and reached 6+ TFLs in the same season: Lassiter (17 PDs, 7 TFLs), Tykee Smith (13 PDs, 6 TFLs), and Phillips (12 PDs, 8 TFLs).
Phillips is the only one who led the class in TFLs (8) while simultaneously posting 12+ PDs. That combination — top-tier run support and top-tier coverage disruption — in a round 3 pick is not what the draft slot advertised.
Why it matters. PDs and TFLs pull in opposite directions: high PDs signal a cover-down CB; high TFLs signal a box-aligned run stopper. Doing both in the same season means the scheme trusts Phillips in two different roles, which multiplies his usage and his cap value once the rookie deal expires.
4 PDs in a single game vs. LAC — a performance that only 18 DBs matched across all of 2024-2025.
AnomalyDBs with 4+ PDs in a single game (2024-2025 regular season)
| Player | Season | Week | Matchup | PDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keisean Nixon | 2025 | 2 | GB vs WAS | 5 |
| Quinyon Mitchell | 2025 | 4 | TB vs PHI | 5 |
| DJ Turner II | 2025 | 6 | GB vs CIN | 5 |
| Emmanuel Forbes | 2025 | 12 | LA vs TB | 5 |
| Rasul Douglas | 2025 | 14 | NYJ vs MIA | 5 |
| Zyon McCollum | 2024 | 2 | DET vs TB | 4 |
| Ja'Quan McMillian | 2024 | 13 | DEN vs CLE | 4 |
| Zyon McCollum | 2024 | 18 | TB vs NO | 4 |
| Quentin Lake | 2025 | 3 | PHI vs LA | 4 |
| Andru Phillips | 2025 | 4 | NYG vs LAC | 4 |
| Darious Williams | 2025 | 7 | JAX vs LA | 4 |
| Riley Moss | 2025 | 8 | DEN vs DAL | 4 |
| Joey Porter Jr. | 2025 | 9 | PIT vs IND | 4 |
| Cole Bishop | 2025 | 9 | BUF vs KC | 4 |
| Nick Emmanwori | 2025 | 10 | SEA vs ARI | 4 |
| Cooper DeJean | 2025 | 16 | WAS vs PHI | 4 |
| Alontae Taylor | 2025 | 17 | TEN vs NO | 4 |
| Kool-Aid McKinstry | 2025 | 18 | ATL vs NO | 4 |
In Week 4 of 2025, Phillips broke up 4 passes against the Chargers — the kind of single-game burst that typically belongs to Pro Bowl corners. Across all 2024 and 2025 regular-season games, only 18 DB performances reached 4+ PDs in a single game.
For a 3rd-round pick in his second season, that's a top-tier performance ceiling — and it came in a Giants loss, meaning the stat accrued on merit rather than garbage time.
Why it matters. Single-game PD bursts are how corners end up on drive charts. Four in one game means four possessions where the offense had to move to a different read — that's the kind of floor-raising performance that drives CB market values in free agency.
Phillips vs. same-class slot corners: leads in TFLs (8), trails only DeJean in draft value.
Comparison2024 draft class slot DBs — Year 2 (2025)
| Player | Round | Pick | PDs | TFLs | Tackles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooper DeJean | 2nd | 40 | 16 | 4 | 63 |
| Mike Sainristil | 2nd | 50 | 12 | 1 | 50 |
| Andru Phillips | 3rd | 70 | 12 | 8 | 47 |
DeJean is the headliner of the 2024 DB class (16 PDs, headed to Pro Bowl conversations), but Phillips is right behind the second tier. The 8 TFLs is where he leads this comp group decisively — Sainristil logged just 1 TFL and DeJean logged 4.
The value angle: Phillips was drafted 30 picks after DeJean and 20 after Sainristil. He's posting identical PDs to Sainristil with 7 more TFLs. The Giants found a starter in round 3 — and if 2026 keeps the Year-2 trajectory, he's playing himself into a second contract ahead of schedule.
Why it matters. The pick differential (Phillips at 70 vs. DeJean at 40 and Sainristil at 50) means the Giants got Phillips at roughly half the second-round market price. Equal or near-equal PD production at a lower acquisition cost, plus a TFL profile neither of his comps matches, is what pushes his surplus value into the top tier of the class.
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