When Domenik Hixon was lost for the season with a torn ACL this week, the Giants lost their best special teams player. It’s going to take more than one replacement to take his place.
Hixon was the Giants’ primary punt and kickoff returner in 2009, and Giants special teams coordinator Tom Quinn said this week that he’s going to have a hard time filling Hixon’s absence on punt and kickoff coverage as well.
“He also was a very good cover guy on kickoffs and punts,” Quinn said, per the New York Daily News. “So you really got to replace four starting positions on [special teams].”
Cornerback Aaron Ross is lobbying to become the Giants’ punt returner, and it appears that he and wide receiver Mario Manningham are the favorites for that job. Wide receiver Sinorice Moss and safeties Antrel Rolle and Chad Jones might also be called upon for punt return duties. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw might get back to returning kickoffs, as he did in 2008, and running backs D.J. Ware and Andre Brown are also under consideration.
There’s no word yet on where the Giants will turn to fill Hixon’s spots on the coverage teams. Said head coach Tom Coughlin, “It will be interesting in camp to see who comes to the front.”
That’s an added layer of interest to training camp the Giants wish they didn’t have.
