Free agent cornerback Leon Hall has signed with the New York Giants, choosing a one-year, $2 million deal with the team over a return to the Cincinnati Bengals, according to Rand Getlin of NFL.com. Hall, 31, played for the Bengals from 2007 when Cincinnati made him the 18th overall pick. He's been a starting cornerback ever since, and a reliable one at that.
Leon Hall chooses to sign with Giants instead of Bengals, per report
Hall joins a secondary that now features Janoris Jenkins and Eli Apple in New York.
Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
The only issue on the reliability front is an injury history that has impacted a couple seasons in a big way and others in a smaller way. Last season, he missed two games due to injury, but had 55 tackles and a pair of interceptions along with nine passes defensed.
But he also missed seven games in 2011 and 11 games in 2013. Hall hasn’t played a full 16-game season since 2010, at which point he had played every game for the first four seasons of his career. Still, in 121 career games he’s put up 470 combined tackles, five forced fumbles, two fumble recovers, 26 interceptions and 111 passes defensed.
While Hall has become a coveted free agent as training camp begins, the veteran cornerback sat on the open market for nearly five months. The Bengals made a late push to bring back Hall, especially after losing rookie William Jackson to a torn pectoral muscle early in camp.
Instead Hall will join a Giants secondary that features the new additions of Janoris Jenkins and Eli Apple, and now looks much better than the unit that was last in the NFL in passing yards allowed in 2015.
Hall was a second-team All-Pro player in 2009. He will turn 32 during the 2016 season.
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