Giants taking a different tact with Deonte Banks after benching

Simply being the best option on a team starved for cornerbacks isn’t the bar that the Giants have set for Deonte Banks.

The 2023 first-round draft pick was benched Monday against the Steelers for the cumulative toll of a couple poor effort plays in previous games, some missed tackles and “multiple things and multiple reasons,” defensive backs coach Jerone Henderson said.

“We have great expectations for Tae, obviously,” a passionate Henderson said. “And just didn’t feel he was — or he has — consistently played up to the expectations the organization has for him, drafting him where he is. So wanted to really get his attention, that we expect more.”

Henderson, a former NFL defensive back, said he feels a personal investment in Banks after visiting with him pre-draft and telling general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll “draft him, I want him, I love him” because they could work well together.

“The thing is, he has played really well in spurts,” Henderson said. “But those other six or seven (plays per game) where now, that’s all you’re judged on — those plays when the ball is at me and I have an opportunity to make a play.

“I want to see him in those moments be brighter, be bigger. That’s why we drafted him. That’s what I know he has in him. And I want him to do it consistently and at a high level all the time.”

Banks will start Sunday against the Commanders, Daboll said, so it’s different treatment than the way the Giants buried 2022 first-round pick Evan Neal on the offensive tackle depth chart or quickly gave up on 2021 first-round draft pick Kadarius Toney (traded to the Chiefs).