Jets have safety Dane Belton and his ballhawking talent competing for starting role
Dane Belton at Jets training camp last Thursday. Credit: Ed Murray
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The play that would wind up defining Dane Belton’s tenure with the Giants occurred very early in his rookie minicamp.
It was the summer of 2022 and the fourth-round pick jumped high in the end zone to snag a dazzling interception.
Unfortunately for him, he landed. Awkwardly. So much so that he fractured his collarbone. The injury helped to derail most of his promising first season.
He still made two interceptions that regular season and even recovered a fumble on his very first NFL snap, the opening kickoff of the Week 2 game against the Panthers, but the lost time recovering from the injury kept him from potentially landing a starting job.
In the ensuing three years, the same pattern emerged. His flashes always seemed to be followed by frustration.
Belton would shine and sometimes get a bigger opportunity for a while, but then something or someone else would come along and send him back to the sideline.
In his four seasons, he missed only one game because of injury and started 22 games for the Giants, but never more than nine in any given year.
He still managed to rack up six interceptions, four fumble recoveries and four forced fumbles, developing into one of the top special-teamers in the league during that time.
He developed a reputation for being a ballhawk, the kind of guy who always seemed to be in the right place for a pick or a scoop.
When he hit free agency, however, the Giants did not bring him back.
What he clearly needed more than anything else was a fresh start. The Jets are giving that to him.
“I know he’s been in a backup role for most of his career, but man, he is fighting to see if he can get a job here,” coach Aaron Glenn said. “He’s been doing a really good job for us.”
In his first training camp just a short drive away from where he spent his previous ones, Belton is bringing what he learned in East Rutherford to Florham Park. He’s been getting chances to play various spots in the defense — traditional safety, nickel, dime — and is competing with Andre Cisco for the starting spot opposite Minkah Fitzpatrick.
“In the free-agency process, I really wanted to find a place where I can cement my role and impact the team in a big way,” Belton said. “Obviously, I want to play safety. We have a competition going and I love competition. I feel like it brings the best out in everybody.
“But outside of that, starting or whatever, being able to make plays in any role I am in and help the team win is really the biggest objective. For me, that’s one of my biggest skill sets. No matter where I am at, I can make plays and help the team win.”
Belton’s apparent magnetism for takeaways was one of the big draws for the Jets, a team that infamously went all of last season without an interception.
“If you look over his career, the one thing that stands out about that player is his ball production,” Glenn said. “He’s made a number of plays on the ball . . . When you have a guy that has ball production, that competes the way he competes and also has the special-teams value, man, it’s hard not to take a hard look at that player and see how he fits into what you’re trying to do.”
Belton said he has taken time this summer to think about his “evolution” as a player. He spoke about what he has learned from the veterans with whom he has played and what he has added to his game.
“Obviously, I am known for getting the ball, and I feel like all those things help translate to that, being able to be faster,” he said. “It’s a split-second between a PBU [pass break-up] and a pick, or a tackle and a PBU. I feel like my game intellectually has allowed me to play faster. I feel like I am way better than I was when I came into the league and every year I will keep getting better.”
The keys to causing takeaways? Belton said it starts with the “physical gifts” that he said pretty much everyone in the league has. He said film study is a big part too, “understanding concepts and tendencies of certain players, quarterbacks for sure.”
“You have to take chances,” he said. “You have to be violent at the catch point and violent with punches. You look at guys and they come into the league and it’s like, ‘he has a knack for the ball, he is always around it.’
“A skill underrated in that aspect is hustle. Being around the ball is big. Obviously, to get takeaways, you have to be there.
“You have to be in the right spot,” he concluded.
Maybe, as he enters his fifth NFL season, Belton finally is.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
