After several position changes during his time with the Seattle Seahawks, Eric Pinkins is back to playing the position he’s most familiar with.
Pinkins played a hybrid safety position in college at San Diego State’s 3-3-5 defense. Upon being drafted by Seattle in the sixth round of the 2014 draft, the Seahawks initially hoped to convert Pinkins into a cornerback capable of being a competent press defender. Instead, he ended up in a move traditional safety role before being moved to linebacker over the 2016 offseason.
Now that he’s landed with the Giants, Pinkins found a way to move back to safety once again. With injuries forcing the Giants to use receivers as their scout team safeties last year, Pinkins saw an opportunity present itself.
“Honestly, I took initiative,” Pinkins said in an interview with Dan Duggan of NJ.com. “I went up to the guy that runs the scout cards because they had two receivers at safety. I was like, ‘I’ll give a way better look than receivers out there.’ So he ended talking to the head man (Ben McAdoo) and I saw him just smirk and shake his head, ‘Yes.’ Then I was like, ‘Yes! It’s my opportunity to show them I can play safety.’ I ended up going back there. Two plays later, (Sterling Shepard) was running a corner route, I picked it and I’ve been playing safety ever since.”
Pinkins has appeared in 11 career games - six with Seattle and five with the Giants. He has three career tackles on special teams.