Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on Giants’ D: ‘A lot has been invested in us’

A year ago, the New York Giants spent $200 million in free agency to upgrade their defense.

The big spending had a big payoff, as the unit ranked 10th overall in the NFL and helped the Giants finish 11-5.

‘Any time you build something like that, you have to go out there and perform’

Part of that expenditure was the addition of cornerback Janoris Jenkins. Although fellow Giants cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie joined the team in 2014 and lost his starting job to first-round draft pick Eli Apple, he knows the standard that the defensive investment set remains extremely high for all of the defenders on the team.

“Any time you build something like that, you have to go out there and perform, so it puts a lot of pressure on you, knowing that a lot has been invested in you,” Rodgers-Cromartie told Vic Carucci and Antrel Rolle on The Opening Drive. “So you’ve got to have the mindset of just going out there and competing and just winning.

‘The expectation is just go out there and get it done’

“I never really go in the season with expectations, because I always know there’s going to be highs and lows of the season. But what I do is just go out there and just prepare and play the best of my ability within the system. The expectation, I know, is just go out there and get it done because a lot has been invested in us.

“But me, personally, I just want to go out there and just play as hard as I can for as long as I can.”