Jets bring in more safety depth with former Giants DB Dane Belton

It seems one safety wasn't enough for one day.

Charlie Baduini

Former New York Giants safety Dane Belton / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The New York Jets aren't satisfied with just one safety addition today, as NFL insider Jordan Schultz is reporting that the team has agreed to terms with former New York Giants safety Dane Belton. It's a one-year, $4 million deal with "upside" up to $6 million.

The Jets were never going to go into the 2026 season with just Minkah Fitzpatrick and Malachi Moore as their only safeties, so they added Belton into the mix as someone who could compete with Moore. The 114th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft had spent the first four years of his career with the Giants.

Belton is an experienced player, having appeared in 66 games since 2022. He's recorded six interceptions, four forced fumbles, and 16 pass break-ups, and likely hopes to carve out a starting role for himself opposite Fitzpatrick.

Dane Belton could provide Jets with what they've been missing in their secondary

Despite Belton's ability to find the football, one of the biggest things he'll bring to the Jets is his tackling ability. The Iowa product had the lowest missed tackle percentage among all safeties to play at least 400 snaps in 2025, with a 4.1% miss rate, according to Pro Football Focus.

Belton racked up a career-high 120 combined tackles last season for the Giants and ranked 24th in solo tackles, per PFF.

That'll be a breath of fresh air for Jets fans used to watching the likes of Tony Adams, Jordan Whitehead, and Andre Cisco the last few seasons. The Jets' safety room, which, entering free agency, was arguably the weakest unit on the entire team outside the quarterback room, is now coming together nicely.

It's not finished yet, as New York could look to take a flier on a developmental player in the later rounds of the NFL Draft, but Belton and Moore will likely be the two players sharing the field the most with Fitzpatrick throughout the 2026 season.

For now, the Jets at least can rest easy knowing they'll get competent, veteran-level play on the backend of their defense, which is something that has truly been ignored in New York for far too long.

Keep up to date with the latest Jets free agency news here.

Charlie Baduini

Charlie Baduini covers the New York Jets as a site expert for The Jet Press and FanSided. He is a sports journalist based in Northern New Jersey with a wide variety of sports reporting experience in print and broadcast journalism. Baduini’s byline can also be seen on Heavy and The Sporting News, where he covers several teams across the NFL and NBA. His work has been featured in Heavy, Athlon Sports, The Sporting News, Yahoo Sports, MSN, and Yardbarker. He also serves as a seasonal intern for ESPN, working as a production assistant for the Heisman Trophy Ceremony every year since 2022. Baduini has been a Jets fan for as long as he can remember, with his family's fandom dating back to the 1960s when his grandfather, Louis, became a season ticket holder. His family has since held on to the tickets to this day. He is an avid fan of the New York Knicks and New York Mets.