Bryon Jones

Connecticut cornerback Byron Jones has the skill set to convert to safety in the NFL. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

The NFL Draft is a month away and the Giants still have only two safeties under contract for next season.

While Tom Coughlin indicated on Wednesday that one of those two, be it Nat Berhe or Cooper Taylor, and possibly Bennett Jackson, a converted cornerback, would get a crack at one of the starting safety spots, but even he acknowledged that the Giants are thin at that position.

The draft is the logical avenue to fill that hole, but unfortunately for the Giants, this particular draft class is short on top safeties. Landon Collins, the top safety prospect out of Alabama, would be a reach for the Giants at No. 9, and it'd be a tall order for a Day 2 or Day 3 prospect to come in and start right away.

But there are still some potential gems to be found in this year's draft if the Giants want to get creative. The fact that Jackson is in the mix to compete for the safety position is an indicator that the Giants want to add some speed and range to the back end of their defense, where they were beaten in coverage too often, especially by athletic tight ends. It's one of the reasons they targeted Ron Parker in free agency, a free safety with cornerback skills and good speed.

So I posed the question to Mel Kiper Jr., ESPN's preeminent draft analyst during his Thursday conference call: Are there any rangy cornerback/safety types the Giants might look for on Day 2 or 3 of the draft? Kiper highlighted two interesting names.

"If you want a combo guy, Byron Jones would be a perfect early to mid-[second rounder] if you can get into that area, out of Connecticut," Kiper said. "Eric Rowe from Utah would be another combo guy, corner/safety. So I think you could look second or third round very easily."

Jones and Rowe are both projected to go anywhere from the second to fourth round, and Kiper said that if the Giants choose to fill another positional need with their first pick, like Iowa offensive lineman Brandon Scherff, it would make sense for them to pick a safety on the second day to get the best value.

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Jones is a late-riser on a lot of draft boards because of his good performance at the NFL Combine in February, when he set a world record for the broad jump at 12 feet, three inches, to go with a 44.5 inch vertical leap, a half-inch off of the Combine record.

Jones did not run the 40-yard dash at the Combine due to his continued recovery from a shoulder injury that prematurely ended his senior season at Connecticut, but that kind of athleticism combined with his size (6-1, 199 lbs.) could make him an interesting free safety prospect in the NFL. Jones also has the advantage of having played the safety position for his first two years at UConn.

Rowe is in a similar category as Jones, a cornerback with free safety size, (6-1, 205 lbs.), but was actually a three-year starter at free safety for Utah before switching to cornerback as a senior. Rowe was a productive college player, a two-time honorable-mention All-Pac-12 selection who registered 13 pass breakups and one interception in 2014. Like Jones, Rowe had a good showing at the Combine, running the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds and showing off a 39-inch vertical leap.

We won't know whether the Giants are seriously considering Jones or Rowe unless they bring them in for a visit, but with the dearth of pure safety options in the draft, they could do worse than targeting two good athletes with the requisite skill set for the position.

Nick Powell may be reached at npowell@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpowellbkny. Find NJ.com Giants on Facebook.