Big Blue Kickoff Live 5/28 | Breaking Down OTAs

John Schmeelk and Matt Citak get you caught up on what’s happening at Giants OTAs, talk about the quarterbacks, and take calls from fans.

:00 - OTAs chat

22:40 - Calls

31:30 - Russell Wilson

36:10 - Working the cap

47:45 - More on the quarterbacks

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff line.

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because you're.

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On Giants dot com.

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Do you know what I saw New York Giant Crack.

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And the Giants Mobile at seventeen.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Fourteen the finals one tick down, we all we're all tamping.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
They were part of the Giants podcast network.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Let's go on.

Speaker 4 (00:26):
Happy Wednesday, everybody, and welcome the Big Blue Kickoff Live
presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle the Giants. I'm back, Hi, everybody.
I've been with you for about ten days here on
Big Blue cake Off Live. Happy to be back in
the building, joined by my man, Matthew Sitak, and we
have the Giants second of ten OTAs today at the
Quest Diagnosis Training Center. Yesterday wasn't much of one. Technically

(00:49):
it wasn an otah, but they're out there for about
forty minutes and there was not one competitive period. It
was basically Phase two with like the two people on
the field, the two groups on the field at the
same time.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Paul and I opened the show yesterday and we barely
even acknowledge OTAs, and like ten minutes in I had
to you know, just be like, oh, by the way,
there was a practice today if you want to call
it a practice that really wasn't much or wasn't really,
but technically OTA's did start today as in yesterday. Today
was the first real OTA practice where there was a
lot going on.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, and it was fun. It was almost an hour
and forty five minutes of practice. Guys. Just remember, and
I'll use this to level set for everybody. By the way,
we're from the Hackensack Maritey Health podcast, to keep getting better.
In OTA's there are very stringent rules on what the
team is allowed to do and what they're not allowed
to do. So let's go through those details first. Then
we'll kind of break down everything that happened. So no pads,

(01:43):
that's number one. No pads, no contact, that's rule number two.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
It's a big one.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
So you might ask, how do you have an NFL
practice if you don't wear pads and there's no contact,
Well you really can't. That's why when Brian Dables spoke
to the media before practice today, he basically called this
a pass camp. That's what he called it, because you
can't run, you can't do one on ones up front
with the offensive line. A defensive line. It's basically a
lot of seven on seven and you're trying to get

(02:11):
guys going and get the passing game coordinated, and you
know those sort of things going where you try to
get the receivers in sync with the quarterbacks, you get
your defensive backfield on the field, and you're working on
all that stuff together. So that's really what this is meant.
It's not real football. It's a glorified seven on seven
passing camp.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yes, although I will say we did see I think
two runs today, two rushing touchdowns we did.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
One of them was from Jackson Dart on a sort
of QB scramble, although it looked like a designer run,
but it was a quarterback rush on what otherwise would
have looked like a passing place.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
Now, and there's nothing against the rules here, but I
could do without the the like like diving, Like.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
We don't need yes see anyway needs no one needs
to be diving.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
That is the competitive this of of everything, and I
get that, but I feel like this this is like
the prelude Matt to the during the season side just slide,
don't be too competitive, Jackson darn I love the attitude
just don't be that competitive.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
On the for sure touchdown run, there was no doubt.
It was just a right to the end. And then
there was that one Turbo Miller kind of toss to
the right where he just outran everyone to the pilon.
I mean, you know, we spoke a lot about last
offseason and last training camp about how when he runs

(03:37):
sometimes it looks like, you know, when you're playing Madden
you hit the turbo button, all of a sudden there's
a burst of speed. That's when he looked like on
that toss play where he just again just outran everyone
to the pilon, where some of the defenders were looking
around like, how the heck did he just do that?

Speaker 4 (03:52):
Yeah, and some guys in practice and without pads, this
is something you can still see. So we're gonna say
a lot. You'll get calls, well, did the offensive linebook?
I don't know. You can't tell. What you can tell
is guys that look physically different and when and the
reason his nickname is turbo Turbo Miller puts on the

(04:13):
jets and is racing a defenders of the pylon, it
looks different. He just looks faster, and that's what it
looked like lane, the safety kind of stayed with him.
On one of those. He had the one run to
Europ point, then he had another kind of pass into
the flat that he scored on. Then there was another
one late too where I think that was also a
pass where he kind of rant the pylon so he

(04:35):
had a chance to go. There were a couple of giants.
By the way, we should bring this up as well
with terms of what Brian Dabeles said, some veterans that
are coming off injuries that just still kind of slowly
working into things, and the way Brian Dabele spoke about it,
they'll reevaluate these players as we go and we'll see
how much field work they're going to get. If we
go by what we've seen in years past, usually guys
like this they'll hold out for a lot of the

(04:56):
spring and then they'll bring them back in the summer.
Andrew Thomas is in that he's coming back from the
foot injury a league neighbors is still dealing with the
toe injury that he's had kind of on and off,
aggravating going back to his college days, even that he
played through a lot of last year. You also had
a couple of John Ronny and the other guy he

(05:16):
was shoulder was he shoulder Runyan, I believe, I don't
remember whatever his injury was. He's not back out there yet.
Do He was doing drills, but he's not out there
doing team stuff yet.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
So and we should preface all of this by saying,
Coach Jable told the media prior to practice that everyone
is here. Everyone is here in the building. It's just
not everyone is actually gonna be out on the practice field. Again,
it's May spring practices. If there's a guy that's not
one hundred healthy, they're not going to risk putting him

(05:48):
out there for these practices that the end of the
day don't mean a whole much.

Speaker 4 (05:53):
Yeah, other veterans, other.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Than just you know, getting everyone sort of in a
groove leading up to training camp, which I still not
for another two months. So everyone is here just because
a guy is not necessarily participating in you know, team
drills on you know, day two of OTA's don't look
into it too much. Coach Table also said that there
are several guys that are dealing with a bit of
a stomach bug that's going around the building, Yet he

(06:18):
didn't go into details on who. A couple of players,
you know, just we're not out there today that we
didn't know about any potential injury. I would assume that
those are some of the guys dealing with the little stomach.

Speaker 4 (06:29):
But this way, based on who wasn't out there yesterday
and another guy that wasn't out there today, I think
it might be going through the running back room a
little bit.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, it's certainly possible.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
So yeah, they're dealing with that. But again, for a
guy like Thomas, for a guy like running that, these
are veteran offensive linemen that have been through the wars.
There's no pads, you're not doing anything whatever. Nobody cares.
For a guy like Molie Neighbors, who's gonna be your
star wide receiver this year, and it's a lower extremity injury,
just get the man healthy.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yes, he already showed last year he's good, he's okay.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
But he also showed lest year that he did deal
with Nixon bruises during the year, right whether it was
the concussion and then he had the lower body stuff
later in the year. Just get the man one hundred
percent so he was good to go once the season starts.
So there's no reason they have the guys on the
field doing too much now if it could endanger them
in the summer. So those are kind of the check marks.
Now we talk about what actually happened at practice. Defense

(07:23):
started off pretty quick here on the first you know,
it's all red zone. Much like the Giants who to
start a training camp at the start of OTAs, they
try to do everything in compressed spaces. And the reason
they do that is that you don't want guys doing
full field sprints on nine routes or posts or goals
or stopping goals or whatever fly fades flags. So they
have everything in compressed space, so there's not as much

(07:45):
running to prevent you know, soft tissue injuries like hamstrings
and quads and calfs and things like that. So everything
was in the red zone today. It was seven on
seven of those team. But the defense came out first
first pass a practice and I thought, hopefully this is
a sign of things to come for the defense. Tay
Banks got his hand on the football knocked it away,
which was great. Mike McFadden knocked the ball in the

(08:07):
next pass, uh Javon Holland was involved on a play.
So the defense came out strong here in that in
that first series. In look, the defense is usually ahead
of the offense at this point, like it always is early.
But I thought the defense came out and played really
well early in the practice.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, I mean, were those the eleven on eleven?

Speaker 4 (08:25):
That was okay? That was seven seven?

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Seven on seven is also when we got perhaps the
play of the day yep, which this was someone I
mentioned in my Players to watch during OTA's article posted
on giants dot Com last week. Just gotta say, but
Dane Belton had to play the day. He just made
an incredible play on the ball. Caught an interception again,

(08:48):
this was on the goal line where it turned it
for what easily would have been a pick six if
this were a real game setting. And you know he Obviously,
Dane Belton has not gotten the most playing time over
his first three seasons, but every single time he's been
out on the field, whether it's on defense or special teams,
he somehow gets the ball in his hands. He is

(09:10):
like a ball magnet. Whether it's an interception, forcing a fumble,
or covering a fumble. He's just a turnover machine. And again,
first day of team drills of the entire season, and
sure enough Dave Belton has an interception, a pick six
return for a touchdown. It's great to see, you know.
Obviously he's likely going to be the number three safety

(09:32):
with Javon Holland and Tyler Neuban taking the one of
two spots in the safety room. But Dame Belton can
still see a good amount of playing time this year,
especially if he makes plays like he did in practice today,
he could be seeing in even more of an increased
role than what he's had in his first few seasons.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
Now, to give the quarterback a pass, he did put
the pass pretty much right into the chest of his
wide receiver who just did not hold onto it.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
So Belton made a great play on the ball belt.

Speaker 4 (09:57):
But Belton did because it was kind of it should
have been caught, but once it wasn't. It was kind
of a fifty to fifty ball, right, so he ended
up getting it all to deflection and and bring it
back the other way. So that was a really nice
play out of Belton. But again, I just don't want
to make people think that the quarterback just do it
like right to it. It was a terrible pass. It
was a past that probably should have been caught, but
a good job by Belton taking advantage of his opportunity

(10:20):
to get the pick.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
And one other thing, yes, please, because you mentioned before
about some of the injured guys that were not really
getting any playing time, I think it is equally as
important to mention that there were guys that dealt with
injuries last year that were taking part pretty much fully
in the team drills today. And the two most notable
players in that boat one from east side of the
ball on defense, Paulson Adebo was out there. I think

(10:43):
he took just about every rep but the first team,
in fact.

Speaker 4 (10:45):
The entire first team defensive backfield was out there together,
which was good to say.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah, that was very good to see. But a Deebo looked,
you know, he looked fully healthy. I don't think he
would be out there playing just about every single team
rep if he wasn't fully healthy, so that was great
to see. And then on the other side of the ball,
THEO Johnson also was out there participating in team drills.
You know, we were a little, I guess unsure just
because he had the season ending foot injury late in

(11:11):
the season. We weren't one hundred percent positive whether or
not he would be out there in full capacity. But
it sure seemed like he was out there one hundred
percent because he was participating at seven on sevens, eleven
and eleven's. He was making catches. Looked like the Theo
Johnson that we started to see right before he suffered
the season ending foot injury.

Speaker 5 (11:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
Absolutely. John Michael Schmidt, who deal with injuries late last year,
he was out there as well, so it was good
to see some of those guys out there. Mike McFadden
had a pick that could have been a return for
a touchdown later in practice as well.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
Last play of practice, yea last play.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
Of practice exactly. So he made a couple of good plays.
Jalen Hyatt had a couple of touchdown catches, one pitter
patter in the back of the end zone, another one
on a little bit of a slant, so he got involved.
He seemed to be like put on some upper body
weight over the past few months. I thought he was
a little bit thicker, at least in the upper body.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
That has certainly been noticeable. I mean walking around just
in the sleeveless shirts that most of the guys do,
he certainly looks bigger. I don't want to speak for
him and say that you know he added muscle or
pounds or whatever, but visibly just looking at him, he
looks bigger, which is good to say.

Speaker 4 (12:15):
Absolutely, a lot of quarterback movement I thought today where
a lot of play action rollout. You mentioned the one
Jackson don't run that was on a design. There was
a cool play from Jamis where he played action, faked
a rollout, spun back into the pocket and he completed
a pass on that. But I thought they were really

(12:36):
learning leaning into and it makes sense given the quarterbacks
on this roster, Matt, that you're gonna lean into moving
the quarterbacks and out of the pocket a lot. So
I think we saw a lot of them moving the
pocket to the right, mostly bus right handed quarterbacks right,
but a little bit to the left too. We're to
try to get the quarterbacks out of the pocket and
on the move a little bit. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
I mean that's something we know Brian David loves to
do with his quarterbacks. We you know, saw it when
he was in Buffalo with Josh Allen. We saw it
the last couple of years with Daniel Jones. Likes getting
these guys on the move, especially when you have quarterbacks
that are capable really of making these sort of throws
on the move on the run. Feel like we're probably
gonna see a good amount of that this season. I mean,
if today it was any sort of indication, we're gonna

(13:15):
see a lot of it.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Well.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
And given how important these OTAs aren't, everything that happens
in OTAs will translate one hundred percent of the regular season,
I mean it's essential. I mean it's just one for one.
So it's pretty clear that you know, Tommy DeVito will
be the giants best quarterback this year. With his he
was only getting a couple like basically reps. His first
three were all touchdown passes, and the Giants. I'm sorry
for you guys that are fit Molik neighbors, fantasy football owners,

(13:40):
You're gonna be a little disappointed this year because it's
gonna be undrafted free agent rookie wide receiver Jordan Bly
that's gonna be the number one wide receiver this year
is him and Tommy the Vito connected not on one,
not on two, but three touchdown completions over the course
of factice for it was by far.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
The best combination you saw for any two players all day.
I think the first two reps that Tommy was on
the field. He was only out there for one play correct,
threw a touchdown, And it seemed like with all the
quarterbacks kind of as soon as they threw a touchdown,
they would go on to the next quarterback. Tommy the
first two times was out there for one play each
because he immediately got out there, threw a touchdown and

(14:16):
then they went moved on got practice rolling still. So yeah,
they had clearly had a nice little connection going between
Tommy de Vito and Jordan Bly as you as you
said day one of Ota is clearly it's a clear
indication of what will come come week one of the
regular season.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
But the people that are not familiar willply by the way,
he's one of the undrafted free agents from this class,
six foot, one hundred and sixty six pounds, came out
of a gardener web, so twenty two years old, rookie,
so just someone to keep an eye on here as
he could also splash early.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
He spent some time at Old Dominion.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
First, Yes, you don't see many of Usually when you
get the transfer, you don't get like the mid major transfer.
Usually get like the transfer from like the small to
the big, but.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
Like camp scataboo. Yeah, was out there today.

Speaker 4 (15:02):
Sacramento Skate, Sacramento skate up to the Arizona State. So absolutely.
But we saw one really nice pass from Russell Wilson
showing that touch he likes to put. It was a
perfect fade route to Darius Slayton, who kind of double
tapped his feet on the sideline. I thought that was
really nice.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Placed the ball perfectly right over the defender, right between
the defender and the corner of the end zone, right
into Darius's hands. Beautiful throw, beautiful catch. Darius caught a
couple of touchdowns today. Yep, he looked very I mean again,
what we've come to grow accustomed to seeing from Darius
Slayton is exactly what we saw. And Jackson Dart his

(15:40):
very first touchdown pass, of course was the former college
teammate Antoine Juice Wells. Who would have saw that coming? Huh?

Speaker 4 (15:49):
Was it his first completion? Though he had completions? And
do we count rookie mini campus first completions?

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Now this is the first practice with the whole team, Okay?

Speaker 4 (15:57):
Was that his first completion as well? To Wells? I
would I did not try. I attracked all the passes
I gotta look at my notes to say he was.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
So because they were playing on the goal line.

Speaker 4 (16:06):
So that first number two, yep, that would have been
Juice Well's correct. Yeah, Juice Wells was the It was
a little pass into the flat that he kind of
ran it in for a touchdown. Correct. Yeah, that would
have been Juice Well's good call. All right, So we
did get three players also talk to the media after practice.
We'll touch on that, then we'll get to your calls
at two to one nine three nine four five one three.
All right, Bobby o'caake. First, he was his usual positive,

(16:29):
upbeat self, which is what you like to see, and
I thought it was interesting. He's likely. Yeah, Look, I
didn't kind of stuff the box score as much I was.
I liked you last year. I think it should be
more like it was two years ago. His back injury
appears to be fine. It was a disc thing. He
said he did not have to have a procedure, which
was good. But he seems to think that being in
Bowen's system for a second year, with the additional talent
around him, that he should be poised for a pretty

(16:51):
big second year here with Shane Bowen and at the Giants.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, I mean he's easily surrounded by the most talent
he has ever been surrounded by, at least with the Giants.
I mean, the defense last year had a good amount
of talent throughout, but then adding a Debo and Holland
among other players, but those who leading the charge in
the secondary and then upfront obviously, you know, start with

(17:14):
Abdul Carter, Darius Alexander, Chauncey Golston, Roy Robertson, Harris, go
down the list, Jeremiah Leather. I mean, the defense is
sort of the roster of defensive players. I don't want
to say it's completely revamped, because there obviously are some
numerous core pieces that are returning, but they added some
playmakers all over there.

Speaker 4 (17:36):
Depending on how you want to do it, you depending
on how you want to classify it, you probably gonna
have three or four new starters. Depending on it's gonna
be almost twenty anywhere from twenty five to thirty three
percent of the defense is gonna.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Be done, yeah, which is obviously that's a big percentage
of the defense. And it was clear listening to him
to speak that Bobby Ocaake is very excited about it.
I mean, he talked about the secondary editions, he talked
about Abdul and some of the additions up front. He's
very excited and one of the things that I've talked
about at times on the show over the last i
would say two months, and we saw a little bit

(18:08):
of a practice today. You're not going to go into
the details, but I've said that, you know, with all
these new pieces, especially the pieces up front, it's going
to allow Shane Bowen to get a lot more creative
with where and how he lines up all of these
different defensive playmakers. We saw that today because there was
at least there's one play in particular I had in
mind where they were just guys, you know, the stalwarts

(18:31):
of the Giants defense lined up all over the field,
not where you would expect them lined up.

Speaker 4 (18:36):
Hey, look we can say it is Boby o'cake said
it during his media availability, right, he said there was
one play where he was on the edge and Burns
was off the ball. Bobby said it, and you're right,
they move guys around a lot.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah. So again only OTA day one of team drills
during OTAs, but that creativity that I know a lot
of us have been hoping we would see this season
from Shane Bowen in the defense. Got a little glimpse
of it today and you know, if that carries into
training camp into the regular season, it's gonna cause the
offense is a whole lot of trouble a game plan
for this Giants defense with just all these different playmakers

(19:08):
that are capable of lining up basically anywhere on the field.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
All right, let's go to the two other guys that
spoke very quickly. Greg Van Roten said he was happy
to be back, happy that he was back earlier this offseason,
in the last so that was good. Likes the quarterback room.
And Bobby o'cake said the two very different personalities in
that quarterback room, but they both raided about Russell Wilson's
leadership ability so far, just kind of interacting with everybody
on the team and just being a steadying positive influence

(19:33):
and just talk about the competition on the offense on
because it's a deep room, so there's a lot of spots,
roster spots, spots in the depth chart that guys are
going to be competing for over the course of the offseason.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
Yeah, I mean, GVR, as we all know, was the
only player on the offensive side of all at least
that played every single snop last year and he was
he resigned, he came back. Yet he even said, we
are all out here competing. There's nothing being given to us.
There's no starting jobs just being handed to us just
because we had it last year. Everyone is out here competing.
That's what you love to hear. Obviously, this time of year,

(20:07):
there's not a whole lot you can really gain from
the offensive lineman during these team jails because there's no
contact and it's not much an offensive line he could
do if he's not allowed to really make contact with
the defender in front of him. But you know, Greg Vanderdin,
who obviously a veteran that's been around for a very
long time, you expect, I guess that sort of mindset

(20:28):
that he expressed during his media availability today. But it
was good to hear him really say it, and you
know he is certainly very excited about some of the
young guys that are in that offensive line room. He
spoke about Marcus bow very glowingly. Obviously he hasn't know
Marcus Wilt very long. Marcus has only been on the
team for a month now. They've only been in the
building together for two weeks now really, but you know,

(20:50):
he's liked what he's seen from him so far, and
he had a lot of good things to say about JMS.
He seems to think that JMS is in line for
a big jump in year three, and obviously if JMS
can make that big jump, that is going to help
just raise the entire floor for this offensive line.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
Dan Marcus Bow. They moved him around throughout practice, like
they said, Joe Shane said, They're gonna use him primarily
as a tackle early and then move him into guard.
Evan Neil, as Brian Dabele said before practice was gonna be,
you know, transitioning to the guards. He was gonna play there.
We did see him there, we did, so just that's
kind of what we get. And then Javon Holland, he
basically talked about how he still kind of developing his

(21:28):
leadership and earning the street cred necessary to be a
leader with this group, and that's mostly what he talked about.
But he was happy to be out there with those
guys on defense.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, we know Javon Holland was one of the big
team leaders for the Miami Dolphins. You know, the last
at least a year or two, and he basically said, look,
no one's I'm not walking in and no one's just
crowning me as a team leader. That's something I've got
to earn. I've got to earn the respect for everyone
in this locker room, both on and off the field.
And if I do that, the chips will fall as
they may. And you know, again, he's a veteran that's

(21:57):
been around the league now for four or five years.
That's the type of you know, mindset you want to
hear from a guy like that, especially this early in
the year.

Speaker 4 (22:05):
All right, let's get to your calls at two A
one nine three of a heart out today at two thirty,
our fearless leader he wants to sit a meeting upstairs,
so we must hustle up. We'll be in big trouble. Sorry,
Dominic two A one nine three. All right, we have
a lot of names here, so new names too, So
I'm gonna get to all you guys. Gonna be Kevin first,
then Malachi, then Chris. Let's start with Kevin and Raleigh.

(22:25):
He'll lead us off. Kevin, what's going on?

Speaker 5 (22:28):
Hey, can you guys hear me?

Speaker 4 (22:29):
How you guys doing yeah, we gotch a lot of
clear Kevin, what do you got?

Speaker 5 (22:32):
There's two quick questions and then just one quick point.
First question is, do you guys see the Giants kind
of adapting more of a running scheme, running the football
more than they have in the previous years? You know,
Russell Wilson is at his best, you know with play action.
We saw him, you know, with the deep ball in Seattle.
Do you guys see you know, the Giants kind of
becoming a running for his team, you know, with a

(22:54):
two punch with Scataboo and Tracy. What do you guys
saw us on that first question?

Speaker 4 (22:59):
Kevin, I'm gonna give a short answer, yes, Yes, I
think you are, because I think you're right. I think
if it's what Russe Wilson likes to do, yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
I agree. I think part of the reason why they
have not been able to do that in recent years
is because they've been playing so many games from behind,
and obviously, if you're behind multiple scores great point in
the second half, you're not gonna be running the ball
that often, So obviously we expect the team to be
more competitive in general. So yes, similar to John, I agree,
I think we definitely will see more running this year.

(23:28):
I don't necessarily be run heavy, but definitely more than
I think what we've seen in the last you know year.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
And Kevin, to your point, a lot more play action pass.
Yeah than then maybe we've seen before.

Speaker 6 (23:40):
Definitely.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
And then my next question is, I mean, you guys
mentioned Evan Neil is begetting some you know, some playing
time and I'm sorry, practice time as a guard. Do
you think that he will end up, you know, winning
the starting job you know as a guard and taking
that leap like you know Becton did with the Eagles
last year. Do you guys see him kind of having to,
you know, so earn that spot and you know maybe
he'll start as a backup and then kind of transition in.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
What do you think of that?

Speaker 4 (24:00):
I think runyons, No, no, no problem, Kevin, hang with us.
I think runyans when you're starting guards.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
He's healthy.

Speaker 4 (24:06):
I don't think that's gonna be a question.

Speaker 7 (24:07):
Ye.

Speaker 4 (24:08):
I think the other guard spot's wide open. To be
honest with you, I think this is a competition. Greg
van Roten said it at his press conference today that
all these guys are competing. I think Greg van Roden
is the stop gap all right, backstop. We know we
can get good, solid level of play from him if
we need him, so he's there if we need him. Right.
Then you have Evan Neil who's moving into guard. To

(24:30):
your point, I think he has the physical ability to
do it. I think he can handle it. To Van
Roten's point when he spoke at the press conference, look,
guard's different than tackle. You have less space to deal with,
but guys get on you faster. There's more twists and
games and stunts, splitzers, things like that. So there's different
challenges at guard, even though there's less space than Neil
has to navigate. You have Jake Kubas, who when we

(24:51):
were in our TV production meetings with coach Dable in
the preseason last year, he spoke glowingly about how much
they loved Kubas. I think he is a legiti him
a chance to fight for playing time. And then the
other guy I'll throw in there, and the Giant fans
might roll their eyes at me if they give josh
A Zudu a chance to just play guard right, just
as a guard, I think he has a chance to

(25:12):
compete as well. Those would be the four guys that
I would look at that you can compete. And Aaron
Stinty's a veteran to that that that has been with
the second team at that guard spot for the last
two seasons now so or last season and now this season.
So those are the guys that I think will compete
at guard. I think Kevin it's a good problem to have.
I I could see Van Roten, Neil, Kubas or Zudu,

(25:37):
depending on how this goes this offseason, all potentially be
a starter at guard.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, I think. You know, again, it's only May twenty eighth. Yes,
I think right now the favorite would probably be Greg
Van Roden, considering he played every snot last year, had
a very solid season, and Evan Neil hasn't trained at
guard in how many years, four or five years, So
right now I think GVR would probably be considered the favorite.

(26:02):
But I do think in an absolute ideal world, Evan
Neil looks incredible at guard, wins that starting job, and
then Greg Van Roden can sort of be your primary
backup at all three positions on the interior because he
played so he's had some starts at center last year
when JMS got hurt. He obviously plays guard. Can play
either guard position. So I think, in an ideal world,

(26:25):
throughout training camp, Evan Neil can prove himself at guard
and win that spot, and then GVR can be your
number one backup.

Speaker 4 (26:32):
Yeah, Kevin, I don't and I don't think GVR needs
a ton of reps. He's thirty four, thirty five five, right,
thirty five now like he does needed a ton of
preseason you know, or you know, spring and summer reps.
So I think there'll be a lot of reps for
some of those younger guys to be able to chance
to prove themselves, especially with Runyan still coming back from
an injury last year. So put all that together, I
think the young guys will all be given ample chance

(26:53):
to show what they can do.

Speaker 5 (26:54):
Yeah, right, and then just quick two points and I'll
take it off.

Speaker 8 (26:57):
The year.

Speaker 5 (26:59):
You know, we see, I see injuries happen all the time,
you know, across the NFL. You know, you know last year,
you know we were able to get you know, second
round pick, you know for Leonard Williams. You know it's
you know, I think Cavon, you know, if we see
an injury coming up, you know for other teams, or
you know, if if Joe Shane gets a call, you
know for a second round pick, you know, for Caavon,
I think you got to pull the suggar there. And

(27:20):
then my final point before I go here is, you know,
the last three years, tackling has been a huge issue
for this team, you know, and they really got to
clean that up. You know, they got to you know,
we've been.

Speaker 8 (27:30):
Up too many big plays the last three.

Speaker 5 (27:31):
Years, so they got to clean up the tackling, you know.
But thanks for taking my call, guys, Thank you.

Speaker 4 (27:36):
Though, Kevin, look on your second point, you're absolutely right.
That was a big problem with the run defense over
the course of last year, just inconsistent tackling. Mike and
McFadden got better in that area two years ago he
gave me a lot of his tackles. Last year he
was better. It could always still improve some more. Okay
o Ka, like we talked about, did not have the
year he wanted to last year. But little Look, the

(27:56):
tackling the run defense has to get better. It just
has to. And if that doesn't get better. To Matt's
point earlier, all this great stuff we'll talking about on
defense and running the ball, on offense and play action,
if you're down two scores. You can't do any of that,
And the easiest way to get down two scores is
to not be able to stop the runner leading games.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, one hundred percent. And then just to your first point,
you know, I'm not gonna sit up here and say
for sure that something will or will not happen. But
all I know is that since the Giants drafted Abdul Carter,
Joe Shane, I believe coach table players like multiple people
have spoken about how you can always you can't have

(28:34):
enough edge rushers and pass rushers.

Speaker 4 (28:36):
They are not looking to trade came out to I
don't think.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
That is something that they will pursue. Obviously, if the
phone rings, who am I to say whether or not
you pick it up or listen to whatever.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
But you always listen. You always listen.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
But Joe Shane in particular, who would be the one
that would be making that call, has talked about how
the last two Super Bowl Championship teams that this organization
had were built around the past and having multiple guys
on the edge, not just two starting at rushers, but
guys behind him as well, guys that can you can
line up all over the defensive line. Joe has talked

(29:11):
about that multiple times, so I don't think that they
will be looking to trade Kvon. And also, again, as
we said, not a whole lot you can gain from
offensive linemen and defensive linemen in these OTA practices. But
Keavon Tibodeau looked fired up out there today. He looked
energetic and you know, like a man on a mission.

(29:33):
I don't know how else to put it. I know
it's a little cliche, but he really looked fired up.
And if you know, I would love to see once
training camp starts that we can actually start seeing some
contact between the linemen. Love to see if he looked
like he did today because if so, he could be
in for a very promising good year.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
So they're doing a live shot on ESPN. How does
Aman Shumper look older than new Donnis Haslam? I feel
like Haslam has got to be like ten years old
than him. Right, for all the years he was in
the league, isn't he still in the league.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
No, I had the last guy on Miami.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
Was he still I don't know. I thought he probably retired.

Speaker 5 (30:06):
Was he?

Speaker 2 (30:06):
They could be wrong, like last guy in the bench,
last assistant coach. Yeah, I know, what he was.

Speaker 4 (30:10):
But he's got to be older than Shepherd, right.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
I would think he was in Miami for like fifteen years.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
More than that.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
I think he's a Lebron's curious Lebron's tenure in Miami.
He was a veteran, I believe when.

Speaker 4 (30:22):
Lebron all right, so e Donnas has him's forty four, Okay,
he's older than me.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
He's definitely retired.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
The last NBA player in the league that's older than me.
When did he actually retire? Well, let me see, did
he actually get any minutes this year? Now I'm curious.
Now I gotta look it up and we'll get to you.
I promise you guys twenty twenty three? Okay, and then
how I would have expected and Aman shumper? Yeah, no,
he's yeah, he's started in two thousand. He's only thirty four.
A mom, come on, man, Not he looks older than

(30:50):
don his hasled, does he not?

Speaker 2 (30:52):
I don't know, man. I think it's just a beard.
Look scruffy.

Speaker 4 (30:55):
Man. Maybe I don't know. Got a groom group?

Speaker 2 (30:58):
Do you want to talk about the next Now I
do not.

Speaker 4 (31:00):
Actually, that's okay, let's go to get really upset and
the potentially get but doesn't the side by side doesn't
has a little younger than him. Yeah, but again, Yeah,
I know it's the beard. I think it's the beard.
I'm with you on that, all right, two one nine,
three nine four or five one three. Let's go to
Malachi down in Florida. Malachi, what's going on?

Speaker 3 (31:19):
Hello?

Speaker 9 (31:20):
I'm doing that. I had two questions for you, guys.

Speaker 4 (31:23):
Sure.

Speaker 9 (31:23):
My first question is, would you guys say Ruffle Wilson
is known for extending drive SPACs like last year we
would be doing out very quickly.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
Extending drives or extending plays, just staying.

Speaker 9 (31:38):
On the field for a longer time to tire out
the enemy's defense.

Speaker 4 (31:43):
I would say he's certainly more adepth outa than whoever
the Giants had a quarterback last year.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, about that. He is an accurate pastor and obviously
being an accurate quarterback helps extend draw.

Speaker 4 (31:52):
And he makes exposive plays down the field too, very efficient.
He doesn't turn the ball over, rather he protects the ball.

Speaker 9 (31:58):
Right, because I feel like last year I just felt
like one we were always throwing the ball before the
sticks and trying to get yack after to the yard
and that didn't work very well for us. And then
my second question to follow that would be, will do
you think it's important that the Giants offense just adjust
ball security, just making sure that when he does those
deep balls and the receiver's match, making sure they hold

(32:19):
onto the box. I do so like last year we
did have him come plays where if they just hold
on the ball, like the game's completely turned in our favors.
Just sometimes we would drop the ball.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
Yes, look, I think Russell Wilson is going to throw
the ball down the field. That's what he does. He
throws nine routes down the sideline. It's his favorite throw. Like,
all you gotta do is when the trade for George
Pickens happened, right and they're showing all these highlights because
you know, he's been nothing else to talk about because
it was a quiet time of year, and they're showing
all these George Pickens highlights. The quality of the deep

(32:49):
polls that Russell Wilson was putting on George Pickens on
those teap throws over the shoulder, it was incredible. But
for those plays to work, Russell Wilson has to be
able to trust his wide receivers when they only have
a step, and it's tight coverage to position themselves properly,
which means don't get trapped on the sideline. You want
to say, you know, give yourself four or five yards

(33:11):
to get the quarterback room to place the ball on
your outside shoulder. But also you know at have separation,
does he trust his wide receiver to go up and
make it contested catch where the wide receiver is not
gonna let the cornerback get after the ball jump for
it get an interception. So those two things have to
go side by side, right, The wide receivers have to
be technically sound, be where they have to be, and

(33:32):
Russell Wilson has to trust them to be able to
win some of those fifty to fifty balls. So you're right,
the onus is on the wide receivers a lot, because
we know Wilson wants to throw those balls. But a
guy like Slayton, who has a history of drops in
his career, has to be consistent catching it. We've seen
elite neighbors being pretty darn good on contested catches. But again,
a guy like Jalen Hyatt who's shown speed but the

(33:53):
physicality at the catch point, can he do that? Wanda
Robinson's a shorter guy, how is he going to be
in those situations? So, Yes, and Matt, I think it's
it's key that these wide receivers do what they need
to do to give Russell Wilson the confidence to attempt
those types of throws down the field so he doesn't
believe bad things are gonna happen yet.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
I think that's honestly one of the most important things
that can happen during these next couple weeks of spring practices,
where again there's no contact, there's not a whole lot
you can really do other than just for the new
guys sort of learn the system more somewhat more of
a game setting. But yeah, these receivers, and I'll even
throw the tight ends as well into that group, and
even the running backs honestly, because the running backs are

(34:34):
gonna be catching passes. All of these guys need to
work with Russ because Russ is right now the starting quarterback,
and start developing that chemistry to as you said, get
to a point where Russ will have full confidence no
matter who's the receiver, tight end or running back running
that deep route, to throw that moon ball, the famous moonball,
and have confidence that at the very the very worst

(34:56):
case scenario is an incomplete pass. It's not gonna have
to worryorry about, you know, turnovers, interceptions like that. So yeah,
we didn't see it today because all of the plays
during team drills happened inside the ten yard line. But
I would be willing to bet that that will be
something we see over the next couple of weeks, once
they start extending the offense, having them start from a
little bit further back than just the ten yard line.

Speaker 6 (35:19):
Thank you for.

Speaker 9 (35:19):
Answering my questions, and I fully agree. I really I'm
looking at Slayton specifically, like Neighbors is obviously going to
be covered a lot, so I to be Slayton to
you know, make those plays when when Neighbors isn't able
to because of how you're recovering it.

Speaker 4 (35:32):
So thank you for taking a call, No Malcy. Good stuff.
And by the way, folks, I love all these new
names we're getting on these home calls. I'm assuming a
lot of you guys are watching on YouTube since we
started streaming on YouTube a few weeks ago. Great to
see all the new names and thanks. So we're getting
multiple thousands of people on our daily YouTube stream which
is great. And know a lot of guys are at work,
it's probably hard to tune in and then check us
out live and for all the people, all are old
calls of course that are on the app and on
the website. We love you guys too. We just love

(35:54):
seeing some new names getting you guys have come to
those some great questions. We appreciate it.

Speaker 6 (35:57):
All.

Speaker 4 (35:57):
Right, let's go to Chris at Arizona. He's up next.
Hey Chris, Hey, guys, how you doing. What's up? Man? Good?

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Are you Chris? Hey?

Speaker 6 (36:04):
Good?

Speaker 8 (36:04):
Just of looking at the cap space for this year,
and I think Darren Waller and Daniel Jones are kind
of the last two people that we're paying for this year,
and Joe Shane's going to have quite a bit of
spending money going into twenty twenty seven. Just kind of
curious to see, like what you're going to thoughts are
as far as what position that we might be able

(36:26):
to target to kind of open up our window assuming
the season kind of goes in the right direction. Jackson
Dark plays really well, and you know he's going to
be on that rookie deal, So just kind of seeing
where where we can move that money to really make
this team competitive with the Eagles and the Commanders in
the cow Girls, No great question.

Speaker 4 (36:47):
Look, you look at the problem with the NFL now
is that with the cap going.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Up every year and going up substantially.

Speaker 4 (36:55):
It's become very easy for teams to re sign their
own players. Right. With the cap continuing to go up,
the way you can structure contracts now with void years
and stuff like that, fewer and fewer really good players
are becoming available. And when they do become available, guess
what teams franchise tag them. So you know this year
you're heading in the phrase you're like, oh pretty good, right, Well, no,

(37:20):
not so much gets franchise tagged, and that's gonna happen
the guys that play a lot of these positions that
are more valuable. So I'll go through a couple classes
with you right here, Chris, I'm going through spot track here,
and I think that's probably the best way to do this.
If you want to bring over the cap up matter
something like that, I guess we can take a look

(37:40):
at that too. But again we'll see if the guys
have to become available. Trey Smith got franchised this year, right,
so he theoretically could be a free agent next year, Reguard,
I would look at wide receiver. That to me is
a position that I would highlight. I think the Giants
have a good depth at wide receiver. I'm not sure
they have a true and pawt full number two. You know,

(38:02):
the Cowboys number two is George Pickens. The Eagles number
two is Devonte Smith. The Commander's number two is Deebo Samuel.
Compare that to what's here. You know what I mean.
Those guys all have made Pro Bowls before or I
think Pickints may have made one Pro Bowl. Maybe not,
but he is certainly has Pro Bowl ability. So I
think wide receiver is a position I would look at.
But again, wide receivers generally don't become available. I'll throw

(38:25):
a couple of names next year, Deebo Samuel is going
to be a free agent. That's the name I mentioned.
Courtland Sutton, who's looking for a contract extension, could be
a free agent. This is the twenty twenty sixth season.
In twenty twenty six, Terry McLaurin right now is without
a contract extension. He could be a free agent after
next year. Christian Kirk, who got moved this year at

(38:46):
a trade to the Texans. Remember they signed they just
drafted Jalen Noel and Jayden Higgins this year. Be very
surprised that they brought him back. So Christian Kirk is
a guy that could be a free agent at wide
receiver offseason. That's twenty twenty six. Giants are projected right
now to be somewhere around the middle of the pack
in free agency money next year. But again with the

(39:09):
way their contracts are set up, if they need money,
they can easily restructure contracts and I'll just go through
the wide receivers then the following year. Man the matter,
if you want to hit another position, you certainly can.
Tyreek Hill, He'll be thirty three at that point, so
that doesn't get me all that excited. Michael Pittman Junior.
If you're looking for a big bodied wide receiver, he
could be a free agent in twenty twenty seven. Chris Godwin,

(39:29):
who just on a short term contract extension, he could
be a free agent again in twenty twenty seven. Again
a little bit older then, but it is what it is.
So wide receivers are spot I would look at and
I would highlight just as a spot where look, you
could use some help at that spot, a true number
two to pair with Malik Neighbors. Again, I think if
they didn't trade that extra pick for Dark this year,

(39:50):
it would not have shocked me mat if they use
that pick on a wide receiver to add some weapons
to the passing game. So that's where I would look.
You're right twenty twenty seven. Their schedule, you'll have a
ton of cast space that year. And last thing I'll
say before I hand it over to Matt here is,
after this year you talked about Darren Waller being off
and Daniel Jones dead money being off. Theoretically, to your point,

(40:15):
if Jackson Dark plays well, you theoretically, if you don't
want to resign Russell Wilson after the year, you keep
Jamis's your backup at a every reasonable backup rate, and
then that's another big chunk of money you get back.
And when your quarterback position is cheap, that's when you
can be really aggressive in free agency, right, that's when
you have to make the moves like why do you

(40:36):
think the Eagles are so aggressive when the Galen hurts
on his rookie deal and by the way, they still
haven't started paying him his cap number has been. I
don't think it's not over four or five million dollars
out on any individual season with the way his contract
is structured. Howie Rose, Right, what what that magic is
gonna you know, show up an appear in three or
four years and then their CAP's issues is going to
be a disaster and they'll be, you know, retired in

(40:57):
Barbados with Super Bowl rings and he's gonna be fine
with that. But that's gonna be what we're looking at, right,
But the Giants can be very aggressive the next couple
of years while they're working on this rookie quarterback contract
and not paying quarterbacks. So wide receiver is one of
those spots that I think you can look at, even
though again that's one of the positions to me, at
least very seldomly become available because it's so valuable. But

(41:19):
that's at least one position I would look at, mat
how about you.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
Yeah, the only thing with wide receiver is the Giants
gave Darius Slayton a decently big contract, right, not like
not getting paid as a number one receiver obviously.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
But he's in line with number threes around the league.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Fair But we know that the team they like the
coachinges have likes Swandel Robinson as well. His contracts the
year though, yeah, he obviously is that during a contract year,
so I guess you know, this season might obviously will
play go a long way and determining his potential future.
I think the Giants would be more likely to add,

(41:55):
in my opinion, a receiver in the draft next year,
and I was really way one or Day two pick
because I love any receivers in the draft. I think
there's also a benefit to having a young receiver grow
with your young quarterback, having them sort of obviously it
wouldn't be the same exact year would be one year apart,
but having those guys grow and developed together, both on

(42:15):
their rookie contracts, I think would be beneficial to both
of them. So to me and especially Chris because you
mentioned the Eagles here, I think the offensive line would
be where I would look, and I.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Know I feel like I'm looking at that next.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
You can say that honestly just about every offseason for
go back a decade now, maybe even more. But there's
nothing against the current Giants offensive line because I think
that this offensive line, which we saw the first six
weeks of last year play very solid football. I think
is going to be a lot better than what we
saw last year, assuming Andrew Thomas stays healthy. But that

(42:51):
the Eagles team, they are so dominant because of their
work in the trenches, and I think we've the Giants
have done a very good job on the defensive side
the ball. I mean, I've said this, I think the
Giants are gonna have one of the best defensive fronts
in the NFL this year, between all those guys at
Ed Rusher, the All Pro Dexter Lawrence I We're both
very high on Darius Alexander. He's probably gonna need a

(43:13):
little bit of time to grow. But you have other
veterans like Roy Robertson, Harris Chauncey Ghosts and Jeremiah Ledbetter
that each have sort of their own I guess niche strengths,
and so I do think the defensive front is going
to be potentially dominant this year. I think the offensive
line is going to be a lot better than what
we saw for most of the year last year. But
if you want to talk about getting the Giants to

(43:36):
that level of you know, closing the gap between themselves
and the Eagles, I think going what would help that
in a long way is becoming dominant on your offensive
line upfront, and so Andrew Thomas obviously is here to stay.
The other positions around, you know, on the line, you're

(43:57):
thinking long term years from now. I don't know for
sure if anyone is like solidified for years to come
just given their contracts.

Speaker 4 (44:08):
Honestly, yeah, I v Roone's a freegan after the year.
Alumnus a freegan after the year. And Schmitches has two
years left done as rookie deal, so yeah, and run
In has He's not a three year deal, so I
think so.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
Yeah, just thinking long term if you want to, you know,
dedicate a good chunk of cap space on a potentially
elite player. And again, similar what you said about ride receiver.
It's not too often that an elite offensive line and
hits the market because why would the previous team let
that guy.

Speaker 4 (44:35):
Especially guard, you will get him occasionally, but tackle is ah.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
But you know, maybe the Giants approached the situation sort
of what the Commanders just did this pass offseason with
trading for Laromie Tunsel and then signing him to a
huge extension. That's one way of securing, you know, a
top tier tackle. Obviously, you would love to be able
to just sign a guy and not have to sacrifice
the draft pick as well, But as we saw last
year with adding Brian Burns in this building, sometimes it

(45:02):
costs a little bit to get that top tier talent
and if you want to take that step and that
leap into the upper echelon of teams around the league,
sometimes you gotta make moves like that, and it certainly
helps if you have your starting quarterback on a rookie contract.

Speaker 4 (45:15):
I'll just saw a couple of names out there next year.
Tevin Jenkins a free agent, Kenyan Green who's had a
rough start to his career, as Zion Johnson's a free agent,
Isaac Samalo is a free agent, Wyattel is a free agent,
Tray Smith's a free agent. And then you go to
the twenty twenty seven draft class. Quentin Nelson at age
thirty one will be a free agent. But again, a
lot of these guys are gonna get resigned. Just keep

(45:37):
that in mind, Michael, and when you was up again,
Kevin Dotson will be up. John Runyon to our point right,
two more years left, he'll be up. Mkai Becton will
be up. So there are guys that are interesting. But look,
I think it's offense and I think I hit the
skill position spot, you hit the offensive line. I think
both of those make a lot of sense where Look,
the Giants still have to score more points, Chris, And

(45:58):
they added a lot to the defenses offseason. They drafted
Jackson Dart, they drafted Thomas Fadoni. They did not add
a ton to the offense out of the ball, and
they drafted Scatable obviously, thank you. But they did not
add a ton of new pieces to the offensive side
of the ball. From a veterans standpoint and free agency,
I would.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Say the moves that they made in that regard were
more depth pieces, like did they added a lot of
depth on the offensive line veterans and a.

Speaker 4 (46:24):
Couple of wide receivers too with Pascal Little.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
Joorn Humphreys for sure, but not as as Chris, as
you mentioned, not you know, top tier, starting elite level
of player. Yeah, quarterback is where they did their damage
on offense to the most important position. Was that a
good enough fancier for you, Chris?

Speaker 6 (46:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (46:43):
That was solid. I appreciate all the all the info
you guys put out and hoping for a good, good
season for the mental health of the entire fan base,
and uh yeah, I think a good season is going
to go a long way to who we could bring
in the into the building. I think if we got
a winning record next year, I think that's going to
help us maybe a tract some some talent to really

(47:03):
get us over that hump that I think that we're
in right now.

Speaker 4 (47:06):
So thank you, Chris, appreciate the call. And look at
you just got to acquire these guys, however you could
acquire him like, you just got to keep getting better
players in the building. If it has to be via trade,
then it's via trade. But obviously free agency just straight
up will be preferable. So that's what you got to do.
Just keep adding good players. All right, We because squeeze
in two more calls before we have to say goodbye
to two thirty. Let's go to uh Gavin and Boca Ratona.

(47:27):
Then Adrian and Phoenix will wrap us up. Gavin, what's
going on?

Speaker 2 (47:30):
And calls from all over there.

Speaker 4 (47:31):
I love it, We're all over the place. What do
you got, Gavin?

Speaker 7 (47:33):
What's going on?

Speaker 6 (47:34):
Guys?

Speaker 7 (47:34):
How you going?

Speaker 4 (47:35):
We're great?

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Good, awesome.

Speaker 7 (47:37):
I just wanted to two points. One kind of I
guess is more to earlier callers. But the first one
I want to get to is Russell Wilson's playing style,
being that he's five ten, maybe five or eleven. I
haven't I haven't followed much of his actual offensive career.
You know, I know he played for Seattle. You know
he's obviously at one point a Hall of Fame stole player.

(48:00):
I wouldn't say he is at this point in his career.
But what kind of offense are we looking at here?
I know he's never really had much of a great
quick game. I know they like to run the ball
when they were in Seattle. I hadn't, you know, to
be honest, Denver, I wasn't really following, even though I
he stytistically it didn't work for him, But there was
a lot of quick game style offense. So what exactly

(48:21):
are we expecting? It's going to be more like a
run a shoot where the guy is going to be
under center most of the time, trying to read the
defense from under center, handing the ball off and then
taking deep shots. Is that what we should expect?

Speaker 4 (48:31):
Yeah, Gavin, what we saw last year with Pittsburgh, and
that's the most recent iteration we've had of him where
where we've seen it work to an extent they're often
is certainly a lot better with Wilson under center than
it was with Fields. Right. There was a lot of
under center play action, and that's what Arthur Smith likes
to do, right, That's what Arthur Smith's that's what his
style is as an offensive coordinator Pittsburgh. A lot of

(48:52):
under center play action deep down the field to the sideline.
He's a big sideline deep ball thrower where he's gonna
trust this guy had a win, trust his guys to
get behind the defender and make some catches. If he
doesn't have that open, you're gonna see a lot of checkdowns.
So it's a lot of his deep ball, all right,
deep ball's not there, get the two, all right, Maybe
that's not there. Then you'll see a lot of short

(49:12):
throws to the tight end, short throws to the running backs.
If you look at Naja Harris's and Jalen Warren's receiving
numbers last year, they both caught a lot of passes.
That's because Russell Wilson, if the deep ball's not there,
he's gonna check it down a lot. So that's what
I think it's gonna look like Matt play action deep
balls that. If not, it's gonna be a bunch of checkdowns.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Yeah, I'm with you, I really much say I think
you nailed it. That's what you expect to say.

Speaker 7 (49:34):
So they're not gonna run We used to run a
lot of mess because that's what Jones could see over
the opposit the line. We're not gonna see a lot
of that. You don't think we're gonna it's not gonna
be a lot of zone beaters like that.

Speaker 4 (49:45):
I don't think. Yeah, I don't think you're gonna see
a bunch of short over the middle stuff because to
your point, I think that's difficult for for for Russ
in terms of seeing over the offensive line, and if
you look at his career, he does not have a
ton of high volume years throwing over the middle. You
will see some, like, you know, deeper digs and posts

(50:06):
down the field because that's easier to see. But I yeah,
I think you'll see less of that. You know those
double crosser mesh concepts, you know those sort of things,
and you know a bunch of those. You know, one
of the favorite things Daniel Jones liked to do throwing
the ball was hitting Wander Robinson a lot of those
quick option routes over the middle. Right, these quick quick
stop routes turn right or left based on where the

(50:27):
defense is. I don't think we're gonna see quite as
much as that with Russ just based on his stature
and his history in terms of where he throws the ball. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
I mean, what we've come to learn about Brian Dable
is he's gonna sort of cater to the offense, to
his quarterback strengths, and the straints of you know, Daniel
Jones are very different than the strains of Russell Wilson.
So I think we will see, you know, definitely, there
will be some changes. I think we're definitely we'll see
more deep shots down the field because that is obviously
one of Russell Wilson's big straints, his accuracy down the field,

(50:56):
which at least last year we did not see at
quite as much at the quarterback position.

Speaker 7 (51:01):
Okay, and you know, maybe more some odd schedule plays
that would be nice, keeping the offense off schedule.

Speaker 4 (51:07):
Yes, yes, I think that's what they're gonna like. Now
Russell Wilson does hold the ball now though, just keep
in mind that has also been a part of his history.
Paul and I looked at this last week. I think
there's only been one or two seasons where he's been
and he's had a long career. Now he's been sacked
fewer than forty times because he holds onto the ball.
Now that's good. You know, sacks are bad, but is

(51:27):
it better that he holds onto the ball, takes a sack,
then throws it into coverage with throws a pick. So
there are positive and minuses. He's been one of the
best quarterbacks in terms of protecting the football in his career.
His interception rate is really low. He does not turn
it over, but he will hold the ball and take
some sacks. So that's kind of the give and take
you have with Russell Wilson in his play style.

Speaker 7 (51:45):
Right, I think that's pretty much what you know. Look,
I want big plays, but I also want protection, and
you know, I want to keep the office up schedule week.
The longer we hope the ball, the better.

Speaker 6 (51:55):
Of course, the other point that I wanted to make,
which I think is you know, I've seen it may
times by several.

Speaker 7 (52:01):
People, not necessarily you know, the caller kind of triggered
it in my brain an earlier callers. But it's see,
we have to get rid of somebody because we can't
we can't have multiple players be good at something. You
know what, when I hear the cave on Thibodeau, we
need to trade him up because oh we drafted a
dual Carter.

Speaker 6 (52:18):
Now we can get rid of Thibodeaux. But no, why
can't we have a strength. Why can't we have multiple
guys be good at something. Why can't we have multiple
ways of pass rushers?

Speaker 7 (52:28):
Not just two or one?

Speaker 6 (52:30):
We can have multiple things at once. And the timing
just on just thinking about the mass of when these
guys get paid burns.

Speaker 7 (52:38):
This contract is.

Speaker 6 (52:39):
Going to be done by the time you really need
to start paying Thibodeau, and a dual Carter's not going
to need to be paid for three four years. So
it's like, we can we can have multiple things be
good at once. We don't have to necessarily be you know, always, Okay,
we just have two edge players that can rush the
pass or you know, why can't we have three or four?

Speaker 7 (52:57):
You know, why does it have to just be two?

Speaker 4 (53:00):
Gavin, go, Gavin go, ask the Eagles. Yeah, Gavin, go
ask the Eagles and ask them what it's like having
and those were the Cowboys. When they just throw waves
and waves and pass rushers at the opposition, that's a
good thing. It's not a bad thing.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
Not only right, you don't even have to go to
the division rivals. I know I've said this, I don't
even know how many times, but yeah, look at the
two thousand and seven and twenty eleven Super Bowl teams here.
Both of those teams had, you know, layers and layers
of pass rushers. They had the starting to you know,
I guess you could call them stud edge rushers, but
had very very talented ed rushers right behind them and

(53:35):
allowed spags. Thank you, Gavin, appreciate it. Put multiple guys
more than two of those guys on the field at once.
If you're an offensive line, how are you gonna stop?
And now turning it back to this year's team, if
you're having a front four of Burns, cave On, Abdul Carter,
and Dexter Lawrence just as your front four, that's gonna
be a nightmare for opposing offensive line.

Speaker 4 (53:57):
And then bringing like Chauncey Golston as a five man
rush deal. Oh, my, my goodness.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
Like some of the times, like I hear people saying
we need a trade cave on Now, I don't get it.
You have something that could be the strength of your team,
now lean.

Speaker 4 (54:11):
Into it, which, by the way, is like the most
important area to be the strength of your team. Yes,
Like it's not like, boy, they got so many inside
linebackers they don't know what to do with the ball. Like,
that's not what we're talking about here, because having.

Speaker 2 (54:23):
An elite pass rush is going to just make the
entire defense better in every single aspect. It's gonna help
the run defense, it's gonna help every level of the defense.

Speaker 4 (54:32):
So don't don't just.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
You know, ship cave on. It is let's lean into
this hopefully strength of this team and hopefully that becomes
the identity of the twenty twenty five Giants and beyond.

Speaker 4 (54:43):
It is a force multiplier, right, it helps everything else?
All Right? Final call the show is Adrian out in Phoenix. Adrian,
you want to talk about the defense too? What's going on?

Speaker 5 (54:52):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (54:52):
How you doing?

Speaker 3 (54:52):
Man? I just want to jump on you guys, figgy
back up what you guys were just saying, Like, because
coming into this off season, I've never felt like my
back was against the wall, just as a fan, and
like Chris was saying from Arizona early, just a mental
health as as from the Giants standpoint, all sting from
like the Giant fan base in general. Man, we it's
like there's been a cloud over our heads, cloud over
this city for the last meant to be honest, man

(55:13):
said Dan'tel Jones been here. I'm not the biggest fan,
but I've been kind of ready to get rid of
that guy since like year two, year three, just from
what I've seen early on, and it just played out
the way I kind of expected.

Speaker 4 (55:24):
Look, Adrian, bottom line, real quick, Adrian, there's only been
two playoff seasons since twenty twelve. I think that's pretty.

Speaker 10 (55:30):
Much somethingred percent And I agree with that, And I'm
not putting it all on Daniel Jones, but I'm just
saying I just feel like, when you know, when you're
the cap in the ship, you got to put the
blame on whoever who's ever driving, you know.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
But I'm coming into this offseason, I'm just glad Joe
Shane actually stepped up a little bit and kind of,
you know, attack those key areas that I think we
were all kind of looking for you know, I think
he executed the draft pretty well. I'm at I'm past
the stressing out phase of like watching the Giants, you
know on Sundays. I'm not stressing no more. It's more
seeing us believing, you know, I got to see it

(56:02):
to believe it. I mean that kind of has phase
now I'm not. I'm not sweating on Sunday. I'm just
trying to. I just want to watch it and competitive
football again, and right now it looks good on paper.
I think it's the most enthusiastic I feel like, you know,
going into the offseason and going up to you know,
the new season. I say, the most enthusiastic I've felt
and been in the last couple of years. I think

(56:23):
having a veteran like Russell Wills. So I don't think
he's gonna get to the super Bowl. I'm not anything
like that. I'm not I don't have a lot of hope.
I don't, but I'm not awesome. I'm not very down here.
It's like I'm not expecting ten winning, but I'm also
not expecting us to win three either. You know, Somewhere
I'm throwing that middle ground I guess you could say
seeing it, but you know, just got to see it
to see it to believe in phase and then but
I think having a veteran like Russell, who can I

(56:44):
believe the last fall that was talking about just extending
those drives, extending those things where we're not going three
and now. The thing that killed me with Daniel Jones
Man was just I feel like half the time we're
not even seeing we're not even getting past the fifty
yard line into the third quarter, and I think that
was that that drove me insane. Three and now three
and out playing our deep by the third quarter, our
defenses stop, they're exhausted. So we can't even if we

(57:08):
were have a close game, our depas can't even make
it a game saving a game saving stop when we
need him too to David on the field for you know,
seventy percent of the game, you know. So I think
having that Russell Wills, having that veteran quarterback can at
least you know, extended you know, half our all that
time of possession. I think that will go way up
a little bit, at least I'm hoping so. And I

(57:28):
think that'll help our defense out on that side of things. Man,
what do you gotta think about that?

Speaker 4 (57:32):
Adrian? Good stuff, man, We got to roll up a
getting into the show. Thank you for the call. Awesome stuff.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Thanks.

Speaker 4 (57:36):
Look, the offense has been a tough watch. I mean
it's been a tough watch for a while. Twenty twenty
two is a little bit of a repriet from that.
But it's not like they were averaging. I think, what
were they at twenty two points per game that year
or something like that, which is still the middle of
the league. I wasn't anything ridiculous. Otherwise, they've been in
that seventeen point range. Wait, well, way too often the
last five six years. So yeah, And I think your
mental approach is good. I get it. If you're a fan,

(57:58):
you have to see it to believe it.

Speaker 5 (58:00):
Get it.

Speaker 4 (58:00):
We've been through this, two folks. We understand. But look,
I think there's some exciting young talent on the team
at and there's reasons to be optimistic, but Naken, go
out there and prove it. On Sundays.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Yes, you know, we've been up here expressing some optimism
that we do think the team will take, you know,
some step this year. But we're right there with you.
We all need to see it. You know, talking may
only counts for so much. And again it's a tough
schedule too, it's a tough schedule. We just look at
this point, I think we just we want to see
a competitive season. The more wins than three h on

(58:33):
that definitely more wins than three but just we gotta
feel like a competitive game each and every week.

Speaker 4 (58:39):
I feel like you have a chance to win every week.
There the matter who we're playing to last two years,
too many games you walked in and you were six
minutes into the game and you sat there and like
have no chance, like this this team's over, Like you
have no chance in this game.

Speaker 2 (58:52):
We need to take a step in the right direction.
Doesn't have to be a humongous leap, although that would
be nice, yes, sure, but just a step in the
right there.

Speaker 4 (59:00):
Yes, improvement. This is a good show. Side Tack, I
still haven't hosted you in a while.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
You put me with Paul every time?

Speaker 4 (59:05):
Oh yes, he's on four times a week, both of
us with Paul at the time. It's not just trust
me for Matthew Sittak, I'm Josh Schmoke. That's a Big
Blue kick Off Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury
vehicle of the Giants. We're in the Hackensack Marina Healths
Podcast studio. Keep getting Better. Thank you so much for
being with us. Everybody, We appreciate you being with us.

(59:25):
GIHNTS Suttle Packcast. By the way, we have a couple
of interviews with former, not former, the college assistant coaches
for the Giants rookie class. We have Marcus Sadderfield, Thomas Otderfield, Mark,
it's Marcus Saddlefield, right, Marcus right. Uh, he was the
tight ends coach for Nebraska with Thomas Fadoni. That was
up late last week. And then Marcus Johnson who coached

(59:46):
Marcus Bow. There's a lot of Marcus is going on
at Purdue last year. That's up there now, and then
we're gonna get some other guys rolling out over the
next st few weeks as well, so make sure you
check that out on the Johns Totle podcast. All right,
we've been meeting to get to we got to run
stands before we get fired, and we'll talk to you
next time.