Big Blue Kickoff Live 6/5 | OTAs and Pressers Review

Paul Dottino and Matt Citak discuss what they saw at the sixth day of OTAs, react to the coach and player press conferences, and take calls from fans.

:00 - OTA #6 review

12:00 - Presser takeaways

22:00 - Calls

47:00 - Upcoming season

57:00 - Depth chart

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
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(00:50):
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Speaker 2 (01:14):
It was a.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Media session and open practice OTA and so there's a
lot of stuff that we can discuss, whether it be
the comments made by Brandon Brown, the assistant general manager,
or some of the players, or of course talking about
some of the plays that we saw at practice. So
there's quite a bit of stuff that we could we
can discuss during the next hour. He's Matt Sitek. I'm
Paul Deatino. So glad you could join us today. Two

(01:37):
on one nine three nine four five one three is
our phone number if you're not joining us live, and
again we're coming to you at one thirty pm Eastern
time today. Because of the practice session, we wanted to
make sure that we discuss things with you after all
of the media availabilities so that we'd have some content
to talk about. Uh So we'll be back to twelve

(01:57):
thirty pm tomorrow, but today and next Thursday will be
one thirty starts because they are open media avails and
that does affect what it is we're going to be
able to talk about with you. If you're listening to
the show on the archive. Don't forget Our entire podcast
network is available on the Giants mobile app podcast platforms

(02:17):
everywhere on at giants dot com slash podcasts Now. One
of the things you probably are going to read about
a lot today in the papers tomorrow or certainly on
the internet as we move on with the afternoon and
the evening is that there was a bit of a
spirited couple of plays at the end of this afternoon's
practice ended right around lunchtime, and Brian Burns, the Giants

(02:41):
ed rusher edge rusher, was involved there at the end.
He was the one common denominator. Actually, I believe James
Hudson was another common denominator involved in the spirited situation
at the end of practice, and Burns did address the
media and you know, as far as I'm concerned, basically
just told them everybody exactly how we felt.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, I mean, look, it's Ota number six. The guys
have been going added a practice every day. These are
all very competitive people, obviously, they're all NFL players. And
as you and I both know, it is extremely hot
outside today. It was like ninety degrees out. Yeah, in
the glaring sun. The heat just you know, got to

(03:27):
them a little bit. It was just the heat of
the moment type of thing. But Brian Burns completely brushed
it off after saying, we've literally moved on already. This
was squashed immediately. There's it's not deep, there's nothing to it.
I mean he mentioned that, you know, hey, we get
in fights and arguments about ping pong games about food
and food in the cafeteria pool like, so you know,

(03:50):
it might there might be some people out there that
might try to blow this up out of proportion. But
it was very clear from what Brian Burns said that
this was not anything that anyone on this team is
that concerned about. It was just one of those heat
of the moment type of things between competitors. All right.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
So that's where we stand as of today. There will
be another practice tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Correct, No, no off fay until Monday. They are off tomorrow.
That's four practices next.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
Week, which, by the way, again with the way the
heat index was over ninety today, the humidity, the haze,
it was nasty. I'm glad to say I did not
see anybody leave early or have to get an IV
thank goodness.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
No, I almost did on this sidelight. I've bathed myself
in sunscreen and I still feel like I got burnt.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
All right, we might as well go through some of
the better plays of the day that we saw at practice.
There was seven on seven's, there were a team eleven
on eleven's. Remember no contact in these practice sessions. That's
kind of why even though Abdul Carter and Brian Burns
and Kevon Thibodeaux all had really good days rush the passer,

(05:01):
I don't even mention those to be frank, I will
mention it here because yes, all three of those guys
were in the backfield a lot today and Brian Dable
was real happy with their effort and their energy, you know,
penetrating the line of scrimmage. But folks, if there's no contact,
what is it offensive lineman or a tight end supposed

(05:23):
to do when the guy comes in on.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
A pass rush?

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Okay, so to me, by default, if those guys are
coming in on the rush, the only thing you can
tell from that play is if the running back or
the tight end or the quarterback were able to identify
the rusher where he was coming from and then run
the route, the hot route, or for that matter, even

(05:48):
if there's not a hot route involved, does the quarterback
see it, move out of the pocket, get rid of
the ball. That's what you gain from those plays. I
have a very hard time. I know, John loves to
talk about the guys or not have been a shack.
How do you know it would have been a shock
if the offensive lineman could touch them? How do you
know it would have been a shack?

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah. John likes standing during OTAs at the line of
scrimmage to see the line of scrimmage play, And I
agree with you. These guys aren't really touching each other.
There's not too much you can pick up. I mean, yes,
Brian Burns had a couple of quote unquote would be sacks. Again,
this is with little to no, you know, effort from
the offensive line to really stop him. Basically, those guys

(06:28):
are handcuffed. Yeah. The one thing I will say is
Abdul Carter did get in the backfield for another one
of those would be sacks. And on that one rush,
he did have a very nice spin move that even
if the offensive linemen were trying to stop him, I
don't think they would have to stop him. But again,
I can't say that for sure because there's no contact. So,

(06:49):
as we said before the start of OTAs and just
about every single day, there's not too much you can
gain from the offensive and defensive lines during OTAs because
they can't really. I mean, when you watch an NFL play,
the offensive linean and the defensive linemen are going at
each other full contact. It's the most you know, the
most contact and I don't want to say violent, but

(07:11):
it is. And without any of that during OTA is like, yeah,
we can talk about these would be sacks, but until
training camp starts and the guys have the pads on
and contact is loud and the lineman can really start
kind of going at each other, it's not worth talking
too much about the guys up front.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
Like what even Brian Dables says, this is a passing camp, yes,
and what they're looking for is guys, it's alignment and assignment.
If you can do those things correctly, that's what you're
trying to find out. Even I believe, wasn't it I
think it was Kafka today or was it Bowen, one
of the coordinators said today, we're trying to flood these

(07:52):
guys with as much as we can to see what
they can retain.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
That's what this is about. This is about.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Mental reps and stuff of that nature.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
All right.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
Having said that, all right, let me highlight a few
of the defensive plays. You probably have a few offensive
plays you want to mention. Okay, let's do that. Three
interceptions between the eleven on elevens that were run today,
there was one by Hawkins, one by Belton, and one
by Page. I thought the one by Hawkins was the

(08:21):
most athletic. Oh, that was an incredible catch, it really was.
He made an amazing play on the ball.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
It was like a sideline pass I want to say,
maybe thirty yards down the field, and he just went
up there and grabbed it in front of the receiver.
It was a great play, you know.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
And again remember folks, when these dbs are making these plays,
because there's no contact, you know, he's got to make
sure that he's making that play as cleanly as he
possibly can because you're not allowed to touch the receiver.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
It's even more what's the world I'm looking for?

Speaker 3 (08:53):
It's more criminal than pass interference in the game, because
at least in a game you can do something to them.
Out here you can't. So that's what made that play
on the sideline. Incredibly impressive. He twisted, he turned, he
reached for it, read the ball perfectly. And that's a
big play for Hawkins because we just talked about him
the other day as a guy who's got to inject

(09:14):
himself into the competition on the depth chart.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah, and I mean, look, that was his first, like
big splash play. It really was. But he has gotten
his hands on the ball at times during the spring.
It's not like he's been, you know, non existent. This
was definitely his biggest play. And I just want to
quickly touch on Dave Belton because I'm a big Dan
Belton fan.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
And coach said he he's had a good camp.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
He's had a very good camp. I mean, this was
the OTA six, but the day first day we're not
going to really count because there were no team drill.
So fifth practice and today was his third interception. Yep.
I mean I've spoken time and time again about how
he's just been a ballhawk in his limited playing time,
and with the addition of Javon Holland, you know, he's

(09:58):
likely looking at the role of, you know, the third
safety on the team between Hollin and Nuban and then
himself well, he's certainly making a case to get as
much playing time as possible this spring because again his
third interception, he just the ball seems to always find
him or he always seems to find the ball no
matter where he is on the field. So just great
to see him continuing his hot spring through the second week.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
All Right, I'll give you a few more defensive plays
than I want you to take the offense.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Okay, yep. In seven on seven's.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
Flott had a really nice pass to Flinched over the middle.
Later on, let's see what I also wrote down on
do on eleven on elevens it was Chatham. We weren't
sure if it was Goldsten originally or Chatham. Both guys
appeared to have a chance to knocking to bowl down
at the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
It was Chapman. Yes, we had to go to the
video replay from a production team. We can that we
confirmed video we play review.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Here at practice and it was Chapman who Chapman who
did have the past defense which was really terrific as
he pushed the front of the pocket. We also had
let's see what else did I write down? And eleven
on eleven's flat also had a pass defense down the
left sideline. So that was two plays for Cordell Flat today,

(11:14):
one in seven on sevens and one in eleven on elevens.
And I think, yeah, I think those were basically the
best defensive plays that I saw today.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Why don't you go to offense? Yeah, So for me,
the player of the day on the offensive side of
the ball was Darius Layton. Yeah. He was making catches
from all the quarterbacks. I mean he started things off
catching a I want to call it about a forty
yard a deep touchdown pass from Jamis Winston where he
just got behind the defense seven on sevens. Yes, during

(11:44):
seven on sevens, Jamis placed the ball perfectly right in
the bread basket. I mean he had a couple of
steps on the defender, but great throw, great catch by Darius.
And then moving over to eleven on eleven's Russell Wilson
connected with Darius a couple of times. There was a
nice cross route. But the real play of the day
for me was his sideline catch deep down the field.

(12:06):
He made a one handed grab, so such an athletic play,
one handed, just took his hand out ball stuck right
to his glove. Great catch that was definitely the play
of the day, but Russell Wilson and Darius Slayton. Granted,
there's Malik Neighbors has not been out here and clearly
is the number one option in the past game. But
it is obvious that Russell Wilson and Darius Slayton are

(12:29):
developing some nice chemistry during these spring practices. And he's
not the only one because Jalen Hyatt also had a
couple of grabs from Russell Wilson, and then in his
press conference after practice, Russell Wilson went out of his
way to say how impressed he's been with Jalen Hyatt
and how much he likes him and how much he
believes in him. This has been a constant theme from

(12:49):
him ever since he got here. He mentioned him in
his introductory Zoom call. He's back in March, he called
out Jalen Hyatt, and he's continued to praise Jalen Hyatt
every single chance he gets. And it's nice to see
them again, the two of them also starting to develop
a little bit of chemistry. I think those were the
big plays on offense. Amir Smith Marsette had a nice

(13:12):
catch yep from Jackson Dart early in practice on seven
on seven's and then again in.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Pascal and the same seven on seven trafic over the middle, yes,
where he had a nice extended grab, and then yes,
and then Dart and Smith Marsette also connected towards the
end of practice in eleven on eleven's yep, uh for
it was pretty big play first down.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Thomas Faedoni had a nice extended grab towards the end
of practice yep. And I had one other one.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
I want to give you Winston to Felton one catch
and eleven on elevens.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yes, that is true. And then while it's not gonna
count for anything, and not the plays right now count
for anything anyway, but Tommy DeVito did have one really
nice throw deep pass down the field towards the end zone.
I want to say it was about thirty five to
forty yards that I mean there was the offense, the
receiver and the defender were going back at it and

(14:12):
the defender did end up breaking the pass up. It
was a very nice play, but it was a just
beautiful throw by Tommy. And I know we haven't talked
about him much because of all the other quarterbacks that
are currently here, and you know he's not getting quite
as many reps, you know as maybe some of the
other guys, but I just wanted to give him props
because that was a beautiful throw. This was during seven

(14:33):
on seven so left sideline one. Yeah, towards the beginning
of practice. Seven on sevens didn't count for anything. The
defender made an amazing play, but it was a really
beautiful I didn't think who it was. Do you have
to do you have to have? Oh it was thirty nine.
I believe that's fortune, O Danell fortune. Yeah, fortune fortune,
because I was I was.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
I remember the play and I and I did not
write down the number, which was my bad.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
But I do remember the play all right.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
So that's it for the practice recap. Was there anything
in particular outside of what Burne said about the spirited
end of practice that you wanted to bring the forefront
before we start going to some phone calls?

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, I mean we don't get to hear from Brandon
Brown too often. It's like once maybe twice a year,
and so we got to hear from him today. It
was nice to hear from him. You know, he's very
insightful and thoughtful with his responses. Not that we'd expect
anything less from him. Come on, that's a very smart guy.
The number one thing that intrigued me about what he

(15:35):
said was, I mean, obviously, throughout the pre draft process,
the Giants loved Jackson Dark. We've heard it from everyone
that's spoken about the process. Not breaking any news saying that,
but he did share a little bit a tidbit that
we had not heard previously, and that was when the
Giants were down in Mobile for the Senior Bowl. They're
interviewing all the different prospects from all these different schools

(15:57):
from all across the country, and a common question they asked,
I think he said they asked every single prospect was
who is one player from any team at any school
that you would bring with you to the NFL. And
he said that multiple guys from various different schools, none
of which were all miss A lot of those guys

(16:18):
said Jackson Dart, that they would want to bring Jackson
Dart to be their quarterback in the NFL. I thought
that was just a fun, cool little tidbit that we
had not previously heard.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
Well, I think the Giants have made it clear now
they saw about two years of Dart in terms of
the scouting process, and when they got to see him
at the Senior Bowl, they also had some staff members
there too, which gave them even more of an inside
look as to the interior of what's going on inside
his chest. And I think Brandon also said that every

(16:50):
step along the way when you're scouting a player, there
were these benchmarks that you're looking for, and you got
to keep checking all those boxes as you go through
those benchmarks. So from the time they saw him on
tape to the time they researched him at Old Miss,
and they said his Old Miss teammates were always overly
supportive of him too.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
So they're checking all these boxes and then they get
to the Senior Bowl and they get those other boxes checked.
Then they get to the combine and he checks boxes
at the combine when they do the interview. Then he
comes in for the visit and every benchmark, he's checking
all the boxes.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Brandon even mentioned when he had his workout at Ole Miss,
He's like, those aren't mandatory for the other guys on
the team to show up, But Jackson Dart had every
single one of his guys. They're catching passes, running routs
from him because they wanted to support their quarterback right
and vice versa. You know, when Walter Nolan, the defensive tackle,
had his workout, Jackson Dart was the first person there

(17:47):
cheering him on from the sideline, stayed the entire time.
You know, that just shows the camaraderie and their mutual
respect Jackson had with all his teammates at Ole Miss,
And clearly he has respect from guys from schools all
across the as well, because multiple guys that have never
played a single snap with him are saying, that's the quarterback,
that's the guy I want to bring to the NFL
with me. Clearly he's gained their respective as peers already.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
It's uh, look, I don't want to overplay this, but
you know Charlie Weiss, whose son was the offensive coordinator
down there at Old Miss, and we know Joe Judges
down there. Lane Kiffin is down there, and Charlie Weiss
himself told us when we did the interview with him
on Big Blue Kickoff Live, he got to sit in
on a bunch of those meetings because Lane Kiffin allowed

(18:31):
him to. We're talking about a bunch of folks who
have some significant football background, and obviously at a high
level who all helped train this guy every single step
of the way. I mean, it shouldn't really surprise us
that he's got he's got so much going for him.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
No, I mean it's sort of just confirmed a lot
of what we already believed. Yeah, I think that's it again.
Obviously this is all well and great. At the end
of the day, it's gonna be about a win producing
on the whenever he actually gets into game action. We
know that. But it is June fifth, and they're not
playing games for a couple more months, So this is

(19:12):
what we have to go on for right now.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
Maybe the other item for Brandon Brown is that he said,
in terms of Evan Neil moving to guard, he can
create movement at the line and handle the interior pass
rush and absorb the power and the contact. So he
has the physical tools to become a guard. He just
needs to be more consistent and the coaches have to
make sure that they coach the proper technique with him
and get him to smooth it out.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Yeah. And he also just about Evan mentioned that Evan
came into the you know this offseason workout program with
the best mindset you could possibly have given the circumstances like,
he's ready to contribute any single way he can. He
you know, Brandon mentioned he was more than you know,
more than happy doing this move to guard because it's
the best thing for the team. And at the end

(19:56):
of the day, that's all Evan wants to do. He
just wants to help this team in any way he
can help them succeed, help this offensive line improve. And
you know, if that's at guard, which that's clearly where
he's been taking his reps this off season, then that's
that's great. He's willing to do whatever it takes. Smart man,
he's trying to resuscitate his NFL career. Yeah, and look,
we've seen it. Seems like every year we see a

(20:17):
guy that didn't quite make it a tackle move inside
and put together a successful career on the inside. It's
been happening go back, you know, however many years it
happens quite often. Now, we don't know for sure if
Evan will succeed, but going into this offseason, and again,
you know, I'm sure going into training camp next month,

(20:39):
he has the mindset you want him to have given
the circumstances. Look, that does all you can ask for,
right now I've told people before.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
The best example I can give you was William Roberts
when he was drafted by the Giants as a tackle.
It did not work out very well. He bounced around
with a couple of positions for a few years, finally
landed it guard and wound up going to the Pro
Bowl and helping the Giants win.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
I mean, we just saw it with Mackay Beckton last year.
It happened with mccomententity. You know, he got to go
to Philadelphia. Can happen. That's it can happen a good
offensive line already. But that's just the latest example. It
happens all the time, all right.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
Two A one nine three nine four five one three.
That's our wrap on what went on today with the
media availabilities and out of practice. We invite your phone
calls if you'd like to ask us a question or
comment on something that we said, or maybe there's something
else you'd like to talk about. Two on one nine
three nine four five one three. We go to our
first call. It's a cliff in New York and you're

(21:35):
the first one on Big Blue Kickoff Live.

Speaker 4 (21:36):
Hello, Hello, guys, good to be talking to you. Uh
I was listening yesterday, Paul, I don't know if you
knew about theyve did a rundown Matt and John about
the position groups in the division of versus hours now.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
I'm aware I'll be doing that with Lance tomorrow on
the second half of that of that subject matter.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
Okay, So I'm assuming that all that talk Matt was
was was based on what the best knowledge that we
have before we see how the competition shakes out in
the rest of the preseason and into training camp in
each group, right.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
You mean our conversation yesterday, Yeah, yea, yeah, of course.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
Okay, So so there's there's there's a chance that even
by going by going into the first game, we might
feel a different little bit different about what we've seen
just just going through the preseason and training camp in

(22:42):
terms of how we stack up against the other position
groups in the division.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, of course. I mean when you know, when I
I don't want to speak for John, but for me personally,
when I was talking about the offensive line rankings yesterday
in the division, I did have the Giants in fourth.
But you know, if Evan Neil comes out summer and
looks great at guard throughout training camp and then gets
into preseason action and he is just a you know,

(23:08):
a brick wall out there at guard. Then yeah, that
even before the actual game start, I will already be
feeling at least a little bit better about the offensive
line then I, you know, would have been last week,
let's say so. Yeah, I don't think it's gonna change
drastically until the games, the regular season games actually begin,

(23:29):
but there are certainly things that can happen once training
camp starts that will have all of us feeling at
least a little bit better about the offensive line.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
Cliff I would also add the preseason, you'll have two
of the nfcast teams on national television, the Giants and
the Patriots game on August twenty first is going to
be on Amazon Prime Video, and the Washington Commanders on
August eighteenth will be taking on the Cincinnati Bengals on ESPN.

(23:56):
So the only way for us, because we have no
idea what's going on at Washington, Dallas or Philadelphia camp
unless we read it. I mean, come on, who's getting who.
We're not seeing what they're doing. We're watching what the
Giants are doing every day, but our chance to even
look at these teams will be either that Washington game,
which is on ESPN or NFL Network likes to replay

(24:18):
over the course of the month, as many of the
preseason telecasts that have been shown around the league in
the different markets. So eventually, at some point we'll probably
get a chance to click on a Dallas preseason game
or a Philly preseason game, and who knows what we're
going to see. But I think it's important to understand that,
you know, I mean, when they started this yesterday and

(24:39):
we'll go back to it tomorrow, I mean, what are
we going off of? You know, there's not a whole lot.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
To chew on right now, so it's kind of a
gut feel. I mean, yeah, the information we're going off of,
the most is basically, you know, what we saw last
year and you know, for veteran guys the last couple
of seasons, and draft projection and draft projections. But again,
projection is the key word. You know, we all think
Abdul Carter is gonna be great, but he's got to
go out there and actually do it. The same with

(25:05):
guys from the other teams. You know, John and I
spoke yesterday about Josh Connery, the offensive tackle for the Commanders. Well,
he was a great prospect. A lot of people were
high on him going into the draft, But that doesn't
mean Diddley squad until he actually goes out into a
gabe and shows that he belongs, you know, playing tackle
in the NFL. So yeah, again, it's June, so the

(25:27):
information that we have to go on when we're doing
these rankings is obviously limited. If we, you know, were
to go back after the season in six seven months,
obviously we have a lot more to go off of them.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
That's that's when John allows us all to look in
the mirror and laugh at ourselves.

Speaker 4 (25:45):
Well, listen, I'm happy to be the show us team.
You know, that's fine with me. I still think, you know,
based on the depth that's been introduced and the new
talent that's been introduced, UH in the in the draft
and free agency, that we we do have a chance
to jump some people early on, uh and especially the

(26:09):
first two games. But I'm a little I'm a little
I want to catch up a little bit with with
Evan Neil and Jackson Dart. Also, if you have a
few minutes. Yeah, when when Joe Shane announced that the
first thing he said about Evan Neil maybe a month ago. Uh,

(26:31):
he's he's okay with cross training at guard. It sounded
like he was still very much in the mix at tackle,
I mean, and now it sounds like, no, he's a
he's a guard. Do you think that's that's what happened.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
Well, they signed Hudson, they signed forsythe.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
YEP drafted Marcus bo bo Bow is a tackle guard.
He can be either one. But but Joe did say
that they were going to at least start him. They
going to tackle, They're going to start it.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
But so I think that at the moment, there's a
little bit of a glut there, you know. So I
think I think that's why they really want to kind
of push Neil into the guard part of the pool
and see how he reacts.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yeah, and look during team drills during these spring practice,
at least where I'm standing, I'm like towards the end zone,
so I try to get a full view of the field.
It is a little tough to see the line of
scrimmage because I'm typically, you know, thirty forty yards away
from there. But it seems like most of his reps,
if not all, have been on the inside during these

(27:34):
team drills. I don't think I've seen him on the edge.
I haven't noticed him at tackle. At least he could
have been out there again, and there's no you know,
replay to go back and look at every single play
for us. But it seems like most of the snaps,
if not all, have been on the inside, and he's
been mixed in you know, some work with the ones,
some work with the two's. They're getting him out there,
they're you know, trying to give him exposure to this.

(27:57):
I don't want to say new position because he did
you play it in the past, but it seems like
he's more focused on guard right now.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
Part of that may simply be also they want to
see what they really have in Hudson and Forsyth in.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
Bowl and what they have in him at guard. Yeah,
they I mean, they've seen what he has done the
last couple of years attackle It's obviously not what anyone
would have hoped for, including Evan himself, but they clearly
have some, you know, at least some level of confidence
that he could at least potentially succeed on the inside.
And you can't find that out until you actually put

(28:31):
him there and let him get some reps.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
Remember Cliff Andrew Thomas is still coming back from the
foot injury, and so they're holding him out right now.
So he's not out there even doing these drills. Okay,
So they're trying to see as much as they possibly can.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
And he's right.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
They want to see about Neil at Guard, but they
also I think want to find out about these guys
they brought in. They know they don't very little about
them comparatively speaking.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
Yeah, well I thought I thought Guard was looking kind
of deep with koubis Uh and and there was somebody
else that well, they have a zudu.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
They have a zudu.

Speaker 3 (29:11):
Right, he's been out there, Stenny's been out there, Okay.

Speaker 4 (29:15):
Torch for him for three years. I mean was brought back.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Van Roden, was brought back Runyan, who hasn't been out here.
But Runyan, he's got the shoulder on the team, would
be part of the starting offensive line. Well we think,
we think, I mean, assuming he's healthy it I'd be
pretty surprised if he wasn't.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
I agree with you, But that doesn't mean that somebody
can't steal a job.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Remember that is true.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
You know nowadays, you know injuries are no excuse. If
somebody can beat you out, they beat you out.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
No, that is true. And you know there have been
multiple veteran players that have said, like this is we're
all competing right now. Nothing is being handed to It
was Greg van Road and last week you said nothing
is being handed to anyone, especially when it comes to
the competition at the offensive line. You know, I'm pretty
confident in saying the two starting tackles, assuming they're healthy,
will be Andrew Thomas. Outside of that, I mean, they

(30:09):
are guys that I think and I'm pretty confident will
be the starters. But you got to go through training camp.
All those guys have to earn their spots. They're not
nothing's being handed to anyone this summer. That has become
abundantly clear.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
Cliff, this line and this team, but specifically this offensive
line is not good enough to just hand out positions
and not have competition.

Speaker 4 (30:34):
No, well, look it all sounds pretty arrow pointing up
to me with that situation before we get to Jackson,
I just wanted to mention that I'm a little I
didn't I didn't look up Shane Bowen's record before he
excelled with the Titans. But I just I just remember

(30:56):
when he came in his m O as the DC
was like rush for yes, uh in the front and
and uh stop the run on the way to the
quarterback and play with a certain attitude. And now it
sounds like, well, he's going to be very creative with
putting together some guys that might appear to be a

(31:17):
little undersized, but I have exceptional gifts in other ways.
I just I just hope he's I just hope he's
got that kind of a you know, it's beginning to
sound more like competing with with Vic Fangio and and
who's who's the other defense?

Speaker 3 (31:35):
If before you before you go there, I think you
also have to understand he came in last year as
in his first year as this defensive coordinator, and he
had a unit that, to be frank, okay, to be
frank with you.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
Was somewhat limited.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
They have more talent on this defense than they did
last year. And we have heard this word versatility a
billion times. During the off season. They added guys on
the defensive line, which I believe are going to give
them multiple looks in the front seven that they could
not even dream about using last year because they didn't
have the personnel. Then they also ad Carter, which now

(32:13):
gives them three bonifid pass rushers, either at the edge
spot or the second level, depending upon where they play.
So the toolbox is now a heck of a lot
more full, don't you think?

Speaker 2 (32:25):
One hundred percent? And I mean you didn't even mention
that all the guys in the secondary. They didn't even
talk me about the secondary. Advo and Holland were brought in.
But let's not forget Tyler Nuban and Drew Phillips, as
you know, as good as they were last year, and
I think both of them played very well as rookies,
they were rookies. They are now going into year two
where they have a full year of experience under their

(32:45):
belt and now have sort of you know, quote unquote
veteran partners in the secondary with them, between Adebo holland
Deontay Banks going into year three and year two with
Shane Bowen, like, they are just so many pieces at
every level. And Brian Burns spoke about this saying there

(33:05):
and no Burns and Russell Wilson they both mentioned there's
just talent at all three levels of the defense. The
pieces are there, and as coach Dable has said it's
now up to Shane Bowen to you know, put it
all together and make it work.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
Yeah, thanks very much, CLA, I appreciate it. Two O
one nine three nine four five one three is our
phone number. I might add. Shane Bowen particularly was asked
about Tay Banks, who, as we know, had his sub
part second season. He was up and down and struggled
some in talking about Banks, and again I paraphrased these things.

(33:41):
He said, he was locked in his approach, is that
he seems to want to know more, and you can
tell because he's asking a lot more questions. And Bowen
said there's growth every year in a player like that.
He's entering year number three, and he said, now the
good news is from his perspective, that's Bowen's there are
relationships that have been formed and now you can focus

(34:02):
on other stuff because you're not getting to know each
other anymore. So I'm sensing I'm sensing we'll have to
see how it turns out in training camp and the season,
but I'm sensing the fact that Bowen feels a lot
better about what he can do with Tay Banks this
year as opposed to last year. I'm sensing that, and
it seems now I haven't talked to Banks myself, so

(34:24):
I don't know if it's being reciprocated, but we've talked
all off season that Banks and Bowen need to both
kind of meet somewhere more in the middle so that
they can find a way to maximize his production.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Yeah, for sure. And I mean I think it's important
to also remember that the two seasons that Deantay Banks
has played for the Giants in the NFL, almost every
week he's just been matched up with the opposing team's
number one wide receiver. And you know, you go through
the schedule last year, there were some extremely talented wide
receivers that Deantay Banks is going up against each and

(34:59):
every week. Paulson A Deebo was brought in. He is
a veteran corner who's had a good amount of success
under his belt already is known for being a ballhawk.
I don't think Deontay Banks is just gonna automatically get
thrown onto the number one receiver each and every week
and left on an island to fend for himself against
the opposing wide out. Now it's just gonna be a

(35:21):
little bit less pressure on Deontay when you have not
only a debo, but the safeties that he has around
him now, Drew Phillips going to your two, the whole
starting secondary should be a lot better than it was
last year. And that will obviously and the whole defense,
so with an increased pass rush, with the increased passers exactly,
and that will help Deontay Banks for sure. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
And I'll say this too, depending upon how Banks does
during camp, the preseason, and even early in the regular season,
I wouldn't be surprised. Again, he's got to prove it
if at some point they don't even travel a d
boat with the number one and they just play left
and right and they say let's play straight up.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Yeah, Banks has the tools to do it. He just
hasn't shown the consistency at that level yet. Yeah, He's
done it at times over his first two seasons. There
there were some games where you know, we saw him
match up against a top receiver and hold his own
and do you know, I'm not gonna say shut the
guy down, but play pretty well, you know, as much
as you can ask for going up against some of

(36:26):
the top receivers in the league. He just had didn't
do it on a consistent weekend and week out basis,
which is what honestly, the defense needs. We needed, the
defense needs everyone to play consistently, and that's been you know,
one of the things, probably the biggest thing holding Deontay
Banks back. Yeah, these first two seasons.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
You know what, before we get to another call at
two one nine three five one three, we remind you
that the Giants huddle.

Speaker 5 (36:51):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
You know, John does a ton of interviews with not
only Giants but NFL personnel, media personnel. As always, it's
there on your favorite podcast platforms, the Giants Mobile app,
and we invite you to check those out. Did you
put anything up in the next last twenty four hours?

Speaker 2 (37:08):
I don't believe any huddles, but we did have a
new Her Playbook podcast, okay, which is Madeline Burke sitting
down with Carley. I want to pronounce Carly Gruenberg, who's
the chief of staff for FIFA World Cup twenty twenty
six that will be taking place at least partially in
the stadium right here. So yeah, Madam had a nice

(37:30):
interesting conversation with her here in studio about half an
hour long. Okay, Again, it's not a huddle about necessarily
the Giants, but it is a good podcast platform, part
of the podcast platform, and it's it's a good listen.
I don't know how many of you are soccer fans
out there, but obviously FIFA World Cup coming here is
a pretty big deal.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
Next summer, well they have the Club World Cup actually
coming here in another week. Yes, and you should see
the village they've built in the parking lot outside the stadium.
It is quite a production. Also, we'd like to remind
you the Giants TV app is available.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
It's free.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
You can get all the videos and comments and fun things.
It's all free there on Giants TV. Check that out
when you get a chance. Also, season tickets for the
twenty twenty five season means you can take your fandom
to the next level catch all the action at MetLife Stadium,
and of course you can stay connected to the team
all year round, not just on game day with exclusive

(38:26):
member access and benefits. To learn more about a New
York Giants season ticket membership, visit Giants dot com slash tickets.
Before we get to another call, all three of the
coordinators talk this morning. Yes, so Michael Golbril, the Special
Teams coordinator, and you folks know, I've been touting the
special team's makeover now for quite a while. I think

(38:49):
this is one of the X factors on this team
that's going to get this team, you know, moving in
the right direction. And if you listen to him today,
the way he talked about, for example, Board the guy
who was signed from the Baltimore Ravens, something I'd mentioned
on this program several times.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
That's why I was not surprised.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
You get the impression that Golbriel feels much much better
about his Special teams unit this year than he did
going into last season.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah. I mean also Amir Smith Marsette. I think we
spoke about this the other day. He's spending the whole
offseason with the team, as opposed to last year when
he got here after the season already started. Obviously, having
the benefit of going through an entire offseason with the
team helps prepare you for the entire season. And he
was even with that, you know, limited preparation last year.

(39:42):
Amir Smith Marsette was a very good returner. He was
very good. You know. Coach Gobriel spoke about what Amir
brought to the return game and how he was I
don't want to say, a pleasant surprise, because they clearly
expected him to contribute when they brought him in. I
think he even probably contributed more than maybe Golbriel was

(40:03):
necessarily expecting, because he mentioned he had two kick return
touchdowns last year. One did get called back because of
a penalty, but two separate times he got into the
end zone. And Gobriel said, you know, not many guys
did that last year. Not many guys do that any
year on a kick return. And Emir did it twice,
So yeah, I'm with you. I think, you know, the

(40:26):
special teams unit in general seems to always just be
like the forgotten unit, but it is extremely important. It
helps both sides of the ball when you can win
you know, the field possession battle, and obviously your special
teams unit plays a vital role in that.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
I think he has found something that Smith Moore said,
looking at his history, this is the fifth organization he's
been with since coming in with the Vikings in twenty
twenty one. Now he's a local guy out of New Jersey,
from Newark, and and you know what, ever, since he's
gotten here, he has just been what a great attitude.
I mean, he is always very energized, as Gobriel said,

(41:06):
he's kind of like a leader on Specials. People look
up to him, they respect him an awful lot. And
you know, I don't know what it took to unlock
his potential, but we saw some really good flashes out
of him last year. I'm excited about him in the
return game, I really am. I think he could be special.
So hey, good for him now. The other item, though,

(41:28):
the other item that he was asked about, was also
Jamie Gillen, who he really keeps some praise on last
year for his ability to find the ball inside the
ten or drop the ball inside the ten, I should say,
and also his ability to fight the nasty conditions in
MetLife stadium. And when you talk about the field position battle, Matt,

(41:50):
you know, if your punter doesn't know what he's doing,
it's a big, big problem because that is as much
a part of tilting the field as anything else. Yes,
your coverage units have to be good, your return guys
have to be able to bring the ball out some.
But but Jamie Gillen I thought had the best year
of his career last year.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
I thought, I agree with you. I spoke about this
on the show during the season. After the season, I
you know, I saw him from some you know, some
people on Twitter criticizing him. People want to get rid
of him. I was saying, like, if you said that,
maybe maybe after the year before, I would at least
somewhat be able to understand your reasoning. He was inconsistent

(42:30):
the year before, but he's coming off what was just
a very solid season. I mean it might, you know,
I feel like sometimes we just sort of take the
punting unit for granted. But if you have someone back
there that you just don't need to worry about, that
is a huge, huge plus. Again, I just spoken before

(42:50):
about the field possession battle is a huge part, especially
when you know, we obviously all expect the Giants offense
to be improved this year. I don't know if anyone's
expecting the offense to be, you know, a top five
scoring unit forty points a game. Yeah, expecting that, But
guess what getting setting your offense up with great field
position or setting your defense up with great field position,

(43:12):
which in turn, after a stop, will help your offense
get good field position as well. That's gonna help your
offense score more points. And Jamie Gillen plays a big
role in that if he has another season like he
did last year, I think it's gonna be extremely good
things for the Giant special teams unit, at least the
punting side.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
I finally want to mention before we go back to
the phones. He was asked about Graham Gano. Now, Gano
has been banged up and hurt in each of the.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
Last two seasons.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
When he has kicked, he has been one of the
best in the league. He's also one of your high
higher paid kickers in the league. Deservedly so so Gobe.
We always asked about him and said he looked like
himself in the final three games of last year, and
he's looked very good so far this spring. In year seventeen,
he said he approaches the game the right way, takes
care of his body, and is very much looking forward

(44:01):
to having him here now. At the same time, he
was asked about mcanenny, the Mcatamney, the kicker who was
on the international program last year.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
They made it to the practice.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
Squad then actually had a kick any game, and we
all know he's got accounted of a leg. And the
only thing that God, we all would say is that, hey,
this competition for everybody. He would not rule anything out.
There's competition for everybody. They know what kind of leg
the kid has. But you know, I thought the the
positive remarks about Gano were certainly something that sounded reassuring

(44:34):
to me, as if you know, they're they're thinking, unless
something goes wrong with him during training camp or the preseason,
I suspect he's going to be the guy.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
Yeah, me too. I mean, did you see what Graham
was doing, like in between plays during team drills today?
So this was towards the end zone that Dan, Salimon
and I were standing off to the side of. But
in between plays during eleven out of eleven's, while you know,
both offense the defense were grouping, you know, figure out
the play they were running, Graham, who was standing off

(45:05):
to the side, wasn't even on the field, was standing
behind everyone, you know, on the sideline like I don't
want to say, maybe fifteen to twenty yards dish probably
to the side, kicking field goals from like a forty
five degree angle, and he was making almost every single one.
Dan and Salomon and I were standing there like, how
the heck is he doing this? And then we remember, oh, yeah,

(45:26):
this guy has been a very successful kicker in this
league for a very long time. We might think, you know,
kicking from that angle is impossible, but for him, it
was literally nothing. One of the ball boys was standing
on the other side of the goal post. He literally
did not have to move. He was standing there in
one place, feet firm, and Graham just kept on hitting
him ball after ball. It was incredible to see.

Speaker 3 (45:47):
I was watching it more from afar, and I could
have sworn it was like a David Blaine magic act. Yeah,
the way he was putting that ball in.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
Yeah, And it was Harrison was standing behind the goal post,
I know, and he literally did not have to move.
He was just stand there catch each one without moving
his feet at all.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
I don't know how he did it. This This this
guy's something else. So let's hope for his shake that
he is healthy, yes, goes through camp fine, and that
they can count on Yes.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
That is the most important thing. Obviously, health has really
been the biggest hindrance to Graham Gano having too much
success the last two years. But keep in mind the
year before that and his prior seasons with the Giants.
When he was healthy, he was good. It was never
a question of oh, like what do we have back there?
Is there a competition like that was never a question exactly.

(46:34):
So let's just hope that you know, he is healthy,
stays healthy all season, and then we'll just go back
to not having to worry at all about the field
goal kicker. Again.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
This team's trying to improve. They can't afford to squander opportunities.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
Points.

Speaker 3 (46:49):
Mark Keish in California, You're next on the program.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
Hello, Hi, Hi.

Speaker 5 (46:57):
Just have two things I want to say. First, shame,
he's been real patient this whole time, and he's been
waiting for this moment like he he knocked it out
of the parks. He's been patient, he's been waiting for
this moment, and he capitalized this year. And that leads

(47:19):
into my next point. I'm tired of hearing about the schedule.
We play hard. People guess what they have to play us,
and I think we have the defense to punch some
people in the mouth every single week, week in and
week out. Like they need to be scared of us,

(47:40):
because we we can. We have a team that can
compete week in and week out, and I don't think
we need to be scared of all these teams that
we face on our schedule because we're a good team.
We we underperformed last year. I think we were a
better team than our record showed, and I think this year,

(48:08):
barring injury, of course, you know, like that goes around
for the whole league. But barring injury, we have the
capacity to play with anybody, maybe not the top three
or top five in the league, but anybody in this league.
And I don't think we should be scared of anybody

(48:28):
in this league. I don't think we should be scared
of anybody in our schedule. I think we can, you know,
just surprise people, all.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
Right, marquees. I'll say this. Russell Wilson was asked specifically
about when he was with Pittsburgh last year and they
played the Giants and they beat them at overtime in Pittsburgh.
You'll remember the primetime game. He was asked about this defense.
What did you think about this defense when you played
them last year and now you see the improvements the
guy who were brought in, we've talked about them now

(49:01):
all show. And he said flat out, you know, as
the quarterback, you're concerned about Dexter Lawrence. You're concerned about
Brian Burns, who was one of the premier edge rushers
in the game. And Kevon Thibadeau can play too. Now
because Kavon had a bit of a down year last year,
missed the month with the fractured wrist and the surgery
and everything. But we know from his double digit sacks

(49:22):
season the year before that he can be a force.
And he certainly was good against the run last year.
Let's not make any mistake about that. He didn't get
the sacks, but he played the run very well on
the edge. Now you add a dual carter to that mix.
I mean, Russell Wilson was heaping praise on that defense
and then mentioned the Kara Kay and mentioned the secondary

(49:43):
and you know you even said before Holland and a
debo coming in here, this defense could be really good.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Yeah, And look, we've heard all heard so much about
the schedule now, which I don't fully understand because we've
known since the end of the season exactly who we
were playing, and we knew we had the hardest strength
of schedule. When you have the hardest strength to schedule,
I don't really care what order you put him in.
It's not going to be easy. So I agree that
it's kind of It's been a lot about how tough

(50:12):
the schedule is. When that's nothing that is not a surprise. No,
And not only that, but I can tell you being
afraid of the schedule, that is something that I've kind
of just seen like on Twitter and from uh, you know,
and from fans calling into the show, fans on Twitter
saying this. The guys on this team, they are not
afraid of the schedule. That's just not how they are built.

(50:34):
They are welcoming, you know, the challenge. And Brian Burns
brought this up when you know, mentioning the spirited end
of practice is that there are just a bunch of
guys with dog mentalities and dog mindsets on this team now,
and we've spoken about this. You look at the guy
the draft class, just about every single one of those

(50:55):
guys have a little bit of whether you want to
call it edge, you know, a little bit of I
like to refer to it, just like a little bit
of psycho, like a good psycho, a good ceco that
you want guys to have. Like this is a roster
now you call it a regular Okay, this is a roster.
That roster now that is not just gonna you know,

(51:17):
stand there and let other teams punch them in the mouth.
They are the team that's gonna go out there and
try to punch the other team in the mouth. Now,
that's all well and great. It doesn't matter unless you
obviously start winning game, of course, But you know this,
the mentality and the mindset of the roster now, to
me as an observer, it just feels different with all

(51:41):
the different guys, between the veterans and the rookies that
have been brought in. It just feels like a different
sort of you know, mentality, Like you can feel that
there are just more quote unquote dogs out there.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Now.

Speaker 3 (51:53):
You know, if I if I can just a second
marquiche and maybe maybe I'll understand this. I think you well,
because you've been here, Matt.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
I think these players they.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
Know that they can be competitive. I don't think they
hope to be competitive. I think they know it.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
They expect it.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
Yeah, I really do, And I think I think there's
a difference in that.

Speaker 5 (52:15):
Yeah, they're ready, yep.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
But it's only joke. I mean, I think if they're
up to them, it feels like they'd be ready to
put on pads and go out of it against other teams.
Right now. Yeah, I think I Unfortunately we got to
wait a few more months.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
I think they would like to play right now, anything
else before we let you go.

Speaker 5 (52:34):
Other than other than that, I just want to say,
our offensive is going to feed off that defense, and
our running game is going to be like a step better,
I think, and our passing game it's going to be
a lot better. Number two, number three, number four are

(52:54):
going to feed a lot better than they did last year.
And not to mention neighbors, you know, Like so I
think overall, like we're gonna feed off that defense, and
the offense has got to come to play, and they're not.
They're not gonna be, you know, top ten, but we
don't need them to be top ten. Well, we just
need them to come and play and they're gonna They're

(53:16):
gonna feed off of that defense, and I'll take the
rest off line, all right, Thanks very.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
Much for the call, Thank you, Marquis.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
You know, one of the things that that we've always
talked about here, and Brian Dable loves to use the
term complimentary football even more so than some of the
other coaches who have been around in the last decade.
He loves the term well it's a lot easier to
play complimentary football when all three of your units have
something going for them. And you know, that hasn't been

(53:45):
the case around here for a while. I mean it
was in twenty twenty two. You know, that was the outlier, right,
But since twenty sixteen, the Giants have not had the
ability to play really solid, cohesive, complementary football except for
twenty twenty two. In all of these other years, at
least one of the three units was scuffling and struggling along,

(54:10):
and so it makes it really really hard to start
playing a strategic game because if you have at least
one unit struggling, you can't count on anything. And that's
a problem when you were a coach.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Yeah, I mean, when you have one unit, whether it
be the offense or the defense that you know, if
it's the offense that can't stay on the field or
the defense that can't get off the field, it obviously
is a huge negative impact to the other side of
the ball on your own team. I mean, if your
offense is going three and out every single drive, your
defense is not getting any sort of opportunity to catch

(54:47):
their breath, and they're gonna be out there every you know,
six minutes of real time and they're just gonna be
completely guessed. You can't expect a unit. You could have
the best defense in the NFL, and we've seen this
was it two years ago. The Cleveland Browns defense was tremendous.
Their offense could not do anything, could not put drives together.

(55:08):
And after you know, I want to say, maybe six
to eight weeks, you started to see the defense crack
because they just could not continue to play majority of
the game every single game. It's just it's not feasible
to have a unit as talented as it might be
to have to play that much that often every single
week and expect them to still be able to compete
at an extremely high level.

Speaker 3 (55:29):
Well, besides that, you had a running game that was sporadic,
you had a passing game that was sporadic. You had
a special teams. You didn't get much out of your
return game the last several years until Smith Marsett started
doing something last year. Your field goal kicking last two years,
Gano's been hurt. That's been all messed up. I mean, folks,
is it any wonder why you know the team has

(55:51):
suffered some bad records because of the way that the
thing has come to pass. Jay and Phoenix, You're gonna
be last on our program today.

Speaker 6 (56:00):
Hello, Hey guys, how you doing?

Speaker 2 (56:03):
Thanks for calling that.

Speaker 6 (56:04):
How are you Jay doing great? Hey? One thing I
just wanted to call on was And I've been thinking
about this a lot as I've been looking at the roster.
Do you guys have any thoughts about possibly a giant
need for adding some veteran depths at safety When I've
looked at like the teams that have won Super Bowls

(56:26):
or you know, have done really well in the past,
whether it's adding you know, Dave Doerson.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
Or r J mccorters or Grant I know those guys.

Speaker 6 (56:40):
You know, I'm just looking at the that we have.
We always mentioned the three, but it'd be nice to
have a fourth guy, and there's a couple of them
out there that I think might be a good fit.
You got Jordan Ployer, who played for the Bills for
a number of years, a little long in the tooth.
I'm not sure he wants to keep playing von Belle
and then Justin Simmons, who might be able to offensive,

(57:00):
but both you know, those just adding a depth piece
there I think would be nice to get a little
more veteran leadership in that secondary.

Speaker 3 (57:08):
Well, let me say this, I've advocated for a couple
of months now that if the Giants were going to
add somebody else late over the summer, I kind of
would like him to grab a veteran corner, you know,
one of those sensible Leon Hall, one of those kinds
of guys, you know, to kind of just solidify the
back of the depth chart because of Flat's lack of durability.

(57:32):
I like Cordell Flatt. You guys know this. I've been
all over him since he came into the league, but
he's had trouble staying on the field. Did better last year,
but his durability has come into question, and Hawkins says
yet to raise his game to the level where you
can count on him. So I wouldn't mind adding a
veteran corner, especially since your guy Belton is having a

(57:53):
really nice spring.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Yeah, he's looking great, and you know he might not
be the big flash, the sexy names, but Raheem Lane
and Anthony Johnson are both veteran safeties that have been
in the league for a few years now that haven't
you know, had a ton of playing time, but do
have some experience under their belt, so it's you know,
it's not like there's the top three guys and then

(58:17):
a bunch of rookies and undrafted free agents. But at
the same time, the Giants did add a couple of
undrafted free agents at that position that clearly they want
to at least see if they've got anything there. I mean,
every year you see what one or two undrafted free
agents typically make the team or at least given it
like a serious, serious consideration, and you know that that

(58:39):
I I'm not going to say that is definitely the
case here, but that could fully be the case. I mean,
one of the guys that had interception interception today, but
Cardie Page is a safety obviously, it's OTA's in the
only spring. But they clearly just want to see what
they have with all of these udfas. That's the whole
point of bringing these guys in. Now, come training camp.
If it seems like you know, the depth, that's safety

(59:00):
is an issue. If you know, let's say, god forbid,
one of the top three gets hurt or even just
a little banged up, and then all of a sudden,
those other guys they just talked about see more playing
time and really don't you know, live up to whatever
the coaching staff is expecting for them. There's always time
to add veterans later in the summer. And I feel like,

(59:20):
especially when it comes to the defensive backfield corners, safeties,
I feel like those guys, a lot of them typically
sign you know, right before the start of training camp.
During throughout training camp, like there will be opportunities if
the Giants' coaching staff in front office feels like there's
no depth at safety, there will be plenty of opportunity

(59:41):
to still add, you know, an older veteran to that
group if need be.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
You always have these older veterans who don't want to
go through the riggers of camp anyway, and they will
shine as late as they can, sometimes even after week
one when the contracts are not guaranteed. So would I
be shocked to see a veterans safety or veteran corner
here at some point, No, not at all, But right
now I don't see that happening, not today.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
Right now, I don't think it's gonna I don't think
any roster moves, big roster moves like that will happen
at least until right before training And.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
I think every team probably feels that way right now too,
as do those veterans who are on the street that
anxious to come in.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
And dance either. I mean, there was a report yesterday that,
you know, a certain veteran free agent quarterback is waiting
until right before the start of training camp to side
with Pittsburgh and that's the most important position, and he does.
This person supposedly doesn't want to get out there until
literally the start of training You mean he's still floating
around out there doing whatever he does.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
I thought he was captured by u Ufo and aliens
brought brought to another planet somewhere.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
So yeah, there's there's still time Jay to answer your question.
There's still time to add.

Speaker 6 (01:00:53):
I was just gonna say, I'm so appreciate the thought
to that, guys, And yet all it makes sense about
adding vets a little bit later, and so glad that
the quarterback who we shall not name, is not our problem.
My goodness, that I was holding my breath.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
I couldn't agree with you more.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
Could you imagine having to go through that soap opera
right now? Forget about it. Let the folks in Pittsburgh
deal with that.

Speaker 6 (01:01:14):
I'm a lot happier.

Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
Thank you Jay, Thanks Jay, appreciate it all right, folks,
will be back up Big Blue Kickoff Live tomorrow at
twelve thirty pm Eastern Time with another live one hour show.
But that will wrap things up for today.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Anything else, No, I'm just I'm very interested to hear
where you and Lance land and these position rankings.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
That's tomorrow, the second half of our position rankings in
the NFC East will rank them one to four in
each of the categories, and we'll see how it all
turns out. And of course you can all laugh at
us at the end of the season again like you
always do, because after all, we have no idea what
these other teams in the division really are going to

(01:01:54):
bring to the table, at least not in early June.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
That'll do it for this edition.

Speaker 3 (01:01:59):
A Big Blue Kickoff Fly presented by Cadillac, the official
luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants. So glad
you could be with us again, Coming from the Giants
Podcast Studio presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting Better
from Outsidetech on Poldatino. We'll see you next time.