Big Blue Kickoff Live 7/21 | Perception vs Reality on the Roster

Matt Citak and Paul Dottino chat about the perception vs reality on the Giants roster, discuss Giants x-factors, and take calls from fans.

0:00 - Perception vs reality on roster
42:12 - Calls
50:00 - The OL
58:22 - Youtube comments

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
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That's going on.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Don hello, We get everybody, and welcome to Monday's edition
a Big Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official
luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants. So glad
you could join us today on the New York Giants
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(00:45):
right now, but we are live on the YouTube channel,
and if you're tuning in, please don't hesitate to a
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so you can still participate in the program, or of course,
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you guys have any questions that you want to type
out on the page and.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
The YouTube chat, we'll keep an eye on that.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
There you go, and we're going to be here for
the next hour and we'll we start a little bit late,
so it we'll stay a little bit late and talk
New York Giants football with you. It is a special
two o'clock start time, or at least that's what we
were hoping to do, given the fact that training camp
is here. Yes, folks, we have finally emerged from the

(01:26):
black hole. We have escaped from the Bermuda triangle known
as the Darth of the NFL schedule. And yes, the
Giants veterans report tomorrow on Wednesday. They'll be in shirts
and shorts for their first practice of training camp. Matt,
I'm telling you, I'm having trouble sleeping right now because

(01:50):
it's finally here. And I feel like that kid who's
anxiously counting down the days till Christmas because you can't
wait to unwrap the present, which I can't wait to
unwrap the roster.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
I feel like you've been counting down the days for
Wednesday since like January sixth, whenever lives right you are, which, yeah,
we look, we finally made it. It's it's definitely gonna
be a lot busier around here. Come u oh yeah,
good busy though, you know it's training camp is It's

(02:24):
certainly something around here, because you know, we are out
at practice for two hours in the heat. You know,
we're not running around. So I'm not going to pretend
like we get even close as tired as the actual
players and coaches. But we got some long days ahead
of us, and every day and you know, no more weekends.
I know you might not care about that. I kind

(02:44):
of enjoyed having a normal weekend to you know, rest
and recharge. But it's just getting us ready for the
regular season because starting Wednesday, for the next you know,
six seven months, we're working six seven days a week,
our lives, our Giants football, and it's can't complain about that.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
I don't pretend to be normal. I know what I am.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
Okay, you're one in a million I am.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
I am a workaholic. I'm crazy. I eat this stuff up.
I can't get enough of it. And the off season
is really really hard for me. It's like chewing nails.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Well, we have some moments in the off season that
are exciting. I love free agency week, have some joint
draft weekends exciting. The combines as nothing, it's nothing like,
but it's like little crumbs that are just leading us
to this it's crumbs, but it helps, it helps us
get to this point. So otherwise it's you know, five

(03:44):
months of absolutely nothing should be even worse for you.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
So it's the sum nuggets. So it's it's the salad
before the ravioli. Yeah, ok, at that all right?

Speaker 3 (03:55):
All right?

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Please pass the cheese as you're a You can catch
the show on the archive on the Giants mobile app
podcast platforms everywhere, on the giants dot com, slash podcasts
and as always, we're coming to you from the Giants
Podcast Studio presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting Better
two A one nine three nine four five one three

(04:20):
is our phone number here on Big Blue Kickoff Live. Now,
I thought today, since we're going have the players actually
come in tomorrow, the veterans and we'll have the full
roster here again unless somebody's excused, which.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
They're allowed to be, and the rookies just again. I
know we discussed this, but the rookies have been here
since last week. We had to report last Tuesday, so
they've been in the building now for almost a week
and now the rest of the team will join them tomorrow.
Although guys have been here.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Okay, give me it over under. How many more tattoos
does Thomas Faedoni have?

Speaker 3 (04:54):
Does he have any more room on his body for more?
I mean, like we saw the threats, certainly on his legs,
he doesn't have any more room. Those are completely covered
in tattoos.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
He looks like a roadmap, Yeah, he really does. He's
like a human roadmap. And that you're interesting.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
More interesting to hear If he added any more that
he did himself, I don't think so, because he seemed
to say he only did it once, yeah, and that
it was like a one and done type of thing,
don't you never know.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
I don't blame him for not wanting to do that again.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
No, I have a few tattoos myself, and not in
a million and I have a high pain talents. Not
a million years that I'll be able to do that
to myself now.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
So anyway, getting back to the task at hand, what
I wanted to do today, ESPN put out a very
large story about ranking the starting lineups for each of
the thirty two NFL teams. This story did drop. I
believe it was this morning or overnight. I'm not exactly
sure what time it came out.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
I think early this morning.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
It wasn't early, okay, And they list the Giants at
number twenty seven out of the thirty two teams. Now,
if you do the math, so they're basically saying the
Giants can going to draft sixth again in the draft
next year.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Okay, that's basically what they're telling you.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
I'm sorry, I think the perception versus the reality of
what this Giants roster is are not one and the same.
Those of us who know a lot about football and
have been here on a daily basis and know what
is in the building have a much better idea of
those people who have not been on the property, who

(06:37):
have not been in the building, who have not seen
any of these players, or talked to these players or
these coaches, or again, as for that matter, watched what
we have seen on the practice field. So, having said that,
the reasoning or the rationale that he gives the Giants
a twenty seventh ranking, and here's what's kind of funny.
He says the biggest strength is the defense front and

(07:00):
he goes on to talk about Burns and Thibodeaux and
Abdul Carter and Dexter Lawrence, basically saying how terrific the
Giants defensive front is he does not mention the secondary.
And you know, I hate to remind this fella, but
there was a lot of money put into this secondary.

(07:21):
They brought in Holland, they brought in a debo who,
by the way, were the top free agent corners and
safeties at their respective positions, and they got good money
that does equate to top level value. So I think
he's missing part of the boat here. When he talks
about the defense, he's talking about the front, but he's

(07:42):
not talking about the secondary. Now, you're right, there's got
to be some messing of those guys, But don't sell
the talent. Short Banks is a number one pick with
tremendous talent, Nubin is a very very talented number two pick,
and the two free agents who were brought here very
highly regarded by people in the league.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
Yeah, well with this, let's just start on the defense. Yeah,
the defensive front. I agree. I think we both agree.
It is definitely the strength. I would say the entire team.
It is the strength, yes, for sure. And that seems
to be pretty, you know, universally accepted because I had
a few examples ready to go. Warren Sharp, who I

(08:23):
know John has on the podcast sometimes big analytics football guy,
just like within the last hour put out rankings for
the front seven across the NFL. He had the Giants
up at number four, the number four front seven and
the entire NFL. And that's very reasonable, very reasonable, And
you know he's far from the only one. Pro Football

(08:46):
Focus had the Giants just the defensive line. I think
they had them at number two, the second best defensive
line in the NFL. And you know, you could take
your pick at which media outlet you want to look at.
Everyone seems to agree the Giants front front seven front
four is the biggest strength and could be an elite unit,
one of the best in the league. And this article

(09:08):
touches on that. So in that regard, I appreciate them.
You know, we're you know, respecting that that unit, those
two units.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
I think I agree with the defense.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
I agree with you on the secondary though. So we've
been doing the last couple of weeks, John Dan and
I twenty five questions in twenty five days, where each
day we take turns to three of us and we
touch on a different question regarding the team. And the
one that I actually wrote over the weekend was what
is one storyline about the Giants that is getting overlooked?

(09:41):
And I wrote you would be happy to read this
because I wrote that people are sleeping on the Giant secondary.
Everyone is heaping praise on the front, which again it's
on paper. At least all of that praise is rightfully deserved.
They have what on the makings on paper to be
in e unit up front. But I agree with you

(10:03):
that the secondary is not getting nearly enough attention because
first you have last year's draft. Let's just start there
with Tyler Nuban and Drew Phillips, who both saw significant
action as rookies on a defense that as an overall
unit didn't play the greatest, and they both stood out.
They were both solid to good players as rookies. Yes,

(10:26):
then the Giants went out and added Paulson Adebo and
Javon Holland, who were arguably the top corner and top
safety in free agency or one of the top corners
and one of the top safeties inough shelves, top shelf
guys that are you know, again universally accepted to be
good at their positions. And as you mentioned, Deontay Banks
is still here. And yes, last year did not go

(10:48):
as well as anyone would have hoped, but he showed
enough as a rookie and still has all those physical
traits where you cannot give up on him. Yet there's
still a lot of football left to be played for him.
And you know, in seven months we could be talking
about Dean dea Binks in a way where like, how
did we ever doubt him? Just because one bad season,
you know, doesn't mean you just give up on a

(11:08):
first round pick. And then obviously they're guys like Cordell Flott,
Dane Belton, like more reserved guys that are gonna see
a decent amount of playing time. So all those guys together,
I agree. I don't think the secondary is getting nearly
enough attention, and I know a big part of it
is just because as a unit last year they did
not play that well overall. But again, they were relying

(11:32):
on two rookies to start a majority of the season
who both played well as rookies, and you would think
that they have a good chance of taking a year
two jump. And then you added two veterans to your
starting lineup in the secondary that are proven, experienced leaders
that have track records underneath them, like they have success

(11:53):
in the NFL. Paulsen Gebo has ten interceptions in like
fifty games. He's a ballhawk. Jevon Holland can do a
little bit of everything. So I'm fully with you. I
don't think the secondary is getting nearly enough. I guess attention,
buzz credit, whatever you want to call it. And I
get it's because they haven't actually done anything yet. Yeah,

(12:13):
and it doesn't matter until they actually start producing. And
I get that, but I think it is a little
bit the attention being thrown on the Giants defense is
a little bit lopsided because of how elite the front
looks like it could be. People, I agree with you,
are just completely sleeping on the secondary, all right, So we.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Think that he could have expanded the biggest strength just
to the overall defense. That's a fair thing to say, right, Yeah, okay,
because we're talking about two thirds of the team here,
and quite honestly, you know, we're kind of meshing the
linebackers as part of the front, as part of the
front seven. We're almost making it a two level defense
front seven and secondary as opposed to line linebackers and secondary.

(12:55):
We're kind of making it two units. Front seven secondary.
So I think that is right there. Even with the Giants'
biggest strength, they're being underestimated by the article. Okay, biggest
weakness according to the story. Now, this is where they're
being fair, because the truth of the matter is, as

(13:15):
we sit here today, the number one position on the
show me list, Okay, the show me list, which says
show me that you guys are good enough, does have
to be the offensive line. I can't argue with that, however,
and I'm gonna leave this with you, and then I
want you to respond on this one. Here's what's interesting,

(13:37):
he says, offensive line. The Giants are set to return
all five starters from twenty twenty four, but that might
not be a good thing.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
He talks about Andrew Thomas having a lot of injuries
in recent years, missing a lot of games. I get
all that, But here's what's interesting. If the Giants do
indeed start the same five offensive linemen that they started
in those five positions last season, what was the Giants

(14:09):
record before Andrew Thomas got hurt?

Speaker 3 (14:12):
Don't look it up to you know off hand. Yeah,
he got hurt in week six, so we're counting week six.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
We're not counting Week six he got hurt against Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
The Giants were two and three. Correct that and outside
of the Vikings loss, the other two losses were one
possession losses.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
Which did not have to do with poor performance by
the offensive line.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
No, I mean the Commander's game was the whole.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
On the and the fumbles and the drop passes.

Speaker 3 (14:40):
Okay, and then it was the Cowboy. I think it's
the Cowboys. Yeah, it was the second one. But now
here's five. Here's the point.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
The point is if it is the same starting five
that they had last year that got them to a
two and three record. And by the way, that game
six against cincinn you remember the game here, very beatable.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
It was Adam, it was ten to seven with under
three minutes left in the game Bengal, and then the
Bengals scored another touchdowns. Was a very winnable game.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
My point is, if it's the same starting five offensive
linemen with Carmen Brisillo now in his second year as
the unit's assistant coach offensive line coach, I'm saying to you,
there's no reason why they can't be as competitive as
they were then they were two and three, they were

(15:40):
two and three and Thomas got hurt against the Bengals.
The line played well enough to get them to a
two and three record, which is competitive. After Andrew Thomas
got hurt, the team won one more game the whole
rest of the season. So I ape the fragility of

(16:02):
Thomas's track record, but to slam the starting five that
they had last year, saying well, if those seems starting
five are back this year, that's not necessarily a good thing. Well,
I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing either.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
You'll take Yeah, So I agree and disagree with what
is written here. So overall I agree. The biggest whether
you want to call it weakness question mark, is obviously
the offensive lines to show me unit. Yes, that I
have no argument against. However, the write up, the little

(16:40):
blurb that they have written here, I strongly disagree with
because and I know you don't like PFF in general,
but it says here as part of the description, talks
about Andrew Thomas and him missing games the last two years.
But then it says John Ronny and John Michael Schmidts,
Greg Van Road, and Jermaina Lumin are all posted below
average to poor grades and run block win rates last season.

(17:04):
If you look up though, just I'm gonna just touch
on Van roden In an Illuminor, that's just not true.
They are the two of them were right on the
cusps of the They were average, they were right in
the middle. They kind of exaggerated these stats a little
bit to make it sound worse than what it actually is.
And it talks about the run block win run block

(17:25):
win rate. Well, the Giants were eighteenth last year in
yards per carry average on offense. Obviously that's not amazing,
but that's not bottom third of the league either, and
that was in a situation where they were playing from
behind most games, where they just had to abandon the
run game. And Tyrone Tracy as a rookie still had
a pretty darn good rookie season on the ground despite

(17:47):
all of this quote unquote poor run blocking win rates.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
We basically if.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
You're between eleven and twenty two, you're in the mid third. Yeah,
So I just I don't agree by saying Jermaina lu
like you read this, you think, okay, then all four
of those other linemen outside Andrew Thomas suck last year,
Greg Van Rodin and Jermaine a Luminor were solid linemen
where they I'm not gonna go out and say they were,
you know, amazing, you know, way above average starters. They weren't,

(18:15):
but they were solid. If they replicated what they did
last year again this year. But you combine that with
a healthy Andrew Thomas, I don't think anyone's complaining at
least about those three starters on the offensive line. Everyone
would be happy with that. And again, this has no
mention of Jermaine Aluminor having to switch over to the
left side to take over at left tackle for Andrew

(18:36):
Thomas after training at right tackle. It has no mention
of Greg Van Rodin switching positions, you know, so they
nitpicked certain very specific, you know, PFF metrics to make
the unit sound worse than what it was now. I'm
not saying the unit was good last year, because it wasn't.
But as you mentioned, when the six guys, the six

(18:58):
starters were playing together the first six weeks of the season,
that was a middle of the pack offensive line that
was getting that was getting better each week. They were
getting better until Andrew Thomas suffered that injury in the
Week six game, which he still finished the game, but
you could tell he was not in the rest of
that game. He was No, he was not right. So

(19:20):
again I agree that that is definitely the biggest unit
where they need to show us that they're you know,
taking a step this year from where they were last year.
But I don't agree with the write up and you know, trashing. Basically,
they trash everyone outside of Andrew Thomas, which I don't
think is fair. And even with Andrew Thomas, it says
he's very good, he's an all pro when he's healthy,

(19:40):
first of all, but he missed substantial game action, which
that true. He's got to stay healthy this year. No
one can dispute that one hundred percent. But to just
trash on the other four guys that I don't think
was completely fair.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
Yeah, And so what we have here now, through the
first two points of the write up, we've got an underwhelming,
apparently misguided opinion that's going out there on the national wire.
And this is why people outside the building don't really
have a true perspective of what the Giants are.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
And no mention that they actually improved the death at
the ovense of the Nobles offseason, no mention of that whatsoever. None.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
All Right, In addition, now some other couple of other
guys finished off the selection of the Giants at number
twenty seven X factor, and this is where they finally
in the third item, they finally tip their cap a bit.
They talk about Tyler Nubin, who had a terrific rookie season.

(20:39):
You mentioned that a few moments ago, talks about the
addition of Javon Holland and they off. Later on, also
mentions Paulson to Deebo and says, well, you know, you
can start to see how the back end of this
defense could come together.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Well, thank you.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
Finally, finally in the third item, they're actually seeing that
there was a plan to enhance the overall defense and
that there is something that was done to make the
team better. Gee appreciate that. That's the X factor for
the Giants this year is the secondary. I kind of

(21:17):
feel better about the secondary than calling them an X factor.
I know they haven't played together and there is a
gelling and a chemistry that has to happen. But if
you want to talk about an X factor, X factor
to me means it is truly an unknown and it
could be this way or that way, with a very
wide scope of results. I don't feel that way about

(21:39):
this secondary. I think this secondary is going to be
pretty good even on their bad days, with the potential
to be terrific. So I don't think it's that wide
of a spectrum to call it an X factor.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
Yeah, well for starters, I don't think. I don't really
understand just pointing out Tyler Newby as a specific X factor.
If you want to have Phillips, do you want to
say the secondary? Then I could somewhat understand because if
the secondary plays up to how up to their potential
this year, then the Giants legitimately have a chance of

(22:15):
having an actually elite defense. If the secondary struggles, the
front will still you know, I think, would still perform
well up to standards, but as a unit, the defense
may not be a very top elite defense overall. They
could be borderline top ten if the secondary struggles, or
you know, top half of the NFL. So in that sense,

(22:36):
I can somewhat understand going with the secondary overall as
an X factor, because again, if they play well, I
think the Giants could have an legitimately elite defense.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
I just think again leaving Dre Phillips out of this,
or Drew Phillips leaving Drew Phillips out of this comment
is also short sighted. He's a very good nickel.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
Yeah, and you know, I was just talking about how
they brought up those PFF grades for the offensive line.
Drew Phillips was a top ten quarterback in terms of
PFF metrics last year, top ten overall in the NFL,
second among rookies behind Cooper DJID. Yet no mention of
that or those PFF numbers in this section of the article,
which I don't get. But again, the secondary overall I

(23:17):
can somewhat understand if you want to call that an
X factor for me, the X factor clearly is on
the Huffeds side of the ball. You know, whether you
want to give it to Russell Wilson being the X
factor because that, you know, somewhat of a wide variety
of outcomes could play a significant part in the Giants success.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
The quarterback position as a whole as an X factor
because you not only know how is Russell Wilson going
to play or if he's going to stay healthy, but
then how did the Giants navigate the position as they
move forward?

Speaker 3 (23:48):
So that's fair, Yeah, that I would understand more if
you want to call you know, Andrew Thomas. Well, I
guess that wouldn't be a fair X factor because it's
just all about health for it, right, He's healthy. No
one's doubting Andrew Thomas or his ability, So in that sense,
I think Russell Wilson or maybe John Michael Schmidz to me,

(24:10):
are the biggest X factor because if John Michael Schmidz
takes a big jump this year, in year three, which
is a year that we see a lot of linemen
take a jump, if he plays well, that could help
transform this entire line. How about the time they brought us,
They brought up the interior offensive lineman and the biggest
weakness part. Well, if JMS takes a step, that's going
to also help the two veterans next to him, and

(24:31):
that whole unit is then going to improve. I think
he would be a much bigger X factor than any
individual guy from the second.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
Are you curious about the tight ends?

Speaker 3 (24:39):
Like I am.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
I think that Theo Johnson's going to be terrific, but
I don't know exactly what he's going to be yet,
because he did have the foot injury at the end
of last season and this is going to be year two.
I think we all believe he's got a very high upside,
but where is it going to be this year?

Speaker 3 (24:56):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
I kind of think that's even more of an X
factor because they could get a lot of production out
of the tight end spot, or they might get a
disappointing production out of it.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
Yeah, No, I hear where you're coming from with that.
I guess in my mind, I don't consider that as
big of an X factor because it's just the Giants.
The pass catchers, the receivers are going to lead the
way in the.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
Past, I hope.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
So, I mean, I think we can agree at least
Malik for sure, assuming he's healthy, will lead the way
among the pass catchers. And then you hope Slash expect
the combination of Darius Laydon and Wandel Robinson, maybe even
Jalen Hyatt maybe based on what we saw in the
spring and all that Russell Wilson's talked up about him seeing,
although he's definitely more I gotta wait and see from him.

(25:44):
Oh yeah, more so with Wandell and Slayton, because we've
seen them do it now in the NFL and for
more than just one season. So I guess in that sense,
I just expect those guys to lead the way in
terms of the pass catching. So I do think Theo
Johnson could have an imp I don't think he's gonna,
you know, be a top two or three team a
person on the team in receptions. I think those other

(26:06):
three receivers I just mentioned, they're gonna lead the way
in terms of receptions. And then with the blocking, Like
Chris Maynards is a very good blocker. He's on the
team and he's out there blocking. I am very confident
in his abilities. Same with Daniel Bellinger. I mean, you'd
like to see him again take a little bit of
a step up, but I guess I kind of I have.

(26:29):
I feel like they will meet expectations. Expectations for them.
It's not like they're so high compared to some of
these other positions.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
I will say this, if the receiving corps does not
reach their ceiling, and that is you know, Neighbors has
another ninety plus catch season, doesn't have to have one hundred.
Maybe he has ninety, Okay, maybe one. Dell has seventy five.
He doesn't have to have ninety. Again, he could have
seventy five and still have good season. Slayton hopefully Slayton
has at least sixty. But you know what, there's a

(26:58):
possibility if why it doesn't emerge, or if one of
those other receivers doesn't do what they're supposed to do,
they might need THEO Johnson to catch sixty five balls.
He might wind up having to be the second leading
receiver on this team or third leading receiver, depending upon
how you want to qualify it by catch his yards
or touchdowns. He might have to be a big weapon

(27:19):
like Kelsey has become such an important part of Kansas
City's passing attack for sure.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
And look, before his injury last year, we started to
see THEO Johnson.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
Do that he's got.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
Some of it was him as a rookie fourth round pick.
He started to emerge before that season ending foot injury.
Now we know Russell Wilson likes throwing the ball to
his tight end. We've seen it for years now. THEO
Johnson participated in all of the offseason workout program. You know,
I don't think Dable was ever asked straight up is

(27:49):
he one hundred percent healthy? But I didn't see him
miss significant amount of was out there with Ben Carter's
all a spring. So the assumption is he's healthy, like
I could easily see him taking a step. And that's
another guy, you know that we've seen some media outlets
pick like Fox Sports a couple of weeks ago picked

(28:09):
THEO Johnson as the Giants breakout candidate. Yeah, so clearly
there's some you know, level of buzz around him.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Somebody's paying attention out there, somebody is.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
But I actually I will say this or I want
to ask you just because I saw that this player
was released yesterday from another team, and because we're talking
about the tight end position, given that there's I guess
some level of uncertainty about which tight ends are making
the team Behind THEO Johnson, would you have any interest

(28:44):
in looking into Noah Fant, who was just recently released
former first round pick no I know we are athletic,
has had his own injury issues over the years.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
I would probably put him down on the short list
in case I had an injury and I needed to
call somebody, But I don't think I would necessarily bring
him in right.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
Now, Okay, fair enough, I don't. I kind of agree.
I do think someone will sign him this.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
Week, right probably probably because again, he is a war
work though to pick the spot that he wants to
go to. He might be better Wolf waiting.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
I guess it depends who reaches out, Yeah for sure,
but yeah, he's he's still on the younger side, first
round pick, not that long ago. Someone's gonna snatch him up.
I do agree, though, I don't think the Giant's depth
that tight end is I don't think it's an issue
like I think.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Whether in Trouble trying to cut the guys as it
is right between.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
THEO, Johnson and then again with Bellinger, Manhurtz, Fedonidulitch. We
don't know which three, maybe four of those guys will
make it. Outside of I think we're pretty confident THEO
will make it. I think that we don't We don't
really know, But I'm not that concerned about the depth there. Again,
I don't know if if any of those guys are

(30:01):
going to end up turning into a you know, a
Travis Kelcey. But the way that this offense is built,
I don't think they really need you know, THEO to
turn into Travis Kelcey. I think they just need him
to be a solid tight end that will catch the
ball when he gets when he's thrown too, whether it's three,
four or five times a game, just catch the passes
that are thrown your way. I think that's all, and

(30:22):
you know, helping the blocking a little bit. I think
that's all the team really needs him to do.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
Well.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
If it's four times a game, that's sixty eight catches.
I gave you that number before. He might have to
catch sixty five balls for this offense to be effective
because maybe one of the offensive weapons at wide receiver
won't be what they're supposed to be and Johnson will
have to do that. We might have to.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
Last year he had he only had twenty nine, but
that was in twelve games, right, and again, he was
a fourth round rookie, so it's not like he was
immediately thrown right into the fire, no like Malik was.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
I think I think the amount of THEO Johnson's contribution
is not only going to depend upon him stepping up
as a second year player, but it's also going to
be hey, how much do they need him to step up?

Speaker 3 (31:11):
Again?

Speaker 2 (31:11):
If the receiving corps doesn't, they're going to have to
lean on THEO and say, hey, THEO, we got to
have more from you because we're not getting it elsewhere
we need you to do it, and he's a likely
candidate because of his tools. He's got the ability to
have a high stealing for sure.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
How many times it again limited it action last year,
but I mean, how many big catches up the team
did we see him grab and I'd like again and
then anytime we talked about last year again not the
greatest quarterback play on a week to week basis, So
you would think with Russell Wilson, even if it's Jamis

(31:48):
Jackson Dart eventually whoever it is, you'd expect the quarterback
play to improve, in which case it wouldn't shock anyone
to see Theo Johnson take a pretty big jump in
year two.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
All Right, Finally they the non started to know as
cornerback Cordell Flott. This is a analytics guy who points
to some of the analytics of Cordel Flot suggesting that
he's done some good things for the Giants in the past,
specifically last year when he did stay a bit healthier
and was able to make some plays. You will never

(32:20):
get anybody, anybody bigger fan of Cordel Flott than I
was when he came out of LSU. I was a
big fan of him when he came out of school.
I continue to be a big fan of him. I
still think Banks is the starter, and I don't think
that Flot is in a serious competition to beat him out.
But nonetheless, I'm a big Cordel Flot fan, So you know,

(32:42):
I do think he mentioned something here that if he
has a really good season, he's in the last year
of his contract, and so contract year, you know, Flot's
going to be playing hard because he's gonna want to
get paid, and there's always a chance he winds up
landing somewhere else. I'd hate to see him leave because
I like him a lot as a person and is
a player. But I don't have a problem with him

(33:03):
suggesting cordial Flott is a non starter. To know, at
least he's acknowledging a player who is under most people's
radar but has a lot of skills.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
Yeah, I mean, I think Flot. You know, I would
put Dane Belton kind of in a similar category. I
mean again, and during a contract year with two guys
that are presumed to be above him on the depth chart,
I mean, flat, I think is a little more in
question between him and Deontay Banks. I know you said,
we see how much, but Belton is the team's number

(33:34):
three safety. He's not beating out Holland or Nubin right right.
You know, in the next couple of weeks that's unlikely
to happen, but you can still see a good amount
of playing time. It can still have a big impact
on this defense. And either of those two guys get
injured ahead of him, Belton's all of a sudden thrown
into the starting lineup and going to be leaned upon
heavily in that case. So I could see Flat, I

(33:56):
could see Belton. You could put Evan Neil in this situation,
in this category, I think because fair Right now, he's
a non starter, but he's gonna at least be given
an opportunity to beat out greg Van Rodin for that
starting right guard spot, and even if he doesn't, he's
gonna be likely the first reserve off the bench on

(34:18):
the interior offensive line. And as we see every year,
guys get hurt upfront every single season, like it's unrealistic
to expel the starting five on the offensive line to
stay healthy for all seventeen games. I wish, well most
more than anything, that that could be the case, but
realistically speaking, other guys that are on the bench are

(34:38):
gonna have to step up for a certain amount of
games throughout the season. Up front, Evan Neil, I think
he's just a big potential X factor. Honestly, he could
be an X factor if he ends up winning the
starting guard position and lives up to or plays up
to his you know, first round drafts. Again, this line

(35:02):
could take a huge jump if that ends up happening.
I don't know, that's a player that we very much
need to see him do it, because the first three
years of his career has not lived up to expectations, right,
and we don't know if he's going to be exponentially
better at guard on the inside as opposed to what
he did at tackle. That's very much a wait and
see situation. But I would kind of put him in

(35:24):
the non started to know category as well as Flop
rebelled it. But I can't strongly disagree with that because
Flot could end up having a big impact on this
defense as well.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
All right, real quick, the Giants Huddle podcast is up,
as always all kinds of NFL and Giants personnel.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
You can hear some long.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
Forms interviews that John, did, Matt.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
What is up there right now? Do we know? Did
you do the latest posting on the huddle? On the
Giants huddle, I don't know if today's is up yet. Well,
you could tell people what's coming. The last one which
we posted, I believe on Friday, Thursday or Friday, was
John sitting down with a couple of the linebackers on
the team. I believe at some point either today or

(36:09):
tomorrow will be John's conversation with several of the team's
cornerbacks corners. Speaking of speaking up, I don't know exactly
the conversation guys he spoke to, but I believe that
will be coming out today or tomorrow. And our Charles
and our production department put together a video that was
posted over the weekend about the Metalands, just the area

(36:31):
and how the Giants coming here had a positive impact
on this area around here. It's only like a ten
minute video, but it's pretty interesting. Javon Holland and Dante
Miller met with some high school football players from Secaucus.
They did a little like boat tour on the Hackensack
River and they learned more about the area. It's a
quick watch. It's only ten minutes, but I thought it

(36:52):
was pretty very interesting, prought me some things I didn't know,
talk about having an impact. If they had never built
this giant stadium for MetLife Stadium here at the Metal Lands,
I don't know if I'd be covering this team for my.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Thirty forty third consecutive season, to be honest with you,
because there was logistics that really made it possible for
me to do this. So I'm very, very grateful that
they decided to move to the Metal Lands. Giants season
ticket memberships for twenty twenty five are available. You can
stay connected to the team all year long, not just
on game days, with exclusive member access and benefits. To

(37:26):
learn more, visit Giants dot com slash tickets. Also, Giants
TV brings original video content and game highlights on demand
and direct to Big Blue fans. It's free on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon, fireTV,
and the Giants Mobile app. Our numbers two O one
nine three nine four five one three. We're gonna get

(37:46):
to these two quick phone calls that are on hold
and that apparently it looks like a bunch of you
are These are these updated questions here, John, We have
a bunch of you who did get us questions on YouTube.
I believe the website is now up and running, John
Is that correct?

Speaker 3 (38:02):
All right?

Speaker 2 (38:02):
So Johnny Max says the website is running. So we
got over those technical difficulties. So we're going to get
to all the questions that you posted and try to
rip through those. After these two quick phone calls. Lend
from New Haven, Connecticut, you're first on the show.

Speaker 5 (38:18):
Hello, Hi, how you doing? This is Jason from.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
Oh Hi, Jason, I'm sorry, what's going on Portland man?

Speaker 5 (38:25):
How you guys are doing?

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Jason?

Speaker 4 (38:27):
Good?

Speaker 5 (38:28):
Hopefully you guys had a good break while everybody was
going for the summer. So just quickly, I.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
Think it was good. Others were not too high.

Speaker 5 (38:39):
Yeah, so quick quick points. Yeah, I mean training campusy.
Thank god we got to be finally get to see
some tangible evidence on what our team could potentially be
instead of all the speculation. Not with you too, but
you know, just from national media, you know, you can
tell a lot of these guys don't really watch the
isans and games. I don't think our O line. I

(39:01):
said it time and time again. I thought the old
line played like Paul always likes to say. I thought
they was very functional. Last year.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Pay the copy right man for that one.

Speaker 5 (39:11):
Thank you, thank you. You know, I thought I thought
they played pretty well, at least the first half of
the that first six games, I thought they played pretty well.
And they they did well against some pretty good D
lines Dallas Cleveland. Uh, I know I'm missing it, but
they I won't say they shut those D lines down,

(39:32):
but they more than they more than enough held their own.
So this whole the Giants O line sucks. They suck.
Are they the top five offensive line in the league? No,
But you know, I think they're pretty functional, and two guys,
I want to kind of see what your opinion is.
You know, of course, I'll probably wait another week or
two before I ask you guys, But to me, the

(39:54):
the iteration of the offensive line, to me, I really
hope Evan Neil takes this opportunity to take the bull
by the horn and secure one of these guard positions,
because to me, he is the best run run blocker
on offensive line in terms of just sheer size, mass strength.
Like I've seen some tape. We watched some tape with

(40:15):
frohim last year, and he just moves guys with ease
off that line. It's pretty impressive to watch. So man,
if he could, just if he could just really take
the bull by the horn and secure one of those
old lines, make GVR, you know, the first man off
the bench in terms of the offensive interior, offensive line
off the bench. I think that's the iteration of the

(40:36):
line that has the most upside in terms of towards
the end of the year. We're talking about the Giants
O line is maybe tap top half of the league.
I won't say top ten or top five, but maybe
top fifteen, top sixteen, seventeen, around that range. I think
that would be good enough. And the last guy, I'm
interested to hear what you guys say, and I'll take

(40:57):
it off the air with this one. I'll probably call
it another week or so. One guy, I'm interested intrigued
by this young man named Cambray. If I'm saying his
name right, Cambray.

Speaker 3 (41:07):
Cambray, you mean the receiver, the undrafted receiver.

Speaker 5 (41:12):
Yes, the receiver. I'm sorry, the receiver. I didn't know
too much about him as far as his college career.
Apparently he wasn't really used that much in college or
maybe for whatever reason. But yeah, teams guy, Yeah, he
seems like he has some some skills. Like I said,
I'm not saying he's gonna make the final fifty three
or anything. I'm not saying that, but I want to

(41:33):
see what he looks like. And like I said, I
know you guys showed on Tom, So I'll take it
off the air and I'll probably give you a call
a call next week.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
Thank you, Thank you, Jason, Thanks Jason.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
Well, we've already talked a lot about Evan Neil. I
think we all agree competition makes people better, and if
he winds up winning a starting job, then that's good
for the Giants because it means he beat out other guys.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
Yeah, I'll just say this very quickly. I agree with
Jason in that I think the highest upside offensive line
does have Evan Yale as one of the guards because
he had elite physical traits. He was an elite offensive
line and going into the draft. Obviously it's not been
the case the last couple of years, but that's why
they shifted him inside. Greg Van Rodin was very solid

(42:13):
last year, but give it his age and how long
he's been around, I don't know if it would be
fair to say that you can expect him to take
a jump you know in year was it twelve?

Speaker 2 (42:24):
He is what he is.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
He is what he is. He if he gave a
season like last year, no one's complaining about that. It's
very solid. Evan Neil's upside, though, is higher. I think
he also has a lower floor based on what we've
seen in the last few years, which is why they're
gonna go through training camp and see who wins the competition.
But I agree with Jason that the offensive line that
has the highest upside and the highest potential does include

(42:46):
Evan Neil at one of the guard positions. So that
point I agree with Jason fully. Yep.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
And again, Cambray was a special teams guy, did not
do a whole lot in the passing game when he
was in school, And so we're just gonna have to
say all of these kids, and I'm not gonna pull
punches here. A bunch of the undrafted rookie free agent
wide receivers did some nice things, had some nice flashes

(43:11):
during the off season program, but that doesn't mean much.
In fact, it kind of means very little until you
get the training camp and then you play in the
preseason games. Some of these guys may continue.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
To show flashes.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
Some of these guys may always sudden fizzle out and
not become anything.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
You just don't know. Yeah, look, we saw several undrafted
rookie free agents perform very well in the off season
workout program, but that is the time where they are
taking the most reps. You know, Malie Neighbors wasn't didn't
take a single team rep. See, you know some of
those other guys like, yeah, Darius Slayton was out there,
Jalen Hyatt was obviously out there. Wandell was out there,

(43:49):
But they're not taking every rep the offseason and then
kind of mostly the offseason workout program, but part of
training camp too, is more for the bottom of the
depth chart guys to prove themselves. Like we know the
top starters at the wide receiver position for the Giants
this year. We don't need to go through training camp
to know who the top four receivers are going to be.

(44:10):
The offseason workout program and even training camp is for
those bottom of the depth chart guys to make a
name for themselves and to prove themselves why they deserve
to be on a NFL roster. So, yeah, Cambriy did
look good in the spring I think you could say
that about a few other of the undrafted rookie wide
receivers as well, and it's part of it is because

(44:31):
they were just getting the most reps out there.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
There's a phrase that people talk about all the time,
and it's not necessarily related to football, but it really
could be, and that is tomorrow is not guaranteed. Well,
that's how it is for every one of these undrafted kids.
For sure, Tomorrow is not guaranteed. So every day they've
got to go one hundred and eighty miles an hour

(44:54):
for every single rep if they're going to have a
chance a chance.

Speaker 3 (44:59):
To come back tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
And that's just the way it works throughout the entire
off season for those guys. Look, I can only say this,
it's better that they should flashes rather than not, But
it doesn't necessarily mean they're guaranteed tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
By no means that's it. They gotta do that for
all a training camp just to have a shot and
making fifty three men.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Went from Columbia. Maryland is next on the program Highland.

Speaker 4 (45:28):
Hi, Hey guys, I thought for a second I moved
to New Haven. I had to think that.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
I know, I got lined one and two confinues.

Speaker 4 (45:36):
On the computer exciting part, certainly an exciting time.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
I know you were at Lands for the Yale Bowl,
and I know you went to the Yale Bowl.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
I know you did.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
Yep, of course you did.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
I did too, going.

Speaker 4 (45:48):
Yeah, yeah, that was that was a That was someone
and a year and a half.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
We'll forget about that for the moment. Go ahead, What
you got on the twenty one giants?

Speaker 4 (45:58):
One worst worst nightmare memory? Is your name? It?

Speaker 2 (46:02):
No? No, no, don't don't don't.

Speaker 4 (46:04):
Don't you remember?

Speaker 2 (46:06):
I'm sorry I opened the candle worms. Go to twenty
What do you got to?

Speaker 4 (46:10):
Yeah, okay, Matt, I want to go back to those
Pro Football Focus rankings on middle of the Road on
Iluminair and Van roten is middle of the road is
like thirty two thirty three because there's sixty four starting guards.
Is that? Is that about where you had him? Is

(46:30):
that where they had him? Do you remember?

Speaker 3 (46:33):
I mean I can look up exactly where nonewhere Yeah,
so here pff for Illumini. That said that there was
one hundred and forty offensive tackles eligible. Yeah, and he
was sixty fifth, which is a little bit above the midpoint.

Speaker 4 (46:53):
Well, it's the midpoint on non starters. I mean sixty five.
There's sixty four starters. He was sixty five. I've met
they're saying, I mean he's outside, he's outside that he's
outside the top half. I mean the guys at the bottom.
You go to one forty. They had a minimum number
of snaps and there are a lot of injuries around

(47:14):
the league. That's why there's one hundred and forty rated. Obviously,
But when I look at sixty five, off the top
of your head, do you remember where they had I'm
not knocking the offensive line here, I just want to
put this all in perspective. Who was the other guy wrote?
Do you remember the number was that in the sixties? Also,

(47:34):
I mean, if you've got two starters in the sixties
and you got I think Schmids. Remember there's only one
center per team. Obviously they had Schmid's at twenty six.
You begin to see why they had the whole offensive
line rated at twenty eight when those three guys are
so high.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
Yeah, but I had hold on.

Speaker 4 (47:53):
I thought maybe you were talking eighteen or nineteen.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Let me get you to push the brakes half a
second here.

Speaker 4 (47:59):
Sure, sure, sure, The problem is.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
That I stated this, I thought very clearly when the
Giants offensive line was intact, I'd love to know what
their grades were for those players there.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
You go, hey, how can we Okay, that's that's another
way to look at it. But the point I wanted
to make on this, if they're as low as that,
and I'm going to use that terminology, Matt, if they're
as low as that, the other two guys on the
left side better be a lot better. I mean, you
can't go with sixty three and sixty four and a

(48:31):
twenty six Thomas.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Thomas is going to player?

Speaker 4 (48:35):
Holy cow? Is they those numbers? You know you haven't
played very well with those kinds of numbers. But but
let me let me, let me move on. Please, thank
you for clarifying, Matt. I appreciate it. Who do you
think starts it right guard? I mean you think right
Roman is going to start again? Or he just here?

(48:55):
Is that backup two position player? As order? Are they
that high on on who is the drifted tree as
in Kubas? Are they that high on Kubas?

Speaker 2 (49:06):
Now?

Speaker 3 (49:07):
I do know that Kubas is liked inside of this
building very much. They didn't play much last year, but
there's a reason why he's stick stuck around they like now,
I don't think he's being right now penciled in as
like the starting guard. I think as of right now,
two days before training camp starts, Van Roden certainly has
the early you know, is the early favorite to win

(49:29):
that spot. But that I mean Van Roden himself said
it when he spoke to the media. I think it
was like two months ago during OTIS. They are all competing.
It is a straight up competition for that, especially that
starting right guard spot. Vn Roden does not seem like
he's going into training camp thinking I'm the I'm the starter,
no matter what, no matter what happens the next month,

(49:49):
It's going to be a strong competition between him, Neil
and Kubas for sure. But I do think as of
right now, I think Van Roden would probably be the favorite,
given how he played last year and the fact that, yeah,
he's the only one that played every single snap last year.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
Yeah. Yeah, I would think the first day of training camp,
the first time the starting offensive line goes out there,
it's probably gonna be Van Roten and you see what
happens after that. Yeah, Paul, I agree with your point
yesterday on Bowl he's probably the ninth lineman and it's
likely not to get a uniform very often unless we

(50:27):
get hit with injuries. Yeah, which leads me to say
the following, I don't see how is Zudo makes this team.
I just even if they go to ten, they re
signed Stinny for a reason and they gave him a
lot of money. I just don't see how Zudu is
going to make this team.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
Then the only thing is they're going to keep the
best nine or best ten, whatever it is, and then
there's a practice squad. Now. Yeah, yeah, I'm not trying
to be funny. I know, the guys who don't make
the fifty three along the Giants offensive line, yeah, they
may not find a claim somewhere else in the league, right,

(51:09):
And so there's a real chance that two or three
of these guys wind up coming back on the practice
squad anyway, And as long as there's still in the building,
you still have to consider them as part of the
potential equation.

Speaker 4 (51:23):
Yeah. Yeah, I watched the little tape. I watched the
little tape on Hudson. I know you talked about him yesterday,
and now, look, I'm no offensive line gourgu I'm not
going to pretend that I am. But one of the
things that I'd like to do is if they bring
in a new player, I try to find some kind
of tape to look at and my observation, I mean,

(51:45):
he is what we know he is. He's the swing tackle.
You know, hopefully Thomas is healthy and aluminum on the
other side, and you know, okay, you know we'll go
with that, especially with Andrew, who's going to make who
would make a big difference. But I mean, he's the
third tackle. When I looked at that tape, you just
you have to hope he doesn't play a whole lot ball.

(52:07):
He's better on the left than he is on the right,
and from as a run blocking standpoint, he's he's he's
he's just mediocre. I mean, he's the third tackle. That's
what he is. We know what we got. He's better
than a zoo at left tackle, that's for sure. He
may not have been as good as a luminar left tackle,
but he's better than a Zulu. And as you look

(52:27):
at it, that's that's that's probably a game for us.
One thing he does that just kind of shocked me. Guys,
you know, how we look at Lane Johnson get into
pass blocking position and we say he's offside. You know
how he jumps. He's terrific at that. Hudson does the
same thing. Have you noticed that ball?

Speaker 2 (52:46):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (52:46):
I have.

Speaker 4 (52:47):
Oh my goodness. He gets He gets out of his
stance as quick as anybody we've ever had.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
I think that's why they like him there, and that's
why they prioritized him in free agency.

Speaker 4 (52:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
Yeah, I'll say this, when none of the tackles, the
backup tackles on this team are going to make me
forget about Bob Whitfield or Sean Lucklear who And I'm
not saying that to be funny, but remember in the
last twenty years, you know, those are probably two of
the best, you know, number three tackles we've had on

(53:19):
this roster.

Speaker 4 (53:20):
Absolutely, Paul, Absolutely, I agree with you on that. I
agree with you. But still, you know, the hope is
he doesn't get to play too much.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
I'm with you.

Speaker 4 (53:30):
We need to, We need to, you know, we need
Andrew the drop office. You know.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
Pretty I want to try to get to our comments
from the YouTube if you don't mind, because we were
a little bit late getting off.

Speaker 4 (53:40):
For go Ford go see your camp checking my call.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
Thanks loving.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
All right, let's go to YouTube comments because we we
were a bit late getting on. We had some technical
troubles and so you got a lot of people here
who wrote in. And this is really cool because we
don't get a lot of these writings usually, but we
got a bunch today. So let's go through a few
of these ty play says. I wonder how do they
Turbo Miller looks at this time. Honestly would love to
see him make it into the lineup. I think he

(54:06):
is fighting with Eric Gray for that fourth running back
spot on the fifty three. May the best man win.
They both have different traits. Miller is more of a
speed guy and a quick sky and Gray is a.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
Little bit more of a of a physical guy.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
But right now, I don't know that I could handicap
that one.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
Yeah, and I mean for both of them that competition
in general. I mean they're both fighting to show the
coaching staff why there even should be a fourth running
back on this Yeah, because that is not far from
guaranteed that the Carrie four running backs as possible. But
we don't know that for sure. No, we don't if
the coaching staff is going into training camp thinking we're
likely only taking three, Then that makes that you know,
Dante and Gray, Eric Gray is also that makes you

(54:49):
know expectations even higher for them in order to make
the team, like they're gonna have to show a lot
over the next six weeks. Then if the coaching staff
is only thinking three guys, yeah, that I'm pretty safe
to think Tracy Scataboo unlikely, Devin Singletary given his contractor
making the team, You've got three guys for sure. Yeah,

(55:11):
but you know, Dante Miller is definitely one of those guys.
I could see if he doesn't make the team that
the team would have interest in bringing back on the
practice squad for sure.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
All Cruz says, anybody else want to see Elijah Chapman's
athletic ability used elsewhere because the d line room is
pretty full. I'd love to see packages with him at
full back, he told me last year when I talked
to him privately. He has already told the coaches he'd
love to get the ball at full back. Some didn't
know if they were going to do it last season.

Speaker 3 (55:39):
They did not.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
I don't think they're too anxious to do it, period,
But you never know, you never know.

Speaker 3 (55:46):
I do agree, I would love I'd love to see
a lot of time in just about anywhere on the field,
whether he's a fun defense on anywhere on the line,
full back. I mean, it's pretty commonly accepted with the
players of the team. He is considered to be one of,
if not the strongest players on this team pound pound
pound for pound. And that's coming from his teammates that

(56:08):
have been saying that, not just us who love Elijah Chapman.
So I would love to see him out there basically
lining up at any position.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
A right tie plays also comes back, says, honestly, some
solid quarterback play this year, and we take a huge leap.
How often did we see receivers having to go back
to catch a ball? Hurt yak yardage understood? Russell Wilson
is not going to underthrow receivers. I guarantee you that
we don't need to go anywhere else with it.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
If Wandell has the same number of catches as he
did last year, I can guarantee you it would be
for a large margin more yards than what he.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Ha Roger Little says, we just need to hang on
with the receivers long enough he's talking about the secondary
to let the front seven do their job.

Speaker 3 (56:47):
Well, you know that's the other part to this.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
If the gentleman from ESPN was so effusive in his
praise for the Giants front seven, he should have also
said to himself, well, look, the secondary. They just signed
a couple of really high priced guys. Some of the
young guys played well, and if the front seven is
going to be that good, that's also going to help
the secondary be better one hundred.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
And it also helps that two of your best guys
up front, and I'm just talking about the edge guys
and Burns and now Abdul Carter are known for getting
to the quarterback very quickly, exactly under two point five seconds.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
I We're going to go real quick through these because
I know you people put them in there, and I'm
not going to sign off till we get to them.
So let me go through quickly. Chris says, do you
think the Giants need need to play more press coverage
for the defense to be successful? Look, I think given
the talent that they have on this team, now you'll
see more of that and as long as they execute properly,

(57:41):
the answer is yes. But you've got to execute it,
because if you don't execute it properly and you wind
up having busted coverages or guys who don't play the
receiver correctly, now you get burned.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
It's that simple.

Speaker 2 (57:55):
Yeah, Jamal Jones says, who's going to practice on Wednesday? Well,
we don't have that list yet.

Speaker 3 (58:00):
We do not. I can tell you that come Wednesday,
Dave's and Joe are both speaking to the media, they
will probably say who If anyone is starting on the
PUP lists, there's likely going to be some guys. That
doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to miss time. Last
year we saw guys start training camp on pupp got
activated within a week, and we're completely ready to go

(58:20):
for week one. So there will be some I guess
injury status updates on Wednesday. But just because a guy
gets thrown on PUP on Wednesday does not mean that
he's for sure going to miss time come to regular.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
In other words, there could be some slow ramp ups.

Speaker 3 (58:34):
Don't panic, Yes, we still got some time before week one.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
Little Geo says Russell Wilson is winning most close games easily. Well,
I'll say this, she certainly knows how to pull close
games out of the fire, but easily.

Speaker 3 (58:46):
I hope, so that'd be great. I certainly hope you're right.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
I don't think my stress level needs anymore nail binders, Okay,
Jamal Jones. I think the on line will be improved
on the basis that they're going against a potentially top
ten defensive line all cam. That's the old theory that
iron sharpens iron, So in theory, yes, there's certainly a
possibility of that.

Speaker 3 (59:06):
And not only that, but just improve play from the
defense overall is gonna help the offense without a doubt,
because it's gonna give the offense more, you know, let
them get on the field quicker in between drives as
opposed to the defense Giants defense constantly having to be
out there because the offense keeps going three and out
like we saw a lot. How about not having to
play from behind all the time, That is obviously a

(59:26):
big one as well. Not playing for two scores down
every single game will certainly help the all line.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
Mark Ba says online needs continuity and communication. You get
that with the same crew. Definitely needs serviceable depth. Priscilla
is elevating that line. Martin Gennaro says, I have to
guess that snee is helping out. Also, both of those
comments have a lot of validity. Roger Little says X
factor would be Cam Cam Scataboo, as the X factor
ran for twenty one touchdowns last year. I think at

(59:53):
the very least, if he does not have a larger
role on this offense, he will be the short yard
goal line back.

Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
I would predict that right now. Yeah, I don't know
if I go so far as to call him an
X factor. I think they're just bigger X factors, but
he certainly has the potential to have a big impact
on the offense this year.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
James O'Keefe says, in general, the Giants are flying under
the radar in the NFL. If we stay healthy, the
Giants can catch a lot of people by surprise. James.
That's why we discussed this national column early this morning
on the program. We wanted to show you perception versus reality.
A lot of people outside the building just don't have
a firm grip on reality. They have a very sketchy

(01:00:33):
and blurry perception of what this roster is.

Speaker 3 (01:00:36):
And I'll I'll say to that is let them think
what they want, because I feel like a lot of
people in this building like get better when yeah, there
aren't too much expectations and then they go out and
surprise everyone by playing well. And I can tell you
expectations inside the building not the same as the expectations
from the national media.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
Mark Bee says X factor could be JMS and Neil Okay, fine,
you mentioned that. Jambo Ghak says we need to get
O line and D line. It needs to be blood
on the dance floor. Well, that would be rugby, not
pro football. Then we or perhaps UFC. Then we need
some sticky frog hands safeties and cornerbacks.

Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
Stickham was outlawed in the NFL decades ago. They no
longer have Stickham, but you older folks will know what
I mean. Also Jan saying we need to make quarterbacks
sweat and fear at receptions. Mark Be says hi will
take off this season. Courtesy of Russ Wilson and James Winston.
James O'Keefe says tight ends have been underutilized in the offense.

(01:01:35):
Mark Be says man hurts blocking machine. Definitely need that
on the line. Jamal Jones says the feeling of knowing
we can pass the ball this year is so exciting,
and James O'Keefe finally pulling up the rear with the
last comment, this roster finally has depth and competition for starters.
Should be an interesting camp. That is the best possible comment.

(01:01:56):
We could end this program on one hundred.

Speaker 3 (01:02:00):
We've discussed you and I, John and I. I'm sure
you and John countless times over the last couple of
months that for the first time in at least a
few years, Giants likely have guys that are not gonna
make this team that are gonna get looks from other
teams around the league, which in previous years, most of
the guys the Giants would cut would end up not

(01:02:21):
on a team or bouncing around potential practice squad getting
picked up. You know two months later this year, the
Giants gonna have some guys not make the team that
other teams are gonna be looking immediately to claim off
waivers and get on their squad, And that is a
sign of an improving roster.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
All I can say is watch your preseason games carefully
because there's a lot of roster spots that are gonna
be really, really hotly contested for, and every preseason snap
is going to matter all the way down to the
final preseason snap in the third and final preseason game.
Those are important snaps for every one of these guys.

(01:02:57):
It's gonna be unbelievably difficult, I think, to figure out
the rubik'scube.

Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
Of the final fifty three. Yeah. Just adding even more
to the complexion of that is that you got to
keep in mind. Until it was a week three four
of the regular season, the Giants are number three on
the waiver priority list, which means a high claim, which
means when cutdown day comes and every team gets down
to fifty three players, the Giants are gonna have the
third highest priority of every single one of those players.

(01:03:26):
So that leaves the Giants in a good position to
potentially add even more depth at certain positions come the
end of training camp.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
All right, folks, we are back live for the next
couple of weeks at two pm Eastern Time, That is correct,
two pm Eastern Time for one hour live talk about
New York Giants football here on Big Blue Kickoff Live
from the Giants Podcast Studio, presented by Hacking Sack Meridian Health.
Keep getting better. Our number is always two h one

(01:03:55):
nine three nine four five one three for Matt On Paul.
This has been Big Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac,
the official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants.
We'll see you next time.