June 30, 2025 • 26 mins
On this episode of the Giants Huddle podcast, John Schmeelk is joined by Giants tight ends, Daniel Bellinger, Chris Manhertz, Thomas Fidone, Theo Johnson, and Greg Dulcich. They discuss the various skill sets in their room, run blocking for the running backs, and their goals are for the 2025 season.
:00 - Daniel Bellinger
4:23 - Chris Manhertz
10:03 - Thomas Fidone
16:50 - Theo Johnson
23:00 - Greg Dulcich
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to get inside the Giants. Let's go, Let's go,
Let's go on the Giants. Give me some job. Part
of the Giants Podcast Network, Let's roll.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to another edition of the Giants Little Podcast, brought
to you by Citizens, the official bank of the Giants.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Thanks for being with us. My name is John Schmelke.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We continue our position series, talking to each group of
players at each position on the Giants roster. We're still
getting through the offense. Today we're going to talk to
the tight ends. And now we're joined by a Giants
tight end, Daniel Bellinger.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Belli howay man good Man?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
So?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Do you feel like a veteran now? Like I feel
like you just showed up here? I'm sure you feel
like in somebody just showed up here too. But then
I look down, I'm like, wow, he's sending towards the
end of his working contract here.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
This is crazy and it's insane to think about. But
it's definitely like in the moment, it feels long, but
now you look back on it, it's like, man, it
went by like that.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
It's quick.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Where do you think you've grown the most as a
player since you've gotten here?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Just just being a VET and kind of learning the
nuances of not just the New York Giants, but of
the NFL and of the league, and kind of learning
how things process and how other guys process things, and
really just kind of taking more more experiences and turning
into like a vet.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
How do you think your game has expanded it?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Obviously you came from a program in college where it
was a lot of running, a lot of passing. How
do you think your game has expanded in terms of
how you're being used and utilized?
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Yeah, I mean a lot, a lot of versatility in
terms of, you know, the fullback position and the tight
end position, whether it's past game, run game, really kind
of doing it all and being able to manage it all,
unlike in college when it was just a run game.
So you know, it's definitely been a versatility aspect of it.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
You mentioned the fullback stuff. I really feel like you've
taken to that. Did you enjoy lining up in the
backfield and doing some of that?
Speaker 5 (01:36):
I listen, I love playing football.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
So it's if it's if it's full back, if it's
tight end, if it's a receiver, if it's if it's
special teams, whatever it is. I just like playing football,
and I'm enjoying being out there playing the game of football.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Isn't a little bit of a different mentality when you're
a fullback as opposed to tight end.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Definitely, definitely a little more hard nos tightening up your
chin strap a little bit more.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
But it's fun. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And the thing I like, and we saw Brian Dable
use you.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I think they ran a play action pass last year
and you got one on one on linebacker, ran like
a deep out or a flag and you call it.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
A twenty ourd pass. You can get set up some
nice mismatches in the past game that full back spot, right.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Once we get this run game going, it's it's it's
opening up the play action, it's opened up the pass game.
So you know, having a having a tight end that
fullback opens up a lot of doors.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Obviously in the spring there's not a lot of contact,
you're not doing a lot of run game stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
But are you excited from about what this run game
can look like?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Given the additions Camp Scaltable, you have the whole offensive
line group back, you got you guys at tight end.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
What could this run game do? Pairing with play action.
If everything goes the way it's supposed to.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
Yeah, super excited about the run game.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
I think the coach are doing a great job putting
us in the best position possible. I think we have
vets on the old line. I think we you know,
have some young guys coming in as in the backfield,
but I think they're ready, you know. I think they're
ready to step up, and I think we're going to
be a physical upfront team.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Can they fiddle you guys in the tight end room?
I feel like there's a lot of you.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Yeah, I mean, you know, there's a lot of us
in there. But we're all in there, and we're all
we're all working pretty good.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I think it's a fun group. Like you have so
many guys like you.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
If you lined you guys up and like against the wall,
right and we're all looking at you, you wouldn't think
all of you played the same position necessarily, just because
you're sold different you know, shapes and styles and skill sets.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Yeah right, I mean we all we're all a little
different in our own way. But I think that that
helps our team and the fact that we know what
we're good at and we can look at other guys
and see what they're good at and take take from
our from their game and put into our game.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Tell me about Thomas Fadoni, the rookie, what have you
What kind of advice have you given him trying to
get used to things, and what have you seen from
him on the field so far?
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Yeah, young guy from Nebraska, super athletic, definitely definitely gets
in this playbook a lot and knows what he's doing. So,
you know, he's a rookie and he's learning, but he's
an uber athletic guy that wants to wants to get
out there and help our team. So that's the most
exciting part of He's a good guy. Dude's a good guy.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah. Two things I asked about with him.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
One, he came from a very pro scheme at Nebraska, Right,
he was a Matt Rule a lot of NFL concepts.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Have you seen him pick things up a little bit
quicker because of that?
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Oh yeah, yeah, certain concepts we put in He's already
done before at Nebraska, so he kind of knows or
has a good idea of what we're looking for when
we're trying to do it all.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Right, let's saying one I ask you about his length.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
He's at thirty four in How does that help as
a tight end when you're long trying to find those
areas in the middle of the field work can be
very congested.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
It's huge.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
I mean it's nice obviously in past per and run
game because you know you get those length, lengthy dns
that you need. But in the past game, it's it's
huge because you know that extra inch when you're running
an incut or a corner, you know, it's it's that
much more so having those long arms helps a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Finally, what goals have you set out for yourself this year?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Just win?
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Help the team win any anyway, anyhow, you know, anything
in any position they put me in. Let's just help
the team win and let's get some more wins.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Good stuff, man, Thank you, Harbro, Sir, appreciate it. And
I We're joined by veteran Giants tight end Chris Manors. Chris,
what's going on?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Man?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Do you feel like like a dad in there sometimes
with like a bunch of little kids and you're trying
to like get him to do the right stuff all
the time.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I feel like the season better in the room, for sure, So.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I think It's a fun room though, Like you look
at all the guys in there, and I was joking
with with with Belly earlier, like if you wind all
of you guys up like against the wall like a
lineup right, you wouldn't think that necessarily all you guys
played the same position because a lot of you are
built a little differently and you'll have different skill sets.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Is that fun having that type of diverse of a
group in the room together.
Speaker 6 (05:05):
It's definitely fun. I think it's just a testament to
the versatility that we have in the room as a whole.
Obviously a lot of different skill sets across the board
with the people that we have in there. So it's fun,
fun group to be a part of.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
What can this group become?
Speaker 6 (05:19):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
You tell you guys got got THEO Johnson, he's had
all the physical building role, the rookie Thomas Fadoni, really.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Long athletic guy.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
As these guys begin to learn, Chris, what do you
see as the upside for for some of the young
guys in the room.
Speaker 6 (05:30):
You know, I feel like the upside is extremely high,
especially guys like THEO and and the other younger guys.
Boatload of potential has a size that athleticism, the quickness,
could run routes, could get open, could block at the
point of attack. All those things highly critical for the
tide end position, as you could imagine. But it's pretty
exciting to, you know, kind of be a part of
(05:52):
that group and and kind of help them out and
add value in ways that I can as well.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Let's talk about you. You obviously come in here, your guy.
That why heavily in the blocking part of the game.
Right when you look back at your last year, how
do you think you played and how would you evaluate
your own season?
Speaker 6 (06:06):
I think I played well. You know, half the battle
at this point in my career is remaining and stay
in dependable and healthy to play a full season.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Doesn't matter where you're on your career. By the way,
I think that's a challenge for everybody, to be honest
with you, right.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And at this point, I know what my role is.
I know why I'm here.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
I'm here to bring a physical presence in the run
game and and kind of emphasize that brand of football
that Giants football is all about being tough, being dependable,
and making the plays that come to you as well.
So it's definitely something to look forward to, and I'm
pretty excited about it.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
What can you learn about a tight end group in
spring practice when you can't really be physically yet, there's
no pads, you can't really block.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
What can you learn about your group in the setting.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
Like that, I think more importantly at that point in
the year where we're trying to install the playbook, learn
a new system, a lot of these guys will get
tested on their their cognitive capacity, how quickly they can process.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Information, how they can retain information.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
And that's by design, you know, Coach Dable and the
coaching staff does a good job of you know, putting
us in the fire a little bit and testing us
so that once the real bullets start flying it, it's
a little bit more smoother and easier.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
And look, tight end is one of the toughest positions
to learn, especially if you young players. You have to
learn everything, right, You're not just learning the past game.
You got to learn protections, you gotta learn run block,
you gotta learn everything. How have the young guys kind
of taken to it, you know, even theo heading from
year one to year two, figuring out some of the
details necessary to be successful at the position.
Speaker 6 (07:31):
He's definitely took ownership of it, and all of us
do a collective job as a group of just helping
each other out and and and figuring things out along
the way. But a lot of those things just comes
with reps, comes with times, comes with you know, a
boatload of preparation, a lot of things that you know
people don't see when you're in this building. It's it's
really what you do when you're outside of this building
(07:52):
and really trying to catch up and and and learn
as quickly as you can.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
One are the toughest things for a young tight end
to pick up and figure out out going from college
to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
What what takes the longest to click?
Speaker 6 (08:06):
Just speaking from my experience, I think the mental part
is a lot as well, processing information quickly, reading the defense,
making adjustment road adjustments on the fly, things like that.
And once you really get a grasp of that with reps, obviously,
then it just slows down for you. Now you're playing
without thinking. Now you're just playing fast. And you know
(08:29):
a lot of times when these guys are playing fast
and not thinking, that's when they play their best. So
just trying to get to that point as fast as
we can as possible is definitely paramount, and.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
What kind of goals have you set out for yourself
this year?
Speaker 6 (08:42):
My biggest goal is to remain a dependable asset in
this run game and obviously make the plays in the
past game that come to me, but just remain independable,
being a great teammate, being a physical presence in the
run game, and being somebody that my team mainten coaches
could rely on me to go out there and execute
and play.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Finally, where do you think this run game hit its
stride the best last year? Was it zone scheme? Was
it power? Was a duo? Where do you think this
Where do you think the run game was at its best?
Speaker 6 (09:11):
I think, honestly, with the running backs that we have now,
we have a great deal of versatility as far as
whether it's outside zone, whether it's gap schemes. We have
the personnel that fits each and every one of those things,
and obviously the O line and tight ends have to
do a great job in making that possible and clearing
up rings lanes for the running back. But it's a
(09:31):
mixed bag with this group, and that's kind of the
good thing. The most exciting thing you know, throughout chaining camp.
We'll kind of see what we're really good at once
the Pats start coming on, obviously, but it's pretty exciting
at this point.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Chris, good stuff, man, appreciate your time. Thank you, Chris Manherds.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
The Giants Total Podcast is brought to you by Citizens,
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Speaker 1 (09:58):
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gotta go over the middle with at the score?
Speaker 7 (10:03):
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Speaker 1 (10:04):
How do we make that happen?
Speaker 8 (10:06):
I don't know, Bud Citizens does it makes sense of
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Speaker 1 (10:09):
With Citizens Official Bank of Eli Manning.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
We're joined by Giants Rookie tight End Thomas Fadoni. Thomas,
what's going on, man, I'll wear you good. How you
doing man, I'm doing great. So I had a chance
to talk to Thomas Statusfield your your tight Endsfield? Yeah,
Marcus Sattusfield sorry at Nebraska and you know he he
basically said to me when you got here that you
should be really comfortable in everything that we do because
(10:34):
of the system that coach Rule had in Nebraska very
pro style.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
You had the run block under center and all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Have you found Have you found that the transition maybe
it's been a little bit easier for you because of
what you're asked to do in college.
Speaker 8 (10:48):
Yeah. Absolutely, I say this all the time, I think,
but yeah, well coach All did with the Nebraska the
offense we ran even just had like the verbiage that
we use within the offense for the play call and
stuff like that definitely has made a transition a lot
easier for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
What has it been like trying to learn this offense? Everyone?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I mean, I Jamis Winston here, he's been in the
league for ten years and he said to me, man,
this offense is complicated.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
What is it like for a rookie?
Speaker 8 (11:11):
No, it definitely is. I mean there's definitely a lot
of details in each and every play. Sometimes you know,
there's multiple multiple plays within one play. But it definitely
is a tough offense to learn. But it hasn't been,
you know, anything that I haven't done before, kind of
like we touched on a little bit in Ebraska. So
it's it's been good for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Obviously you're not doing a ton of the run game
yet because there's no pass and it's mostly a passing camp.
So how has it been trying to learn the route
concepts and you know some of the optionality that you
guys are given as a tight end in this offense,
depending on what the defense is showing you, you can
then adjust your route and do stuff like that.
Speaker 8 (11:45):
Yeah, see, that's that's that's what was something that's kind
of a learning curve for me. It's just kind of
having more free freedom within your routes, being able to
just kind of, you know, versus different looks of defense
has given you. You know, you don't have to be
square cut on each and every one of your route.
So it's been something that's changed from college to here
is just having some more freedom, which I definitely like,
(12:05):
but just getting used to that, you know, instead of
you know, running it the way it's supposed to be
ran or says to be ran, you know, you can
have some freedom. So that's been a big change, but
it's a good change.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
You have to deal with two very serious injuries back
to back years in college. How did you kind of
fight through that mentally get back on the field, And
it seems like you've gotten your athleticism back.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
You can tell me better than me.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
I don't know if your GPS change or whatever, But
how did you kind of get through that and kind
of get back to where Lauren?
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Now you're in the NFL and you're rocking and rolling.
Speaker 8 (12:32):
Yeah. No, definitely. You know, I've always been someone with
a very strong mindset, and I wasn't going to let anything,
you know, take me off of course of what I
you know, had planned for myself. But no, I definitely,
you know, I don't. I don't think I ever lost
my athleticism. You know, an injury isn't gonna make me
lose it. You know, I same me twice, right, Yeah,
(12:53):
samely twice. Work, you know, workstrely hard to come back.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You know. I was faster than I was.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
I hit twenty one twenty one something miles per hour
in college multiple times recently, you know, before the Combine,
when I was training and stuff like that, you know,
and obviously my agility, you know, I was what top
two or three? I was really top three really and
everything at the combine, you know, some some of the
things I was explosed, I mean I showed my explosiveness,
(13:19):
you know, and like you know, broad drump ten.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Six, stuff like that.
Speaker 8 (13:22):
Just being able to showcase that was huge for me
to show, you know, teams that you know one, it
shows your mentality when you come back something like that,
and and then also like your athleticism and how you
come back. So being able to do that was good.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
When you think about yourself as a receiver, what do
you think of as your strength. Do you think of
yourself as more of a seam runner. Do you think
yourself is more as like the agile option route type
of guy where you can win with your quickness. What
would you think your strength is in terms of your
receiving ability.
Speaker 8 (13:50):
Yeah, and I'm definitely I like to do a little
bit of everything. I take pride in being able to
do everything. But I'm definitely I think you know better
and deeper, you know, deeper situations cross you know, crossing routes, seams,
stuff like that. But I am I am quick in agile.
I'm tall and long though, so sometimes it doesn't look
like that on film. But no, i'd probably you know,
(14:12):
give me open downfield and winning versus man is definitely
something that I'd say is one of my strengths.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
You mentioned your long arms.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
How does that help you as a tight end with
those thirty four inch arms, not only in the passing game,
you know, creating windows in between safeties and linebacker and stuff,
but also then in the running game when you have
to use the block.
Speaker 8 (14:25):
Yeah, it's you know, it's definitely an advantage, you know,
and especially like you know, in past setting and stuff
like that, being able to you know, have length on
d N stuff like that, because they're usually typically pretty
lengthy people as well. So definitely having long have long
arms is big in the run game, being able to
create that that separation for the running back and stuff
like that and from me into the d N. But yeah,
(14:47):
it's really it's really good for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
All right, tell Giant fans, we haven't a chance to
see it yet. Again, there's no pass in the spring.
What do you bring as a blocker in the run game?
Speaker 8 (14:54):
Physicality? I'm extremely physical in the run game. You know.
I'm definitely a willing block. I like to put my
put my head head in there and hit. You know,
we we did a lot of as we touched on
blocking and you know periods where we worked on a
lot of stuff like that Nebraska. So this I'm definitely
a William blocker at tight end. You'd be surprised a
(15:14):
is you know, all across you know, college and stuff
like that, you you meet people who don't like to block.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Some of them are even asked to block.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
Yeah, it's a new football, in new day age football.
You got you got Y's, you got f's, you got
you know, kind of full backs, you play a little
bit everything. So I've just been someone who's tried to
be be able to do it all.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
How the veterans been in the room trying to kind
of move you along and kind of get you you have.
It's kind of a weird room.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
You got a lot of guys. You have Man Hurts,
who's kind of like the vet vet.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, and you have other younger Vets, and you have
you know, another guy's a couple, you know, Deil Johnson's
in the second year. How does that groom kind of
interact with each other and kind of come together to
help everybody get better.
Speaker 8 (15:50):
Yeah, I think we got a great room, a bunch
of really good dudes. Kind of you touched on, you know,
Chris being in the league for like ten plus years,
being able to learn from him and just kind of
take little tidbits and pieces from him, watching him how
he practices, the way he approaches things. And then same
thing with like THEO and and and and Belly. You know,
THEO took on the kind of touch on he's like
(16:12):
a young vet, you know, he took on a big
role last year, did really well. And then Belly obviously
he's he's he had a big season, you know, when
he was when he was put in that position. And
then being able to learn from you know, I feel
like Belly has been really helpful to me being learned
from him things that you know, he kind of has
shown me, and you know, being able to talk through
(16:32):
with him on some things. But he just he's so
good at everything and he's really smooth and no, I
like to watch him and kind of learn from him.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Thomas is a great man. Can't we to see how
they feel in the summer when Pat's come on?
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Man very much. If you want to know how to
manage two minutes of crunch time football, I'm your man.
Speaker 7 (16:50):
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Speaker 1 (16:54):
Hey, I can also talk long care.
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all right, and now we're joined by giants tight end,
THEO Johnson, THEO what's up man?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
All right?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
So difference between THEO Johnson talking to you today than
when I spoke to you, I think probably around almost
a year ago today, How've you changed?
Speaker 9 (17:14):
Huge, huge difference. I know what it's like to be
a professional football player now. I was learning as I
went week by week, and just the knowledge I've gained.
It's it's crazy to look at some of the rookies
now and seeing how they might think they have things
figured out or they know what to expect, when it's like, man,
you got no clue what's coming?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
You kind of laughing them a little bit behind, like
not to their face, but do you think I.
Speaker 9 (17:37):
Don't laugh at them, But it's just it's kind of
cool to see, like like just having been in that
situation and now being where I am now, I've learned
a ton just about like you know, what what I
need to do outside of the building, how I need
to take care of my body, what my routine needs
to look like, and obviously I'm still learning. It's you
know it's only my second year, but just the growth
I had from this year last year is tremendous.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
All Right, I don't want to miss out on this question.
Ask you right off the top.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
You and I bu Carter have talked about unfinished business
from practice at Penn State. I talked him to Dean
Barnes last week as a duel's defensive line coach, and
he said, there's a lot of violence at Penn State practice.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
So can you tell us what those matchups were like
with you and you end up doing worst? O.
Speaker 9 (18:16):
Yeah, it's it's just two high level competitors going in
every day. You know, we both took practice very seriously,
and we were both kind of alpha dogs on opposite
sides of the ball. So you know, things, things can
get tense, can can get heated. But at the end
of the day, like you know, we're both we're both competitors,
(18:37):
we both respect each other as competitors, but like we
pushed each other and and I told him this, you know,
I went to his last game when they played Notre
Dame in Miami, and I told him, man, you like
you made me a better player playing against me, playing
against every day in practice, and you know, I'd hope
that if you ask him that question, you'd probably say
the same thing about me. So, you know, we definitely,
(18:58):
we definitely got it. We've gotten into it for sure.
But I got a ton of respect for him.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
And he wasn't even edge player then. He was playing
off ball linebacker at that point.
Speaker 9 (19:05):
Yeah, There's there's a lot of times where and the
coaches knew at a Penn State too, like, so they'd
like call us out like in practice and we do
like one on one front of the whole team and
stuff like. So like the coaches were kind of in
on it too, like because they knew, like those these
are top guys, you know, on the opposite side of
the ball.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
All right, do you feel if you just look at
the numbers right you're they started going up and up
and up towards right before.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
You got hurt. Did you feel that.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Two just in terms of your improvement and your comfort level,
did you feel like you were starting to peak right
before the injury happened.
Speaker 8 (19:41):
Yeah, I felt I felt it.
Speaker 9 (19:43):
I felt it coming on, you know, the more comfortable
I got and kind of like I was saying earlier,
like just feeling what it's like to be in my
groove like now having an idea like all right, I
have this many games on my belt, this is what
it's got to look like. And then is like is
like all right, Like man, this can like I can
really finish on a super high note. This year, the
(20:06):
injury happened, which was, you know, super discouraging, but at
the same time, like encouraging at the same time, because
it's like, all right, now I know I'm going to
have a full off season to kind of prepare and
you know, figure things out. So I definitely felt like
I was catching on at the right time, and unfortunately
the injury kind of put a hold on that.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
What's the next step in your game for you?
Speaker 9 (20:28):
Yeah, I think the big thing for me this year
is I want to play seventeen games like that's that
is number one priority. I've been taking my recovery and
my health and you know, what I'm putting into my
body and everything more serious than I ever have. So
I think that is the biggest goal for me, is
prioritizing my health and wellness and making sure that I'm
(20:48):
available and consistent throughout seventeen weeks.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
In terms of receiving and being a receiver. Where do
you think.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Your strength lies You still think of yourself is more
of a seam rar. Do you see yourself as more
of like an option guy? All right, I'm running and
I can go inside out and being the quarterback on
the same page, Where do you see your strength that
there's a receiver flashing the most in the way this
offense is structured and put together.
Speaker 9 (21:11):
Yeah, So we've been doing We've been getting a little
bit of different things and you know, OHTA is the
time to try different things out. And as we've got
a new quarterback who has different skill sets and stuff
like that. So we've been experimenting, and I think that,
you know, there's a good opportunity for me to do
a lot more in the option game this year, different
(21:32):
things on third downs, all stuff like as a tight
end you get super excited about, like just the different
concepts and things that you know, really compliment my my
skill set and and my play style. So I think
it's gonna be a good mixture of you know, still
running teams and stuff, but also working in some of
the more you know, intermediate option type routes as well.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
And finally, I know blocking can get very technical. What
are some of the technique things in terms of the
blocking game that that you think you need the fine tune.
If you find tune those, you can become an elite
helper in terms of blocking in.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
The running game.
Speaker 9 (22:05):
Yeah, I think I think the biggest thing when I
look at the tape from last year is just like
not losing the block of the end. I'll do a
good job getting initially engaged and then you know, right
as the runners coming and he's choosing a side, I'll
lose them towards the end of the block. So I
think the big thing for me is just finishing those plays,
finishing the blocks.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Is that better hand placement so you can stay latched
through the.
Speaker 9 (22:27):
Eye or Yeah, it's it's really bringing your hips. Okay,
so if you the closer, you get your hips to
their hips. When he tries to disengage or he tries
to pull you, you're going to be able to stay intact.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
You can control them, right.
Speaker 9 (22:38):
Yeah, if your hips are back and you're leaning forward,
then if someone pulls you, you're you're just going to
take your momentum use it against you. So that's something
I've worked a ton on. That also comes with a
lot of core strength. So if you've got a stronger core,
then like that's you're not going to get thrown as much.
I've been doing ploties twice a week trying to trying
to get the core stronger. So I think we're going
(22:59):
to see improving.
Speaker 8 (23:00):
In that area.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
You certainly got a lot of good players to work
against when we get to the summer and the Pats
come on, so there'll be the little Brian Burns cavon.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
There'll be no shortage of the guys to work on.
No question, good stuff man, time, you appreciate it. Thank you,
And now we're joined by giants tight end Greg Doltitch great.
What's going on? Man?
Speaker 3 (23:15):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I'm great?
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So you arrived late last year.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, how helpful was it that you kind of got
a taste of the offense and everything like that, at
least just for a couple months into last year, so
you kind of hit the ground running when you got.
Speaker 7 (23:26):
Here for Yeah, it was huge, like you said, to
kind of get a little bit of a head start,
a taste of how the offense is run, and getting
to meet everyone obviously was huge. Knowing the teammates and
the coaches so that they knew me how I work,
how I kind of operate, and I kind of had
the same you know, experience with them in those you know,
five or six weeks that I was here at the
end of the year. So it was, you know, definitely helpful.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Did you think Russ would just follow you here?
Speaker 7 (23:50):
Oh my gosh, I heard the news.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
I was.
Speaker 7 (23:52):
I was so ecstatic, Like it was, it was perfect.
I mean, played with him in Denver, obviously, got a
great connection and you know, us on top of just
being a phenomenal, you know player, he's just a great
teammate and you know, it's it's going to be an
exciting year for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
What is it about him? All the players here have
been glowing about us since he got here.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I talked to Davis Webb whibvious, he was his quarterbacks
coach in Denver. He's an awesome guy to work with.
What is it about him that just makes it work
with everyone? Just everything?
Speaker 7 (24:19):
I mean, he's got a presence to him and I think,
you know one word that kind of sticks out. I
don't know if it's the perfect word, but loyalty, Like
he's a loyalty like you're his teammate, Like I mean,
he's he's played a lot, he knows a lot about
football and you know whatever else and all of you know,
his knowledge and anything that he has is totally accessible
(24:39):
to you. Like when you're his teammate, He's goes out
of his way to you know, provide for his teammates
and make sure everyone's good and to you know, be
a team first guy, which is huge. And you know,
I can't ask for anything else.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
You know, the giant fans that maybe haven't seen you
play a ton, what do you bring to this offense
as a receiver at tight end?
Speaker 7 (24:58):
Yeah, obviously, like you said, receiving is kind of my
strong suit. But I like to, you know, work to
be a complete tight end. I think our tight end room,
you know, we've got a ton of great pieces, a
lot of athletes, and a lot of guys that can
move people in the run game.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
So I'm excited.
Speaker 7 (25:14):
About you know, how they'll move us around and you know,
get the most out of us because all of us
are in there to contribute help this team win.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I remember watching you coming out and I thought you
stretched the field down the seam vertically as a seam
runner really well.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And we all know that Russ likes to push the
ball down the field. Is that a good match for
you guys together?
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (25:35):
Absolutely, And I mean you know when we played in
Denver that was kind of the connection we had, and
so trying to continue to foster that and build it
here in this offense. And you know, however, the coaches
are going to allow us to do it.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Get after it.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
We can't wait to see a great good stuff. Man.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I appreciate the time, dude, Thank you very much. Maybe
the most interesting position group on this roster. A lot
of young guys, they have not met their potential yet,
Guys with little bit of a different skill set, physical builds.
It can all do a little bit different things. It
was a fun group to talk to, and I think
it's a group that really has one of the higher
ceilings on the roster. If these guys can put it
together and figure it out, many of them still on
(26:13):
their rookie contracts.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
That's all the time. Yere for this.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Episode of The Giants Total Podcast, brought to you by Citizens,
the official bank of the Giants.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
We'll see you next time.
It's time to get inside the Giants. Let's go, Let's go,
Let's go on the Giants. Give me some job. Part
of the Giants Podcast Network, Let's roll.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to another edition of the Giants Little Podcast, brought
to you by Citizens, the official bank of the Giants.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Thanks for being with us. My name is John Schmelke.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We continue our position series, talking to each group of
players at each position on the Giants roster. We're still
getting through the offense. Today we're going to talk to
the tight ends. And now we're joined by a Giants
tight end, Daniel Bellinger.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Belli howay man good Man?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
So?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Do you feel like a veteran now? Like I feel
like you just showed up here? I'm sure you feel
like in somebody just showed up here too. But then
I look down, I'm like, wow, he's sending towards the
end of his working contract here.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
This is crazy and it's insane to think about. But
it's definitely like in the moment, it feels long, but
now you look back on it, it's like, man, it
went by like that.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
It's quick.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Where do you think you've grown the most as a
player since you've gotten here?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Just just being a VET and kind of learning the
nuances of not just the New York Giants, but of
the NFL and of the league, and kind of learning
how things process and how other guys process things, and
really just kind of taking more more experiences and turning
into like a vet.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
How do you think your game has expanded it?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Obviously you came from a program in college where it
was a lot of running, a lot of passing. How
do you think your game has expanded in terms of
how you're being used and utilized?
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Yeah, I mean a lot, a lot of versatility in
terms of, you know, the fullback position and the tight
end position, whether it's past game, run game, really kind
of doing it all and being able to manage it all,
unlike in college when it was just a run game.
So you know, it's definitely been a versatility aspect of it.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
You mentioned the fullback stuff. I really feel like you've
taken to that. Did you enjoy lining up in the
backfield and doing some of that?
Speaker 5 (01:36):
I listen, I love playing football.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
So it's if it's if it's full back, if it's
tight end, if it's a receiver, if it's if it's
special teams, whatever it is. I just like playing football,
and I'm enjoying being out there playing the game of football.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Isn't a little bit of a different mentality when you're
a fullback as opposed to tight end.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Definitely, definitely a little more hard nos tightening up your
chin strap a little bit more.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
But it's fun. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And the thing I like, and we saw Brian Dable
use you.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I think they ran a play action pass last year
and you got one on one on linebacker, ran like
a deep out or a flag and you call it.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
A twenty ourd pass. You can get set up some
nice mismatches in the past game that full back spot, right.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Once we get this run game going, it's it's it's
opening up the play action, it's opened up the pass game.
So you know, having a having a tight end that
fullback opens up a lot of doors.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Obviously in the spring there's not a lot of contact,
you're not doing a lot of run game stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
But are you excited from about what this run game
can look like?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Given the additions Camp Scaltable, you have the whole offensive
line group back, you got you guys at tight end.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
What could this run game do? Pairing with play action.
If everything goes the way it's supposed to.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
Yeah, super excited about the run game.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
I think the coach are doing a great job putting
us in the best position possible. I think we have
vets on the old line. I think we you know,
have some young guys coming in as in the backfield,
but I think they're ready, you know. I think they're
ready to step up, and I think we're going to
be a physical upfront team.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Can they fiddle you guys in the tight end room?
I feel like there's a lot of you.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Yeah, I mean, you know, there's a lot of us
in there. But we're all in there, and we're all
we're all working pretty good.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I think it's a fun group. Like you have so
many guys like you.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
If you lined you guys up and like against the wall,
right and we're all looking at you, you wouldn't think
all of you played the same position necessarily, just because
you're sold different you know, shapes and styles and skill sets.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Yeah right, I mean we all we're all a little
different in our own way. But I think that that
helps our team and the fact that we know what
we're good at and we can look at other guys
and see what they're good at and take take from
our from their game and put into our game.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Tell me about Thomas Fadoni, the rookie, what have you
What kind of advice have you given him trying to
get used to things, and what have you seen from
him on the field so far?
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Yeah, young guy from Nebraska, super athletic, definitely definitely gets
in this playbook a lot and knows what he's doing. So,
you know, he's a rookie and he's learning, but he's
an uber athletic guy that wants to wants to get
out there and help our team. So that's the most
exciting part of He's a good guy. Dude's a good guy.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah. Two things I asked about with him.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
One, he came from a very pro scheme at Nebraska, Right,
he was a Matt Rule a lot of NFL concepts.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Have you seen him pick things up a little bit
quicker because of that?
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Oh yeah, yeah, certain concepts we put in He's already
done before at Nebraska, so he kind of knows or
has a good idea of what we're looking for when
we're trying to do it all.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Right, let's saying one I ask you about his length.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
He's at thirty four in How does that help as
a tight end when you're long trying to find those
areas in the middle of the field work can be
very congested.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
It's huge.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
I mean it's nice obviously in past per and run
game because you know you get those length, lengthy dns
that you need. But in the past game, it's it's
huge because you know that extra inch when you're running
an incut or a corner, you know, it's it's that
much more so having those long arms helps a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Finally, what goals have you set out for yourself this year?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Just win?
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Help the team win any anyway, anyhow, you know, anything
in any position they put me in. Let's just help
the team win and let's get some more wins.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Good stuff, man, Thank you, Harbro, Sir, appreciate it. And
I We're joined by veteran Giants tight end Chris Manors. Chris,
what's going on?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Man?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Do you feel like like a dad in there sometimes
with like a bunch of little kids and you're trying
to like get him to do the right stuff all
the time.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I feel like the season better in the room, for sure, So.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I think It's a fun room though, Like you look
at all the guys in there, and I was joking
with with with Belly earlier, like if you wind all
of you guys up like against the wall like a
lineup right, you wouldn't think that necessarily all you guys
played the same position because a lot of you are
built a little differently and you'll have different skill sets.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Is that fun having that type of diverse of a
group in the room together.
Speaker 6 (05:05):
It's definitely fun. I think it's just a testament to
the versatility that we have in the room as a whole.
Obviously a lot of different skill sets across the board
with the people that we have in there. So it's fun,
fun group to be a part of.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
What can this group become?
Speaker 6 (05:19):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
You tell you guys got got THEO Johnson, he's had
all the physical building role, the rookie Thomas Fadoni, really.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Long athletic guy.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
As these guys begin to learn, Chris, what do you
see as the upside for for some of the young
guys in the room.
Speaker 6 (05:30):
You know, I feel like the upside is extremely high,
especially guys like THEO and and the other younger guys.
Boatload of potential has a size that athleticism, the quickness,
could run routes, could get open, could block at the
point of attack. All those things highly critical for the
tide end position, as you could imagine. But it's pretty
exciting to, you know, kind of be a part of
(05:52):
that group and and kind of help them out and
add value in ways that I can as well.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Let's talk about you. You obviously come in here, your guy.
That why heavily in the blocking part of the game.
Right when you look back at your last year, how
do you think you played and how would you evaluate
your own season?
Speaker 6 (06:06):
I think I played well. You know, half the battle
at this point in my career is remaining and stay
in dependable and healthy to play a full season.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Doesn't matter where you're on your career. By the way,
I think that's a challenge for everybody, to be honest
with you, right.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And at this point, I know what my role is.
I know why I'm here.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
I'm here to bring a physical presence in the run
game and and kind of emphasize that brand of football
that Giants football is all about being tough, being dependable,
and making the plays that come to you as well.
So it's definitely something to look forward to, and I'm
pretty excited about it.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
What can you learn about a tight end group in
spring practice when you can't really be physically yet, there's
no pads, you can't really block.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
What can you learn about your group in the setting.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
Like that, I think more importantly at that point in
the year where we're trying to install the playbook, learn
a new system, a lot of these guys will get
tested on their their cognitive capacity, how quickly they can process.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Information, how they can retain information.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
And that's by design, you know, Coach Dable and the
coaching staff does a good job of you know, putting
us in the fire a little bit and testing us
so that once the real bullets start flying it, it's
a little bit more smoother and easier.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
And look, tight end is one of the toughest positions
to learn, especially if you young players. You have to
learn everything, right, You're not just learning the past game.
You got to learn protections, you gotta learn run block,
you gotta learn everything. How have the young guys kind
of taken to it, you know, even theo heading from
year one to year two, figuring out some of the
details necessary to be successful at the position.
Speaker 6 (07:31):
He's definitely took ownership of it, and all of us
do a collective job as a group of just helping
each other out and and and figuring things out along
the way. But a lot of those things just comes
with reps, comes with times, comes with you know, a
boatload of preparation, a lot of things that you know
people don't see when you're in this building. It's it's
really what you do when you're outside of this building
(07:52):
and really trying to catch up and and and learn
as quickly as you can.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
One are the toughest things for a young tight end
to pick up and figure out out going from college
to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
What what takes the longest to click?
Speaker 6 (08:06):
Just speaking from my experience, I think the mental part
is a lot as well, processing information quickly, reading the defense,
making adjustment road adjustments on the fly, things like that.
And once you really get a grasp of that with reps, obviously,
then it just slows down for you. Now you're playing
without thinking. Now you're just playing fast. And you know
(08:29):
a lot of times when these guys are playing fast
and not thinking, that's when they play their best. So
just trying to get to that point as fast as
we can as possible is definitely paramount, and.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
What kind of goals have you set out for yourself
this year?
Speaker 6 (08:42):
My biggest goal is to remain a dependable asset in
this run game and obviously make the plays in the
past game that come to me, but just remain independable,
being a great teammate, being a physical presence in the
run game, and being somebody that my team mainten coaches
could rely on me to go out there and execute
and play.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Finally, where do you think this run game hit its
stride the best last year? Was it zone scheme? Was
it power? Was a duo? Where do you think this
Where do you think the run game was at its best?
Speaker 6 (09:11):
I think, honestly, with the running backs that we have now,
we have a great deal of versatility as far as
whether it's outside zone, whether it's gap schemes. We have
the personnel that fits each and every one of those things,
and obviously the O line and tight ends have to
do a great job in making that possible and clearing
up rings lanes for the running back. But it's a
(09:31):
mixed bag with this group, and that's kind of the
good thing. The most exciting thing you know, throughout chaining camp.
We'll kind of see what we're really good at once
the Pats start coming on, obviously, but it's pretty exciting
at this point.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Chris, good stuff, man, appreciate your time. Thank you, Chris Manherds.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
The Giants Total Podcast is brought to you by Citizens,
the Official Bank of the Giants. From game day celebrations
to your everyday financial needs, Big Blue fans can get
the most out of every moment with Citizens. Go to
Citizens bank dot com slash Giants.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Huddle up, get in here, you're lined up here, you
gotta go over the middle with at the score?
Speaker 7 (10:03):
Great?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
How do we make that happen?
Speaker 8 (10:06):
I don't know, Bud Citizens does it makes sense of
your money?
Speaker 1 (10:09):
With Citizens Official Bank of Eli Manning.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
We're joined by Giants Rookie tight End Thomas Fadoni. Thomas,
what's going on, man, I'll wear you good. How you
doing man, I'm doing great. So I had a chance
to talk to Thomas Statusfield your your tight Endsfield? Yeah,
Marcus Sattusfield sorry at Nebraska and you know he he
basically said to me when you got here that you
should be really comfortable in everything that we do because
(10:34):
of the system that coach Rule had in Nebraska very
pro style.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
You had the run block under center and all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Have you found Have you found that the transition maybe
it's been a little bit easier for you because of
what you're asked to do in college.
Speaker 8 (10:48):
Yeah. Absolutely, I say this all the time, I think,
but yeah, well coach All did with the Nebraska the
offense we ran even just had like the verbiage that
we use within the offense for the play call and
stuff like that definitely has made a transition a lot
easier for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
What has it been like trying to learn this offense? Everyone?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I mean, I Jamis Winston here, he's been in the
league for ten years and he said to me, man,
this offense is complicated.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
What is it like for a rookie?
Speaker 8 (11:11):
No, it definitely is. I mean there's definitely a lot
of details in each and every play. Sometimes you know,
there's multiple multiple plays within one play. But it definitely
is a tough offense to learn. But it hasn't been,
you know, anything that I haven't done before, kind of
like we touched on a little bit in Ebraska. So
it's it's been good for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Obviously you're not doing a ton of the run game
yet because there's no pass and it's mostly a passing camp.
So how has it been trying to learn the route
concepts and you know some of the optionality that you
guys are given as a tight end in this offense,
depending on what the defense is showing you, you can
then adjust your route and do stuff like that.
Speaker 8 (11:45):
Yeah, see, that's that's that's what was something that's kind
of a learning curve for me. It's just kind of
having more free freedom within your routes, being able to
just kind of, you know, versus different looks of defense
has given you. You know, you don't have to be
square cut on each and every one of your route.
So it's been something that's changed from college to here
is just having some more freedom, which I definitely like,
(12:05):
but just getting used to that, you know, instead of
you know, running it the way it's supposed to be
ran or says to be ran, you know, you can
have some freedom. So that's been a big change, but
it's a good change.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
You have to deal with two very serious injuries back
to back years in college. How did you kind of
fight through that mentally get back on the field, And
it seems like you've gotten your athleticism back.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
You can tell me better than me.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
I don't know if your GPS change or whatever, But
how did you kind of get through that and kind
of get back to where Lauren?
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Now you're in the NFL and you're rocking and rolling.
Speaker 8 (12:32):
Yeah. No, definitely. You know, I've always been someone with
a very strong mindset, and I wasn't going to let anything,
you know, take me off of course of what I
you know, had planned for myself. But no, I definitely,
you know, I don't. I don't think I ever lost
my athleticism. You know, an injury isn't gonna make me
lose it. You know, I same me twice, right, Yeah,
(12:53):
samely twice. Work, you know, workstrely hard to come back.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You know. I was faster than I was.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
I hit twenty one twenty one something miles per hour
in college multiple times recently, you know, before the Combine,
when I was training and stuff like that, you know,
and obviously my agility, you know, I was what top
two or three? I was really top three really and
everything at the combine, you know, some some of the
things I was explosed, I mean I showed my explosiveness,
(13:19):
you know, and like you know, broad drump ten.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Six, stuff like that.
Speaker 8 (13:22):
Just being able to showcase that was huge for me
to show, you know, teams that you know one, it
shows your mentality when you come back something like that,
and and then also like your athleticism and how you
come back. So being able to do that was good.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
When you think about yourself as a receiver, what do
you think of as your strength. Do you think of
yourself as more of a seam runner. Do you think
yourself is more as like the agile option route type
of guy where you can win with your quickness. What
would you think your strength is in terms of your
receiving ability.
Speaker 8 (13:50):
Yeah, and I'm definitely I like to do a little
bit of everything. I take pride in being able to
do everything. But I'm definitely I think you know better
and deeper, you know, deeper situations cross you know, crossing routes, seams,
stuff like that. But I am I am quick in agile.
I'm tall and long though, so sometimes it doesn't look
like that on film. But no, i'd probably you know,
(14:12):
give me open downfield and winning versus man is definitely
something that I'd say is one of my strengths.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
You mentioned your long arms.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
How does that help you as a tight end with
those thirty four inch arms, not only in the passing game,
you know, creating windows in between safeties and linebacker and stuff,
but also then in the running game when you have
to use the block.
Speaker 8 (14:25):
Yeah, it's you know, it's definitely an advantage, you know,
and especially like you know, in past setting and stuff
like that, being able to you know, have length on
d N stuff like that, because they're usually typically pretty
lengthy people as well. So definitely having long have long
arms is big in the run game, being able to
create that that separation for the running back and stuff
like that and from me into the d N. But yeah,
(14:47):
it's really it's really good for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
All right, tell Giant fans, we haven't a chance to
see it yet. Again, there's no pass in the spring.
What do you bring as a blocker in the run game?
Speaker 8 (14:54):
Physicality? I'm extremely physical in the run game. You know.
I'm definitely a willing block. I like to put my
put my head head in there and hit. You know,
we we did a lot of as we touched on
blocking and you know periods where we worked on a
lot of stuff like that Nebraska. So this I'm definitely
a William blocker at tight end. You'd be surprised a
(15:14):
is you know, all across you know, college and stuff
like that, you you meet people who don't like to block.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Some of them are even asked to block.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
Yeah, it's a new football, in new day age football.
You got you got Y's, you got f's, you got
you know, kind of full backs, you play a little
bit everything. So I've just been someone who's tried to
be be able to do it all.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
How the veterans been in the room trying to kind
of move you along and kind of get you you have.
It's kind of a weird room.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
You got a lot of guys. You have Man Hurts,
who's kind of like the vet vet.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, and you have other younger Vets, and you have
you know, another guy's a couple, you know, Deil Johnson's
in the second year. How does that groom kind of
interact with each other and kind of come together to
help everybody get better.
Speaker 8 (15:50):
Yeah, I think we got a great room, a bunch
of really good dudes. Kind of you touched on, you know,
Chris being in the league for like ten plus years,
being able to learn from him and just kind of
take little tidbits and pieces from him, watching him how
he practices, the way he approaches things. And then same
thing with like THEO and and and and Belly. You know,
THEO took on the kind of touch on he's like
(16:12):
a young vet, you know, he took on a big
role last year, did really well. And then Belly obviously
he's he's he had a big season, you know, when
he was when he was put in that position. And
then being able to learn from you know, I feel
like Belly has been really helpful to me being learned
from him things that you know, he kind of has
shown me, and you know, being able to talk through
(16:32):
with him on some things. But he just he's so
good at everything and he's really smooth and no, I
like to watch him and kind of learn from him.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Thomas is a great man. Can't we to see how
they feel in the summer when Pat's come on?
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Man very much. If you want to know how to
manage two minutes of crunch time football, I'm your man.
Speaker 7 (16:50):
But if you're wondering about a long term financial plan,
you should talk to citizens.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Hey, I can also talk long care.
Speaker 7 (16:56):
I'd like to learn about amuli routine yes, I knew
I could help make sense of your money with citizens,
all right, and now we're joined by giants tight end,
THEO Johnson, THEO what's up man?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
All right?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
So difference between THEO Johnson talking to you today than
when I spoke to you, I think probably around almost
a year ago today, How've you changed?
Speaker 9 (17:14):
Huge, huge difference. I know what it's like to be
a professional football player now. I was learning as I
went week by week, and just the knowledge I've gained.
It's it's crazy to look at some of the rookies
now and seeing how they might think they have things
figured out or they know what to expect, when it's like, man,
you got no clue what's coming?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
You kind of laughing them a little bit behind, like
not to their face, but do you think I.
Speaker 9 (17:37):
Don't laugh at them, But it's just it's kind of
cool to see, like like just having been in that
situation and now being where I am now, I've learned
a ton just about like you know, what what I
need to do outside of the building, how I need
to take care of my body, what my routine needs
to look like, and obviously I'm still learning. It's you
know it's only my second year, but just the growth
I had from this year last year is tremendous.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
All Right, I don't want to miss out on this question.
Ask you right off the top.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
You and I bu Carter have talked about unfinished business
from practice at Penn State. I talked him to Dean
Barnes last week as a duel's defensive line coach, and
he said, there's a lot of violence at Penn State practice.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
So can you tell us what those matchups were like
with you and you end up doing worst? O.
Speaker 9 (18:16):
Yeah, it's it's just two high level competitors going in
every day. You know, we both took practice very seriously,
and we were both kind of alpha dogs on opposite
sides of the ball. So you know, things, things can
get tense, can can get heated. But at the end
of the day, like you know, we're both we're both competitors,
(18:37):
we both respect each other as competitors, but like we
pushed each other and and I told him this, you know,
I went to his last game when they played Notre
Dame in Miami, and I told him, man, you like
you made me a better player playing against me, playing
against every day in practice, and you know, I'd hope
that if you ask him that question, you'd probably say
the same thing about me. So, you know, we definitely,
(18:58):
we definitely got it. We've gotten into it for sure.
But I got a ton of respect for him.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
And he wasn't even edge player then. He was playing
off ball linebacker at that point.
Speaker 9 (19:05):
Yeah, There's there's a lot of times where and the
coaches knew at a Penn State too, like, so they'd
like call us out like in practice and we do
like one on one front of the whole team and
stuff like. So like the coaches were kind of in
on it too, like because they knew, like those these
are top guys, you know, on the opposite side of
the ball.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
All right, do you feel if you just look at
the numbers right you're they started going up and up
and up towards right before.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
You got hurt. Did you feel that.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Two just in terms of your improvement and your comfort level,
did you feel like you were starting to peak right
before the injury happened.
Speaker 8 (19:41):
Yeah, I felt I felt it.
Speaker 9 (19:43):
I felt it coming on, you know, the more comfortable
I got and kind of like I was saying earlier,
like just feeling what it's like to be in my
groove like now having an idea like all right, I
have this many games on my belt, this is what
it's got to look like. And then is like is
like all right, Like man, this can like I can
really finish on a super high note. This year, the
(20:06):
injury happened, which was, you know, super discouraging, but at
the same time, like encouraging at the same time, because
it's like, all right, now I know I'm going to
have a full off season to kind of prepare and
you know, figure things out. So I definitely felt like
I was catching on at the right time, and unfortunately
the injury kind of put a hold on that.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
What's the next step in your game for you?
Speaker 9 (20:28):
Yeah, I think the big thing for me this year
is I want to play seventeen games like that's that
is number one priority. I've been taking my recovery and
my health and you know, what I'm putting into my
body and everything more serious than I ever have. So
I think that is the biggest goal for me, is
prioritizing my health and wellness and making sure that I'm
(20:48):
available and consistent throughout seventeen weeks.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
In terms of receiving and being a receiver. Where do
you think.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Your strength lies You still think of yourself is more
of a seam rar. Do you see yourself as more
of like an option guy? All right, I'm running and
I can go inside out and being the quarterback on
the same page, Where do you see your strength that
there's a receiver flashing the most in the way this
offense is structured and put together.
Speaker 9 (21:11):
Yeah, So we've been doing We've been getting a little
bit of different things and you know, OHTA is the
time to try different things out. And as we've got
a new quarterback who has different skill sets and stuff
like that. So we've been experimenting, and I think that,
you know, there's a good opportunity for me to do
a lot more in the option game this year, different
(21:32):
things on third downs, all stuff like as a tight
end you get super excited about, like just the different
concepts and things that you know, really compliment my my
skill set and and my play style. So I think
it's gonna be a good mixture of you know, still
running teams and stuff, but also working in some of
the more you know, intermediate option type routes as well.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
And finally, I know blocking can get very technical. What
are some of the technique things in terms of the
blocking game that that you think you need the fine tune.
If you find tune those, you can become an elite
helper in terms of blocking in.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
The running game.
Speaker 9 (22:05):
Yeah, I think I think the biggest thing when I
look at the tape from last year is just like
not losing the block of the end. I'll do a
good job getting initially engaged and then you know, right
as the runners coming and he's choosing a side, I'll
lose them towards the end of the block. So I
think the big thing for me is just finishing those plays,
finishing the blocks.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Is that better hand placement so you can stay latched
through the.
Speaker 9 (22:27):
Eye or Yeah, it's it's really bringing your hips. Okay,
so if you the closer, you get your hips to
their hips. When he tries to disengage or he tries
to pull you, you're going to be able to stay intact.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
You can control them, right.
Speaker 9 (22:38):
Yeah, if your hips are back and you're leaning forward,
then if someone pulls you, you're you're just going to
take your momentum use it against you. So that's something
I've worked a ton on. That also comes with a
lot of core strength. So if you've got a stronger core,
then like that's you're not going to get thrown as much.
I've been doing ploties twice a week trying to trying
to get the core stronger. So I think we're going
(22:59):
to see improving.
Speaker 8 (23:00):
In that area.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
You certainly got a lot of good players to work
against when we get to the summer and the Pats
come on, so there'll be the little Brian Burns cavon.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
There'll be no shortage of the guys to work on.
No question, good stuff man, time, you appreciate it. Thank you,
And now we're joined by giants tight end Greg Doltitch great.
What's going on? Man?
Speaker 3 (23:15):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I'm great?
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So you arrived late last year.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, how helpful was it that you kind of got
a taste of the offense and everything like that, at
least just for a couple months into last year, so
you kind of hit the ground running when you got.
Speaker 7 (23:26):
Here for Yeah, it was huge, like you said, to
kind of get a little bit of a head start,
a taste of how the offense is run, and getting
to meet everyone obviously was huge. Knowing the teammates and
the coaches so that they knew me how I work,
how I kind of operate, and I kind of had
the same you know, experience with them in those you know,
five or six weeks that I was here at the
end of the year. So it was, you know, definitely helpful.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Did you think Russ would just follow you here?
Speaker 7 (23:50):
Oh my gosh, I heard the news.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
I was.
Speaker 7 (23:52):
I was so ecstatic, Like it was, it was perfect.
I mean, played with him in Denver, obviously, got a
great connection and you know, us on top of just
being a phenomenal, you know player, he's just a great
teammate and you know, it's it's going to be an
exciting year for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
What is it about him? All the players here have
been glowing about us since he got here.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I talked to Davis Webb whibvious, he was his quarterbacks
coach in Denver. He's an awesome guy to work with.
What is it about him that just makes it work
with everyone? Just everything?
Speaker 7 (24:19):
I mean, he's got a presence to him and I think,
you know one word that kind of sticks out. I
don't know if it's the perfect word, but loyalty, Like
he's a loyalty like you're his teammate, Like I mean,
he's he's played a lot, he knows a lot about
football and you know whatever else and all of you know,
his knowledge and anything that he has is totally accessible
(24:39):
to you. Like when you're his teammate, He's goes out
of his way to you know, provide for his teammates
and make sure everyone's good and to you know, be
a team first guy, which is huge. And you know,
I can't ask for anything else.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
You know, the giant fans that maybe haven't seen you
play a ton, what do you bring to this offense
as a receiver at tight end?
Speaker 7 (24:58):
Yeah, obviously, like you said, receiving is kind of my
strong suit. But I like to, you know, work to
be a complete tight end. I think our tight end room,
you know, we've got a ton of great pieces, a
lot of athletes, and a lot of guys that can
move people in the run game.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
So I'm excited.
Speaker 7 (25:14):
About you know, how they'll move us around and you know,
get the most out of us because all of us
are in there to contribute help this team win.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I remember watching you coming out and I thought you
stretched the field down the seam vertically as a seam
runner really well.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And we all know that Russ likes to push the
ball down the field. Is that a good match for
you guys together?
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (25:35):
Absolutely, And I mean you know when we played in
Denver that was kind of the connection we had, and
so trying to continue to foster that and build it
here in this offense. And you know, however, the coaches
are going to allow us to do it.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Get after it.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
We can't wait to see a great good stuff. Man.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I appreciate the time, dude, Thank you very much. Maybe
the most interesting position group on this roster. A lot
of young guys, they have not met their potential yet,
Guys with little bit of a different skill set, physical builds.
It can all do a little bit different things. It
was a fun group to talk to, and I think
it's a group that really has one of the higher
ceilings on the roster. If these guys can put it
together and figure it out, many of them still on
(26:13):
their rookie contracts.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
That's all the time. Yere for this.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Episode of The Giants Total Podcast, brought to you by Citizens,
the official bank of the Giants.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
We'll see you next time.
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