LOTS ON THE TO-PUGH LIST
Giants’ guard eyes title, long-term deal
Justin Pugh believes he sees what is coming in the near future, and he likes the view.
“I’m sitting in the driver’s seat,’’ Pugh told The Post during a round of golf Thursday.
The Giants starting left guard, in his fifth season with the team after being drafted in the first round in 2013, is bullish not only on his immediate future but that of the team.
The Giants picked up the fifth-year option on his original rookie contract, which will pay him $8.8 million this season.
Pugh, after this season, is seeking further career security with the Giants, with whom he wants to finish his career, and more money. And he said he plans on earning both.
“I’ve played good football,’’ he said. “I know how important this year is for me. I think this is the best Giants team I’ve been on, so I think the sky’s the limit for the team and myself.’’
Pugh looks back at the Giants’ 27-0 loss on Oct. 12, 2014, in Philadelphia, near where he grew up, as a turning point in his career.
“I let up four sacks against Philadelphia in prime-time and we got blown out,’’ Pugh recalled. “My first year, I was kind of in a whirlwind. I couldn’t overthink it, because I didn’t know what was going on. But I played in every game. I was the first first-round pick for the Giants to play all 16 games since [Lawrence Taylor]. I made the all-rookie team and I thought, ‘This NFL thing is easy. All I’m going to do is get better.’
“The first four games of my [second] season I was playing lights out — I played against J.J. Watt, shut him out, we ran for 200 yards — and then all of a sudden we play Philly and I give up a bunch of sacks and I’m like, ‘ Holy [cow], can I even play in the NFL?’
“That became a mental thing. I actually started talking to a sports psychologist. Since that point forward, I turned my whole career around after playing right tackle my first two seasons and moving to left guard, where I’ve found my home.’’
Pugh said he felt like he was in a groove last season until he got hurt in Week 8 against the Eagles. The knee injury kept him out until Week 14.
“I think I was playing the best football of my career when I got hurt,’’ he said. “I thought I was having a Pro Bowl season. I was a little bummed out I didn’t get Pro Bowl last year. I thought I deserved it over some of the guys that made it. But the Giants know what kind of player I am. I know what kind of player I am. That’s what really matters.’’
Pugh, too, has taken notice of contract money that was doled out to some of his fellow guards this offseason. The Browns gave Kevin Zeitler a five-year, $60 million deal and Joel Bitonio a six-year, $51 million extension. The Chiefs paid Laurent Duvernay-Tardif a five-year, $42 million extension. None of the three players has made a Pro Bowl.
“Trust me, I noticed,’’ Pugh said. “Some of the guards are really good players who have not made Pro Bowls, guys that have missed significant time and have gotten paid a lot of money. I know where I sit in that hierarchy. I also know the Giants need to do right by my, too.
“I’ve gone out there and done everything they’ve ever asked me to do. So I know my worth. I’m going to go out there and play my best season of football and hopefully the Giants say, ‘Let’s pay him what he deserves.’”
Most important to Pugh is remaining a Giant for life.
“That is the goal,’’ he said. “I never want to leave New York City. I started something here, and I want to finish it. We started 0-6 my first season. From where we started to where we’re at now, I feel like I have something to prove in New York City. I have a lot left to show. I have a ring I have to win. I have to get Eli [Manning] his third, and I have to get my first. That’s all I’m thinking about.’’