Giants rushing Freeman into mix
The Giants picked up Devonta Freeman because they believe he has enough left in his 28-year-old legs to help in some way offset the staggering loss of Saquon Barkley for the remainder of the season. Freeman’s track record suggests he can help.
Freeman’s arrival Wednesday was not part of a Giants’ plan to assuage the fears of their fans that, without Barkley and already 0-2 in Joe Judge’s first two weeks as the head coach, they were going to go with that they already had on the roster — a signal of surrender.
“Yeah, we’re not gonna raise the white flag on anything,’’ Judge said. “Our guys are gonna fight straight on through. We’ve got a job to do, we come in here every day regardless of the circumstance or outcome of the previous game. Our job is to get ready to go out there and put the best product on the field we can on a weekly basis. There’s no white flag here. We’re going out there to fight every week.’’
The fight without Barkley will be far more difficult. He went down Sunday in Chicago to a serious right knee injury and will require surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a partially torn meniscus.
Freeman, in a workout Tuesday, showed enough to warrant a one-year deal worth up to $3 million. Wearing No. 31, he was on the field a day later, joining Dion Lewis and Wayne Gallman for what the Giants hope can be a running back committee that can at least give Daniel Jones a semThe
blance of a rushing attack.
“It was important for us to just add a player who gave us some ability in the backfield to add to our backfield already,’’ Judge said. “We have a lot of confidence in Wayne and Dion, and we’re gonna get Devonta caught up as fast as we can and get him rolling.’’
The plan is to force-feed enough knowledge into Freeman so that he can fill a role on offense Sunday against the 49ers. He cannot, and will not, have command of the entire playbook. That will take weeks, maybe months.
After catching a pass in an individual drill in his first Giants practice, Freeman, 28, received some brief instruction from Judge. This is the way it will be for the newcomer for quite some time.
At his best, the compact (5-foot-8, 206 pounds) Freeman was a dual threat as a runner and pass-catcher. He had 1,000-yard rushing seasons for the Falcons in 2015 and 2016. He caught 73 and 54 passes in those seasons. Knee and groin injuries limited him to just two games in 2018 and last season he ran for 656 yards on a career-low 3.6 yards per attempt. He was released by the Falcons in March and unemployed until the Giants came calling.
Giants liked what they saw in the Tuesday workout. An endorsement from defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson, who was with the Falcons the past four years, was noteworthy.
“He really spoke highly on the character he brings to the team, the kind of teammate he is in the locker room,’’ Judge said. “I think [Freeman’s] got some juice left in the tank. We’ll give him the opportunity to prove that.’’
Niners coach Kyle Shanahan was the offensive coordinator for the Falcons in 2015 and 2016 and worked closely with Freeman.
“They’re getting a hell of a player and a hell of a guy,’’ Shanahan said. “I love [Freeman]. He’s a really good runner, he’s really good out of the backfield as a receiver and a great teammate to have around.’’
In time, Freeman could be the Giants’ No. 1 option in the backfield. That will not be the case this week.
“Obviously there’s a difference in working-out shape and playing shape,’’ Judge said. “We’ll have to see where he is physically, and then we got to see mentally we got to see how he is with all the things we’re putting in this week. We want to make sure we’re putting him in a position where he can be successful. We’re gonna do everything we can to catch him up.
“As much as he can carry, whatever kind of load that will be, based on this short week of getting him caught up, we’ll obviously try to put it on his plate, but we don’t to overload him too much that it slows him down.’’