‘Personal things’ continue to plague former 1st-round pick Apple
EAST RUTHERFORD » Eli Apple’s second season in the NFL continues down a troublesome path, and at this point it isn’t clear when the Giants’ 2016 first-round pick will return to the field.
Interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo said Wednesday that Apple is “going to have to deal with some repercussions” for violating the NFL’s social media policy on Sunday. The 22-year-old cornerback, who was inactive for the fourth straight game, tweeted three times during and immediately following the Giants’ 30-10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Apple, who hasn’t been made available for comment, also retweeted a post about Cowboys running back Rod Smith’s 81-yard touchdown. Smith and Apple were college teammates at Ohio State.
Spagnuolo said he and Apple had a conversation about it, and Apple apologized.
“I don’t want to pass judgement on a kid’s attitude or character. I think that’s just between me and him, but the tweeting obviously was very disappointing,” Spagnuolo said. “He’s a young man that, look, I’m into building up and not breaking down. So we’ll keep trying to build up.”
Spagnuolo declined to say whether Apple would be fined, and he wouldn’t commit to his return to game action next Sunday against the Eagles.
“At some point, we got to (get him on the field),” Spagnuolo said. “That’s the goal.”
Coming into the week, Spagnuolo was hopeful that Apple would finally take the field again once he had more practice reps. The Giants have listed Apple on the injury report at various times in the past two weeks with back, groin and hip issues.
Spagnuolo said Apple is healthy and practicing, but only with the scout team and special teams as of now.
“We’re kind of getting him, trying to oil him back up,” Spagnuolo said. “We’ll see where he is at the end of the week. At the end, you got to make a decision on 46 players, so that’ll all unfold as the week goes.”
The Giants have made cryptic remarks on Apple ever since he last played on Nov. 12 in San Francisco. Former head Ben McAdoo said the Giants held a “brutally honest” team meeting after that 31-21 loss, and Apple’s effort was reportedly questioned enough to make him threaten to walk out of the team facility twice.
Apple practiced the afternoon after the meeting and then missed the next two days of practice for a personal matter. McAdoo called it “the right thing to do” to make Apple a healthy scratch against the Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 19.
Apple has initially been expected to play in each of the last three games, only for the Giants to cite a lack of practice reps and injuries as reasons to hold him out further.
“He’s got a lot of personal things going on at this point in his life,” strong safety Landon Collins said. “I’m surprised he’s still here and didn’t step away from the game, because most players would. But he’s got a lot going on in his situation. That’s when you have to be a brother towards him and know and tell him that you got his back.”
Collins said “a couple” Giants have sat down with Apple “throughout the season, multiple times.”
“We just said, ‘Man, regardless of the situation, we got your back. You’re our brother,’” Collins said. “We have to go to practice with him and we need him to be here. We need him to want to be here and not fighting against us or fighting against the coaches. Because if he’s fighting against the coaches or the organization or whatever he’s fighting against in his head, we don’t need him fighting us because that causes conflict.”
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Spagnuolo said nothing has changed regarding Davis Webb. He remains the team’s No. 3 quarterback receiving scout-team reps, and the plan is for the rookie to be inactive for the 13th straight game Sunday.
Spagnuolo has been steadfast that for now, Eli Manning will continue to play because he gives the Giants the best chance to win. Even though the Giants are 2-11, Manning is going on 37 years old and the franchise will likely have a top-three pick in next year’s draft.
Asked if there is any chance Webb receives a start on Dec. 24 at Arizona, Spagnuolo said, “I don’t know that yet. I don’t know that.”