THEY’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
Judge says coaches had players’ backs in setting up protocols
Joe Judge said Friday that the NFL’s players had coaches’ support in negotiating an extended ramp-up period of training camp prior to live preseason football practices.
Judge, the Giants’ first-year head coach, sees health as the key determining factor in this 2020 NFL season due in part of course to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Part of our culture is doing what is necessary to be successful,” Judge said, “and in this time, to be successful, we have to stay healthy. The healthiest team has an advantage, and we have to do our part to stay healthy.”
But health doesn’t just mean containing the virus. For Judge, it’s also critical that the Giants have until the start of contact practices on Aug. 17 to adequately prepare players’ bodies for football without the benefit of spring OTAs.
“The biggest thing we’re thinking about right now at this point is physically to give our players a chance to get their bodies ready for practice,” Judge said on his first Zoom conference call of training camp. “That’s why the league set this up, that’s why the players and coaches were very adamant about having a training period for the players.
“We’ve got to remember: These guys can’t go from zero to 100,” he continued. “You have to give them a chance to train, to get their bodies in position and ready … There’s things when you train on your own that you just can’t simulate. And it’s really the reactive moments that you’re so vulnerable to. So to avoid soft tissue injuries or ligament issues, we want to make sure we take our time on this front part of this acclimation and give the players the full progression.”
As Judge splits his 90man training camp roster, therefore, he said he is keeping Daniel Jones and the quarterbacks with the first, earlier-reporting rookie group because the Giants can
“start that clock and get them on the field” for the first practice of any kind Aug. 7 “and keep them healthy.”
The Giants’ COVID-19 protocols and obedience appear to concern Judge less, in part because he has full confidence in the medical staff and also because he has made his expectations clear.
“If the biggest thing we have to do is for half a year wear masks around each other, distance a little bit, and when we go home, be home, I think that’s a pretty fair tradeoff to be a part of the National Football League,” he said.
Judge touched on several areas of the Giants’ process on Friday. Here is a rundown of other news that came out of it.
SILLS FALLOUT UNKNOWN
Wide receiver David Sills V has been the Giants’ only publicly-reported positive COVID-19 test so far. That was Tuesday, and he was asymptomatic, the Daily News learned.
Judge did not answer on Friday if any other players to his knowledge had tested positive. As far as the Daily News can determine, Sills did not come into contact with any Giants staff that would have required any non-players in the facility to quarantine.
While Sills quarantines, Judge said: “The biggest thing for us is any player that can’t be with the team on a daily basis due to any kind of illness is we can extend the meetings through Zoom like we did in the spring. It’s not foreign to our players now. They’ve already gone through an entire spring of it. So if they can’t be in the meeting room with us, they can be in the hotel room and still participate in the meetings and not fall behind on the mental aspect of that day.”
Barring a setback, Sills also would be on schedule to clear the protocol in time for that first non-contact Aug. 7 practice. He must stay out of the facility and away from all Giants personnel for 10 days from the first positive test, or five days from the initial test if he receives two consecutive negative virus tests within that five-day period (at least 24 hours apart).
SHAKING BAKE
There is a strong argument that the Giants should have cut DeAndre Baker already, but Judge did correct a reporter on Friday when asked
why the Giants were “keeping (Baker) around” while facing likely formal charges in an alleged armed robbery.
“He’s not on our 90-man roster currently. He’s on the exempt list,” Judge said. “So I’ll let the league deal with that issue. I’m not gonna comment on any ongoing legal investigation. In terms of our depth chart (at corner), the entire team is really at the same point. Everyone has to come in and compete from ground zero and build their way up.”
Giants sources told the
Daily News on July 10 that they did not expect Baker to remain on the team much longer. That is where this was headed then, and it hasn’t changed.
KICKING THE CAN
Judge said the Giants decided to release troubled kicker Aldrick Rosas because “we felt it was best for the team based on all things being put together with what we’re trying to do.
“I like Aldrick a lot as a person. I wish him the best of luck,” Judge said. “I’m not going to comment on any legal investigation, but we made the decision we felt was best for the team.”
The Giants signed unretiring kicker Chandler Catanzaro to replace Rosas for now, but Judge continues to preach competition at all positions and it wouldn’t be surprising if one develops at the kicking position, too.
Catanzaro could earn the spot, or the Giants could bring in more options such as the recently released Graham Gano, who played for both GM Dave Gettleman and special teams coach Thomas McGaughey in Carolina.
NO MORE OPT-OUTS FOR NOW
Judge said so far no players other than left tackle Nate Solder had opted-out of the 2020 NFL season.
“At this moment, no,” he said.
Judge said “from an organizational standpoint we wanted Nate to play this year, but we fully support his decision not to because we understand what he’s going through… I’m not gonna try to talk any player into doing anything when it comes to the situation we’re in right now.”
Solder’s opt-out did create some cap space for the Giants in the short-term, but Judge said “we don’t feel right now like we have money burning a hole in our pocket. We just know there’s a little bit more cap space for us right now.”
He also said, as far as finding Solder’s replacement, it’s the coaching staff ’s job to get all of the players in position to show their best on the field in August.
“We’ve got to see how these guys perform under pressure and can handle the loads of install and see how they perform when they’re tired and in direct competition,” Judge said. “We’ve got to make sure we do a good job of seeing what every player does when he understands what to do and the play is fastest. That’s our job as coaches, to teach them.”
No. 4 overall pick Andrew Thomas remains the favorite to land the job, however.