Nothing better than sacks for Giants’ Golden
Markus Golden will not put a number on it. But he just wants the feeling of a quarterback sack again — and soon.
The new Giants outside linebacker would not say how many sacks would make a successful year for him, though his coaching staff has high hopes. Golden is three years removed from racking up 12.5 sacks with the Cardinals, with a torn ACL in between, but he is sure of one thing.
“I just want to come out, hit the quarterback, whether it’s a hit or whether I’m sacking them, I’m just looking forward to finally being able to hit a quarterback,” Golden said Saturday. “I haven’t hit one in a while. I’m tired of running past our guys in the red jerseys at practice. Whatever quarterback I get to hit next, I’ll be happy. I don’t care who it is.”
That quarterback may be wearing a Jets uniform if Golden gets the green light to play in Thursday’s preseason opener at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants, so far in camp, have been managing the workload for the 28-year-old, who last season with Arizona recorded just 2.5 sacks in 11 games. He returned to practice Saturday after a couple of days off and said he feels good.
“A couple shots of him early, you can see that real burst when he comes off the edge,” outside linebackers coach Mike Dawson said. “We were doing pass rush one-on-ones last week, and you really see him change direction really well, and you see the explosiveness. So, I’m looking forward to seeing that all the time.” Offensive assistant coach Ryan Roeder, who works closely with the quarterbacks, said the game is starting to slow down for rookie Daniel Jones as he quickly learns the language of the Giants’ offense.
“He’s a great kid to work with,” Roeder said. “He’s smart, he works at it, he’s conscientious, he’s competitive and he’s got a desire to improve every day.”
Inside linebacker Alec Ogletree had five interceptions last season — and thinks he could have had seven or eight — but admitted his pass coverage is still a work in progress.
“I came out at OTAs and training camp just trying to get better at stuff like that,” Ogletree said. “I have my own standards, I know I have some things I can work on to get better.”
The Giants signed defensive end Terrence Fede, a Nyack native who played 51 games with the Dolphins from 2014-17. The 6-foot-4, 267-pound Marist product was with the Bills in training camp last year and signed in time to suit up for Saturday’s practice.
To make room for Fede, the Giants put rookie linebacker Mark McLaurin (fractured foot) on injured reserve.
The Giants claimed LB Joey Alfieri off waivers from the Eagles and waived/injured DE Alex Jenkins (calf). Alfieri is a 6-foot-3, 239-pound undrafted free agent out of Stanford. … The Giants are off Sunday before returning to work Monday, when they will start practicing in the morning ahead of Thursday’s game against the Jets.