Coach: Our first priority is health
No one knows when, but Joe Judge knows this: Not yet.
His Giants players are not allowed at the closed-down team facility in East Rutherford, N.J., and there is no way for him to know when this will change. For now, the first-year head coach realizes the safest place for his players to be is where they are, at home, wherever that is.
“I have a tough time right now asking a player to fly across the country from California,’’ Judge said Tuesday on a Zoom meeting with the media, “when I probably wouldn’t be the first one most willing to throw my two sons on the plane to go the other way.’’
In any conversation about eventually starting up, Judge said the priority is “are we 100 percent certain the players are going to remain healthy and we’re not putting anybody at risk?’’
There is much to consider before opening up a team facility.
“The timeliness factor of getting players, having them travel, amount of time they’re quarantined, getting them in the building, can we secure they’re going to be quarantined, along with all the staff and the coaches that are surrounding them, whether that’s in our facility or somewhere else,’’ Judge said.
There has been preliminary discussion and investigation into moving training camp out of the team facility, if New Jersey is not yet opened up, but this is a highly unlikely scenario.
➤ Judge said the Giants offense will be based on what coordinator Jason Garrett ran and used the past decade with the Cowboys. This will present a challenge for second-year quarterback Daniel Jones.
“There’s going to be some similarities for Daniel, but I would not say this is a carryover in any way shape or form from his rookie year,’’ Judge said.
➤ Judge said he has spoken with LB Markus Golden since the Giants put the rare unrestricted-free-agent tender on the player who led the team in sacks in 2019 with 10. If Golden does not sign with another team by July 22, he reverts to the Giants for $4.1 million.
“Yes, I have spoken with Markus,’’ Judge said. “We placed the tag on him, that’s something that’s allotted to us through the league rules. We have an interest in Markus, we’ve talked to him and we’re going through the procedure right now, and we’re going to let it play out a little bit and see where everything shakes out.’’