Gates named Giants’ Ed Block Courage Award recipient
When Nick Gates fractured both his fibula and tibia in his left leg Sept. 16, 2021, at Washington, there became genuine doubt as to whether the Giants offensive lineman would ever play football again.
Gates underwent seven surgeries to repair the damage and heal infections, which led to extensive rehab to see how his leg would respond long term. Then in the offseason, the Giants overhauled the coaching staff and his role with the team was uncertain even if Gates could get healthy enough to play.
But after spending training camp and the early part of the season on the physically unable to perform list and going 410 days between games, Gates returned to the field Oct. 30 in Seattle and played five snaps.
“I just took it step by step, day by day,” Gates said Monday. “I never tried to look too far ahead and didn’t look in the past. What happened happened, and I can’t control that part of it. All I could control was my attitude and what I did every day. I just tried to put one foot in front of the other and just keep going.”
Three games later, Gates played every offensive snap against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving in what was his first start at center since that fateful day in Washington.
On Monday, the Giants named Gates as the team’s recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award, which honors NFL players who exemplify commitments to the principles of sportsmanship and courage.
The award is exclusively voted on by teammates. Wide receiver Sterling Shepard and quarterback Daniel Jones were the Giants’ other two candidates. Head coach Brian Daboll announced Gates’ selection during a team meeting.
“It’s definitely meaningful, even if it wasn’t on by teammates, but even more so that my teammates voted on it,” Gates said. “They saw me every day last year putting in the hard work to get back to where I was, and all the struggles and all the things I had to overcome. It felt pretty good to get my name called, especially with the two other guys that were in the group with me.”
Gates is now an Ambassador of Courage for victims of abuse, violence and neglect as part of the Courage House National Support Network for Kids.
“Courage, it’s just showing that I’m not afraid, but showing that you could always keep going no matter what the case is — if you’re hurt or you’re having a bad day, it doesn’t matter,” Gates said. “Just keep moving forward and keep going forward with it and keep working no matter what because there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. You’ve just got to keep going.”
Gates, 27, has been with the Giants since signing as an undrafted free agent out of Nebraska in 2018. He started every game in the 2020 season, and in the Thanksgiving loss to the Cowboys, he received the highest runblocking grade and overall grade of his career from Pro Football Focus.
It remains to be seen what the Giants do once starting center Jon Feliciano gets healthy, but Gates has certainly carved out a niche in New York as a vocal leader who plays gritty.
“It doesn’t matter if it was in high school or whatever, I always played hard, always played tough, played through the whistle. That’s just what I was taught,” Gates said. “I never was a great technician in football, so I always had to show another way I belonged on the field. I feel like that’s my way to be on the field is playing hard and taking that enforcer role, I guess, if you want to call it that. I don’t know. I think that’s the way football is supposed to be played.”