The Giants begin the preseason on Thursday night against the Lions, and if it were up to quarterback Daniel Jones, he’d be on the field.
Jones, who is recovering from a torn ACL, says he wants to play, although head coach Brian Daboll has not yet decided which players will be on the field Thursday.
“Yeah, I’d like to play,” Jones said, via the New York Post. “At the end of the day, that’s coach’s decision and I’ll do whatever Dabes’ thinks.”
Last year Jones played one possession in the preseason. Starting quarterbacks typically either don’t play at all in the preseason or get only very limited action, and Jones said that if he doesn’t play he’ll still be ready for Week One.
“I think we try to make practice as game-like as possible and get real game-speed reps in practice to make sure you’re ready to go,” Jones said. “Regardless of what Dabes decides this coming game, I’ll be ready to go when given the chance.”
Regardless of anything he does in the preseason, when the regular season starts, the Giants need Jones to be both healthy and a lot better than he was last year.
Five years later, Matt Breida is going back to where his NFL career started.
Via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com, Breida is signing with the 49ers.
He spent three seasons in San Francisco, from 2017 to 2019. He was traded to the Dolphins in 2020. He spent 2021 with the Bills and 2022 and 2023 with the Giants.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Breida tried out for the 49ers on Monday, along with running backs Anthony McFarland and Ke’Shawn Vaughn.
In seven NFL seasons, the 29-year-old Breida has 2,652 regular-season rushing yards, 935 receiving yards, and 15 touchdowns.
The 49ers currently have six other running backs on the roster, led by 2023 NFL offensive player of the year Christian McCaffrey.
The various fights during Monday’s joint practice between the Lions and Giants included New York quarterback Daniel Jones getting involved in the kerfuffle.
After practice, he discussed the situation.
“I mean, situations happens like that, you try to stand up for your guys but I thought it was a good competitive practice all day today,” Jones said, via NFL.com. “We made some plays and did some good things, there’s some things we need to [shore] up for sure. But good intensity and competitive spirit there.”
It’s the kind of spirit that, when it comes from the quarterback, can get the attention of the rest of the rest.
“Daniel got jiggy with it?” Giants edge rusher Brian Burns said. “Daniel was out there with it? Yeah! I’m [going to] need him to back up. I’m [going to] need him to back up, let his O-line handle that. But . . . Daniel, he’s a competitor man, he’s a fighter. I don’t expect nothing less from him, but I don’t need him in that, I don’t need him to get hit, keep him healthy.”
Burns is right. As long as Jones avoided injury, however, it’s the kind of thing that can build natural, organic, authentic camaraderie.
Cornerback Christian Holmes is staying in the NFC East.
Holmes was waived by the Commanders when they signed defensive tackle Taylor Stallworth on Sunday and he was claimed by the Giants on Monday. Running back Jashaun Corbin was waived with an injury designation to clear space for Holmes.
Holmes played 30 games for the Commanders after being drafted in the seventh round in 2022. He started two of those contests and recorded 20 tackles, two fumble recoveries, and a pass defense during his time in Washington.
It’s the second time in camp that the Giants have claimed a corner who used to play for a divisional rival. They plucked Mario Goodrich off the waiver wire when the Eagles dropped him last week.
When teams get together to practice during training camp, fights happen. The league, for whatever reason, doesn’t exercise jurisdiction over such matters, despite the obvious injury risks that arise when, for example, one player swings another player’s helmet at other players.
On Monday, the Lions and Giants got together. And multiple fights happened.
And here’s one with G.M. Joe Schoen trying to break things up.
And here’s one with Giants quarterback Daniel Jones getting involved.
The two teams are due to do it again tomorrow. And as we’ve learned in past years, the second day can be even more raucous.
That’s usually because players hear about how they were beaten by players from the other team. In this case, the fights from day one lay the foundation for the fights in day two.
And it will continue for as long as the league allows it. With the league office not sweating it, there’s no reason not to take a few swings.
Until someone gets injured, of course.
It’s joint practice season for NFL teams in training camp, where players finally get to hit someone other than teammates.
On Monday, Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas got the most out of that, slamming into Lions rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold in a combined practice. Thomas was running toward Arnold to throw a block from a running play.
Here’s the video, from Ralph Vacchiano of Fox Sports.
Arnold stay up after the hit. As Vacchiano notes, however, he later headed for the locker room.
Speaking of heads, Arnold was wearing a Guardian Cap at the time. That’s permitted for offensive linemen, if they wear a helmet specific to their position.
In past years, a player like Arnold could have faced that onslaught from Thomas by going low at him. That’s now prohibited, by rule.
Arnold still might have been wise to hit the deck when he saw Thomas coming for him on Monday.
When the Giants placed right tackle Evan Neal on the physically unable to perform list to open camp, General Manager Joe Schoen said that the 2022 first-round pick wasn’t far from being healthy.
The team is now moving toward their third week of camp and their first preseason game, but Neal remains out of action with the ankle injury that kept him off the field for 10 games last season. On Sunday, head coach Brian Daboll was asked about Neal’s outlook and he said that he won’t be back for this week’s joint practices with the Lions without giving any firmer timeline for when Neal might be cleared to play.
“He’s just rehabbing, and when he’s ready he’ll be ready to be put out there,” Daboll said, via SNY. “But he’s not ready. He’s working hard. He’s trying to do everything he can do to get better, but he’s just not ready to go yet. And when he is, he’ll be ready.”
Neal hasn’t played all that well when healthy and the Giants have been looking at veteran Jermaine Eluemunor at right tackle during his absence this summer. The longer that absence continues, the likelier it is that Eluemunor will wind up in that spot.
In the first season of offseason Hard Knocks, it became clear that last season could have been quarterback Daniel Jones’s final season in New York.
In the end, the Giants didn’t draft his replacement. But it wasn’t for lack of interest or effort.
In a new interview with Tyler Dunne of GoLongTD.com, Jones talks about his reaction to Hard Knocks and the motivation it gives him.
“I’m very motivated by this and by being as good a player as I can be,” Jones told Dunne. “Definitely didn’t enjoy watching that and it was a tough situation in a lot of ways, but that’s the reality of the NFL. My job is to be on the field and play good football. So that’s something I’ve got to understand and it is what it is at this point. It’s about playing the game and playing well now. . . .
“Look, obviously there’s something inside of you that kind of gets going and it ticks you off a little bit to see. It’s not fun and not something that you’re excited about. Like I said, it is what it is at this point and it’s my job to play well regardless.”
He’s entering the second-year of a four-year, $160 million deal. The contract provides the Giants with an easy escape after 2024. Which basically makes it a make-or-break season for Jones in New York.
“There’s some similarities to that first year when they didn’t pick up the fifth year [in 2022], but you’ve got to understand that and take from it what you can to help you play better for sure,” Jones told Dunne. “Understand the situation and be able to do your job at a high level. So that’s part of playing quarterback in this league. I’ve had to deal with it before and I know I can handle it.”
If he goes down, he won’t go down not swinging.
“Aggressive,” Jones told Dunne regarding the quarterback’s playing style. “Being able to push the ball down the field to our guys. We’ve got a number of guys who can get behind the defense. So being aggressive and taking shots when we’ve got them, and then smart decision-making when it’s not there and an ability to extend plays and use my legs in the run game. All of that. Mostly, this position’s about decision-making and knowing when you’ve got it and knowing when you don’t, and then handling both those situations accordingly.”
If he does it like he did two years ago, he’ll likely get a chance to do it again in 2024. If he doesn’t, he’ll likely be looking elsewhere in 2025.
Giants co-owner John Mara didn’t say it is playoffs or bust for head coach Brian Daboll and General Manager Joe Schoen in 2024, but it doesn’t sound like that would be overstating things.
Mara spoke to reporters on Thursday and his expectations for the coming season were a major topic of conversation. He said he believes the Giants “added some good pieces” this offseason and that both Daboll and Schoen are aware that he expects “us to take a big step forward” after last year’s 6-11 finish.
“It’s hard to articulate my expectations,” Mara said, via the team’s website. “I obviously want to show significant improvement over last year. But I’m not going to make any specific guarantees or demands or anything like that. But they know what I want to see.”
Mara said he didn’t know how to “quantify” the kind of improvement he wants to see, but the kind of significant growth that would lead the team to commit to the current leadership would seem to require a winning record this fall. That push will start against the Vikings in Week One and the next month will be crucial to building the kind of team that Mara wants to see.
The Giants signed Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million deal, with $82 million guaranteed, last year after a career year for the quarterback. Jones, though, missed time with a neck injury and went 1-5 as a starter before tearing the ACL in his right knee last season.
The Giants looked at quarterbacks before the draft, something Jones has admitted he wasn’t fired up about, but stayed put and selected wide receiver Malik Nabers with the sixth overall pick.
Jones enters an important season, with his future on the line.
But the Giants maintain confidence that Jones can and will get it done.
“I’m still happy we gave him that contract, because I thought he played really well for us in ’22,” Giants co-owner John Mara said Thursday, via video from Jordan Raanan of ESPN. “Last year, he got hurt. Let’s be honest, when he was playing, we weren’t blocking anybody. So, let’s give him a chance with a better offensive line, with some weapons around him to see what he can do. I was nervous about giving up too much to go and get a quarterback, but I was prepared to let them do that if that’s what they wanted to do. We made a decision to stay with Daniel and add a weapon for him, and I think that’s going to work out for us.”
In his five seasons, Jones has thrown 62 touchdowns and 40 interceptions and 1,914 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns. The Giants have had one winning season with him as their starting quarterback.