On Sunday, Giants starting quarterback Daniel Jones got his first action of the preseason. Jones played the whole first half for New York against the Patriots, and there was some bad and some good.
The third-year quarterback threw a bad red zone interception as he attempted a pass across his body early in the second quarter. Later in that quarter, Jones made it right by throwing a beautiful 23-yard touchdown pass to TE Kaden Smith.
All summer long, Jones did not get hit, and he was happy for that to happen on Sunday.
“Yeah, it was good to be back out there on the field and feel the game, feel the pass rush and get hit a couple times,” Jones said on Wednesday. “Felt good to be back out there.”
At this point, Jones has been without many of his weapons. Some are old in Saquon Barkley, who is recovering from ACL surgery; some are new in WR Kenny Golladay and TE Kyle Rudolph. Jones is happy to have all those guys on the practice field together.
“It’s been good,” Jones said. “Like we’ve said, they’ve worked so hard to get back and are continuing to work hard with the trainers. It’s been good to have them on the field, and I know those guys are ready to work.”
As they enter the regular season, Jones believes the Giants’ offense will be able to do a lot different things in 2021.
“I think versatility,” Jones said about the offense. “First and foremost, it’s a tough, smart group. I think it starts up front; all those guys are tough, physical football players, and from there, we can attack a lot of different ways – downhill running the ball, vertically stretching the field, and getting the ball in space. I think that’s what we want to be as an offense is first, physical and tough, smart and an offense that’s versatile and can attack a lot of ways.”
If the weapons are healthy, and the offensive line, which looked shaky against New England, can be better, the Giants could have an explosive offense in 2021, but Jones has to protect the football. If he does that, New York could win the very winnable NFC East.
Hall of Fame defensive end and New York Giants great Michael Strahan will have his number 92 jersey retired on November 28 when the Giants host the Philadelphia Eagles, the team announced on Wednesday.
Strahan, who spent his entire 15-year career(1993-2007) in New York and joined Eli Manning, Phil Simms, and Mel Hein as the only players in franchise history to wear a Giants uniform for at least 15 seasons, was a captain on the Giants’ 2007 Super Bowl XLII championship team. That Super Bowl against New England was Strahan’s final game.
He made many plays with the Giants, which led to him being a seven-time Pro Bowler and the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2001 when he set the league’s single-season record with 22.5 sacks, a mark that still stands 20 years later. Strahan owns the franchise career record with 141.5 sacks. It was the fifth-highest total in NFL.
“Michael’s career was defined by his achievements, his consistency, and his leadership. Very few defensive ends played the position as well as Michael. He was a tremendous run defender as well as a great pass rusher. And he realized a goal every player aspires to, but few achieve, winning a Super Bowl in his final game. We are grateful for all his contributions and are happy to officially say no Giants player will ever wear No. 92 again.”
Strahan’s jersey will be alongside Eli Manning’s number 10, which will be retired on September 26. Manning will also be inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor on that day.
The 49-year-old is also making his mark off the field and currently hosts Good Morning America and an analyst on FOX NFL Sunday.
The Philadelphia Eagles got their roster down to 53 on Tuesday, and there were some surprises. Philadelphia waived wide receivers Travis Fulgham and John Hightower as 2019 second-round pick J.J. Arcega-Whiteside was able to stay on as the fifth wideout for the team.
Eagles GM Howie Roseman explained why the team decided to release Fulgham and Hightower.
“I think the first thing is with [WR] Travis [Fulgham], here’s a guy who obviously had a heck of a stretch for us last year. And we looked at it that this was a new year and this was a new beginning, and we wanted to go based on what we saw and take the whole process into play.
“When you talk about [WR] J.J. [Arcega-Whiteside] and what he did during camp and his contributions on offense, his willingness and his desire to be an excellent special teams player, which you saw during the preseason, and the whole picture of that and how it fits into the group at receiver.
“And then, when you talk about numbers – again, we don’t look at it just as who we’re keeping on the 53. We look at it as who we’re keeping on the 70. So, we try to figure out to the best that we can — obviously, a lot is going to happen in the next 24 hours — about how that puzzle comes about.
“We’ve always been like this here, and one of the things we talked about a lot when we were interviewing Coach [Sirianni] and really throughout this whole process being together is how we want this to look. That’s why you see we’re so heavy on the offensive line and defensive line. It’s a priority for us. When you do that, you’re going to have to make sacrifices at some other spots.”
Last season, Fulgham, 25, had 38 catches for 539 yards and four touchdowns. The third-year receiver had a stretch of three straight games with a touchdown reception, while the 25-year-old Hightower, a 2020 fifth-round pick, had ten catches for 167 yards.
Here is a list of players released by the Eagles on Tuesday:
Released the following players:
- S Andrew Adams
- T Le’Raven Clark
- RB Jordan Howard
- DT Hassan Ridgeway
- TE Richard Rodgers
- CB Kevon Seymour
Waived the following players:
- S Grayland Arnold
- G/T Kayode Awosika
- WR Travis Fulgham
- WR John Hightower
- RB Jason Huntley
- CB Michael Jacquet
- CB Craig James
- DE Matt Leo
- G Sua Opeta
- WR Andre Patton
- C/G Ross Pierschbacher
- S Elijah Riley
- LB JaCoby Stevens
- DT Raequan Williams
Placed the following players on Reserve/Injured:
Placed the following players on Reserve/COVID-19:
The Giants acquired OL Billy Price, a former first-round draft choice, from the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for defensive lineman B.J. Hill and a 2022 conditional seventh-round draft choice, the teams announced on Monday.
The 26-year-old Price(6-4, 310 pounds) was selected out of Ohio State by the Bengals 21st overall in the 2018 draft. He played in 42 games in three seasons, including 19 starts at the center and guard spots
Hill, 26, did not play last night in New York’s preseason finale against New England.
Giants head coach Joe Judge praised Hill on Monday, but he believes adding Price was too good to pass up.
“Honestly, he’s a guy that there has drawn a lot of interest,” Giants coach Joe Judge said. “I have a lot of respect for B.J. as a player. I think he’s a starting defensive lineman in this league. He’s in a unique position in the room he’s in. He’s in the last year of his contract, and I think this is an opportunity to improve our team and also put a player that we have a lot of respect for in a position to go out there and get paid starter money.”
Hill, who played collegiately at North Carolina State, was originally a third-round draft choice by the Giants in 2018. Last season, Hill played in all 16 games for the third consecutive season and tallied 32 tackles (15 solo) and 1.0 sack.
Giants have been busy in the month of August:
Including Monday’s trade, New York has made four in August. On August 16, the Giants acquired cornerback/special teamer Keion Crossen from the Houston Texans for a 2023 sixth-round selection. They acquired Josh Jackson from Green Bay for Isaac Yiadom in a swap of cornerbacks the following day. Last Thursday, they traded kicker Ryan Santoso to the Carolina Panthers for a conditional 2022 seventh-round draft choice.
Urban Meyer and Trevor Lawrence got their first win together on Sunday against the Cowboys, and while the game doesn’t count, a win is a win. Behind great play from Lawrence, Jacksonville defeated Dallas 34-14 at At&T Stadium in their preseason finale.
“A good feeling. A lot better feeling coming into the locker room today as opposed to this time last week,” Lawrence said. “So, just one step in the right direction. Gotta keep getting better. Now they are going to count for real. So, just putting everything we have, getting ready for Houston. It builds a lot of confidence going into the season. It’s nice to finish the preseason with a game like that.”
Although Jacksonville played against the Cowboys’ second-string defense, Lawrence was dealing. The number one overall pick was 11/12 for 139 yards and two touchdowns in a little over one quarter of action.
“It felt good just to be clean, execute, stay ahead of the chains, really had I think three drives,” Lawrence said. “The guys that came in after played great too. But we were two for three with touchdowns on those drives, and even the second drive, where we punted, we drove the ball pretty well. Third down, I probably could have made a better decision and got the first down, but we pinned them inside the 5. It was all about field position too.”
As a whole, Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer was happy with how Lawrence performed in the preseason. Lawrence was 31/44 for 323 yards in two touchdowns in the exhibition season.
“I’d be a half-empty guy, but I was kind of fearful that he might, “what if we go again?” One thing about Trevor is that he’s played decent all three games,” Meyer said. “Preseason’s fairly new to me, and I’ve learned along the way, so I would judge our preseason as a success right now. A lot of energy in the locker room.”
The Jaguars travel to Houston to battle the Texans in Week 1, and according to Lawrence, if the Jaguars can execute, they can compete with anybody.
“People game-planning for what you do well, what you don’t do well, and scheming you up,” Lawrence said. “Just gotta be ready for that. And then every week, too, their #1’s are going to be out there. At the end of the day, it is the same game. You gotta execute. Like I said, I feel confident that if we are prepared and we execute, we can play with anybody.”
Meyer added: “We’ve got two weeks to get the strongest version of ourselves. They’re going to have four days off this week. That’s also new, so we’ve got to be great. If you do those four days right, and I’m not talking laying on your butt, but get strong, and we can come back stronger than we were before training camp. My expectations are that.”
It was a good day for Jacksonville, and hopefully, for them, they can build off this performance.
Vikings S Harrison Smith has signed a contract extension with the Minnesota Vikings, the team announced on Sunday.
According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, it’s a four-year extension worth $64 million. Overall, five years $74.8 million. The 32-year-old Smith gets $22.5 million in the next eight months, the highest in NFL history for a safety — For 2022 to 2024, the new money average is $15.3 million. The extension includes $26.3 million guaranteed.
Last season, Smith had five interceptions, which was third in the NFL.
In his 130 career regular-season games with 129 starts, the five-time Pro Bowler has totaled 557 solo tackles, 66 passes defended, and 28 interceptions, the most in the NFL among all safeties since joining the league in 2012. Only Hall of Famer Paul Krause has started more games (150) at safety for the Vikings. Smith was voted a Pro Bowl starter in 2019, making it his fifth consecutive season, earning Pro Bowl honors.
According to coaches’ stats, the longest-tenured Viking (10 seasons) ranks third all-time in Vikings history in tackles among defensive backs with 867 career tackles. Smith is the only player in franchise history with four career interception returns of more than 50 yards.
The Knoxville, Tennessee native also holds the franchise record among defensive backs in career sacks (13.5) and ranks seventh all-time in team history in career interceptions (28). The veteran safety was named 1st-Team All-Pro in 2017 by the Associated Press, Pro Football Writers of America, and Sporting News.
The Washington Football Team handled the last preseason game like the last preseason game. Head coach Ron Rivera sat all of the starters on Saturday at FedExField, and ultimately, Washington would fall to the Ravens 37-3.
“Not to get anybody hurt,” Rivera said about why he rested his starters. “It was something we decided on a few days ago. We didn’t want to get anybody hurt. We had a big camp, it’s been successful, and a lot of guys worked. A lot of people we feel really comfortable and confident in who they are for us. We just felt exposing is not the thing to do, so we didn’t expose them.”
Conversely, Baltimore played many of its starters, but not for long, including quarterback Lamar Jackson, who saw his first preseason action on Saturday and played one series.
According to Jackson, he was happy to be out there against Washington.
“Yeah, just to get my feet wet for the regular season,” Jackson said. “I’ve got to feel that contact, that real contact because you know guys in practice aren’t hitting me or anything like that. It was great to get my feet wet.”
For Baltimore, the concern is running back J.K Dobbins, who left the game in the first quarter with a knee injury. According to Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, Dobbins will undergo testing on Sunday.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the expectation is that Dobbins had suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Jackson hopes everything will be okay with Dobbins, but he has confidence in the other backs on the team.
“Hopefully, we don’t miss him. He’s a tremendous back,” Jackson said. “We have Gus [Edwards], and we’ve got Ty [Ty’son Williams], but hopefully, he’s good.”
Baltimore got a big-time performance from third-string quarterback Tyler Huntley, who threw for 285 yards and four touchdowns against Washington.
With the win against Washington, Baltimore won an NFL record 20th straight preseason game. The last time Baltimore lost a preseason game was in 2015.
“I just think it’s really cool for the guys,” Harbaugh said about winning 20 straight preseason games. “I’ll tell you this; there’s a lot of guys watching on TV with their kids, telling their kids about that accomplishment and the fact that they were a part of that. That’s the most meaningful thing. I think there are other aspects of it, but to me, that’s the thing that means the most.”
It’s time to prepare for the regular season. Washington hosts the Chargers in Week 1, while the Ravens go on the road to play the Raiders on Monday Night Football.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have traded QB Gardner Minshew II to the Philadelphia Eagles, the club announced today.
According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Jacksonville gets a conditional sixth round draft pick, which can become a fifth rounder for the Jaguars if Minshew plays 50% in three games.
Minshew, who battled rookie Trevor Lawrence for the starting quarterback position in Jacksonville, started eight games for the Jaguars last season and now has an opportunity to be the backup quarterback to Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia.
It’s no surprise that the 25-year-old Minshew was dealt. It seemed like it was just a matter of time. Additionally, it’s no surprise that Philadelphia was in the market for another quarterback.
Nick Mullens, who the Eagles released after the Minshew trade, was not very good in the preseason, and Joe Flacco has been just okay, so it should be interesting to see what the Eagles do next with Flacco.
At this point, outside of Lawrence, the Jaguars have two other quarterbacks in Jake Luton and C.J. Beathard, who will battle it out for the backup job.
In other moves, the Jaguars signed WR Devin Smith and OL Jermaine Eluemunor.
Smith was originally drafted by the New York Jets in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He has appeared in 18 games – 14 with the Jets and four with the Cowboys. His career totals include 15 receptions for 248 yards and two touchdowns. The fourth-year receiver has also had stops with the Texans and, most recently, with the Patriots. The Akron, Ohio native attended Ohio State and played with Head Coach Urban Meyer from 2012-2014. Smith registered 121 receptions for 2,503 yards and 30 touchdowns in 53 games played with the Buckeyes.
Eluemunor was originally drafted in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft by Baltimore after playing collegiately at Texas A&M. The Chalk Farm, England native has played in 39 career games during his four-year career, including a career-high 12 contests last season with the Patriots.
New York Giants RB Saquon Barkley got his first full team reps on Thursday. However, he was treated like a quarterback. Barkley wore the red jersey, which means hands-off, don’t touch.
While it’s for his protection, Barkley did not like it.
“I hate it, I hate it,” Barkley said about wearing the red jersey after the team’s last joint workout with the Patriots outside Gillette Stadium. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I said something in the locker room today, ‘I don’t care if it’s pink, orange, yellow, whatever color is on, as long as I’m going to be able to get out there. I’m going to take some reps for my team, and that’s the only thing that matters to me.'”
Barkley passed his physical and began practicing on AugUST 9. On Thursday, Barkley, who tore his ACL in Week 2 against the Bears, took his first reps in seven-on-seven drills and then his first four in 11-on-11.
“It feels good being with the team, feels good to get a couple of team reps,” Barkley said. “It’s just fun to be able to play football again, feel like a little kid, and just taking it day by day.”
According to a press release from the Giants, Barkley caught two passes in a two-minute drill, where he had some light contact from a Patriots defender.
The fourth-year running back, who rushed for 2344 yards and 23 touchdowns on the ground in his career, can’t wait to get hit.
“I definitely want to get hit again,” he said. “To me, it’s not just the hitting; it’s just playing football. Even though I only took two reps and a couple of reps in seven-on-seven, those reps are so valuable right now and going to help me in the long run.”
When healthy, the 24-year-old Barkley is a big-time running back, which helps make the Giants’ offense more dynamic. Personally, Barkley, whose fifth-year option was picked up by the team in April, which guaranteed his salary for 2022, would like to get a contract extension at some point, and if he proves that he’s completely healthy, he will get paid.
In a shocker(sarcasm), Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer named Trevor Lawrence the team’s starting quarterback for Week 1 against the Houston Texans on Wednesday.
Meyer started today’s press conference with the following:
“Trevor [Lawrence] ‘s going to be the starter in Week 1,” Meyer said. “He will start this week as well.”
Meyer waited the first few weeks of training camp and two preseason games to do the inevitable, which was name Lawrence the starter, and he explained why.
“We wanted him to earn it, as we do with every position,” Meyer said. We felt he has, after the last [game], nice performance. It was good, obviously not great, but we didn’t run the ball very well. I kind of, in my mind, had that as of after the second preseason [game] that we kind of have to get somebody ready to play in three weeks.”
The number one overall pick is excited to be the starter for Jacksonville.
“It was good, man; we talked about it in our QB room,” Lawrence said. “We have a great group, so I am really excited for the opportunity, but it doesn’t really change anything. We still have the same task in front of us — got to get a lot better individually, as a team, and an offense, so just looking forward to going to work this week. You know it brings some clarity which is nice going forward, but it really doesn’t change much. But, yes, I am really excited for the opportunity and grateful or it.”
According to Lawrence, he got plenty of support from Gardner Minshew and the other quarterbacks on the roster.
“We more so talked about it in our QB room, and really like I said, we have a great group,” Lawrence said. “You know Minsh [Gardner Minshew] has been awesome and treating me really well. We have had a lot of conversations, and he has been a guy that I have been able to learn from, and CJ [Beathard] and Jake [Luton] and all those guys. We are all in it together; we are all on the same team, and at the end of the day, that is the most important thing. It has been good — moving forward, we are not making it bigger than it is. I am going to be the starter and just have to play well, so that does not change.”
Obviously, this was always Lawrence’s job, and now if Jacksonville is fortunate, this will be Lawerence’s job for many years.
