Add Sam Beal as the latest Giants player to opt out of the 2020 NFL season for personal reasons.
Under the agreement reached between the NFL and the Players Association, players can choose not to play in the upcoming season without penalty.
The deadline is 4 p.m. tomorrow and the opt-out is irrevocable.
He joins starting left tackle Nate Solder and wide receiver Da’Mari Scott in choosing not to play this year.
-Linebacker Josiah Tauaefa was activated off the reserve/COVID list, one day after he was placed on it.
Giants Head Coach Joe Judge spoke with the media today to discuss different aspects of the team.
Here are some highlights:
On Nick Gates Contract: “One of the strengths of Nick has been his flexibility. He’s a guy that can factor into any of the five positions on the offensive line. The priority now is to give him a chance to compete for a starting position at any one of those five spots. As coaches, we have to do a good job of mapping out how we are going to allocate his snaps and his reps on the field between primarily center and tackle and give him a fair shot at both. We are going to work him day by day based on the priority for him. It will start shaking out once the pads come on.”
On Markus Golden’ Return: “I’m excited Markus is in the building with us. Obviously, this is the first time I have worked with him on a personal note. His reputation throughout the league is a very solid one. He was someone we wanted to have on the team, we are lucky it worked out the way it is. At this point right now, like all the other players, we are giving him a chance to acclimate and catch up with our systems and just get going and competing full speed.”
Cutting the roster down to 80: “Long story short, I think it was best for us to be able to evaluate everybody as a whole as they go through the progression. Ultimately, I wished we could have gone with 90 the entire way through like a traditional camp. That’s not the rules that are in place right now. (The 90 man roster) presents some logistical issues for you both facilities wise, how you can map out coordinating different players working with each other. We wanted to make sure we gave everyone a chance to get out there on the field and really take a look at them at work. After a duration of time, we felt it was in the team’s best interest to move to 80.”
On the expectations of Daniel Jones: ” I think the biggest thing he can work on right now is just being out there with the team. Calling a play in the huddle, breaking the huddle, getting to the line, identifying the defensive front, making any checks at the line of scrimmage and then executing a cadence that everyone can work off of. Things that may seem so small are the fundamentals he has to start every successful play with. The biggest thing he can do is just to be in a groove with the team and hear his voice. Along Colt, Cooper and Alex, it’s very important for everyone to hear our quarterbacks’ cadences. They are all unique in their own way. We have to make sure they get used to hearing the play called in the huddle and get used to hearing the cadence at the line of scrimmage. This time right here, the most exposure our players are getting as far as working at a whole tempo with each other is in our on-field conditioning periods. We are allowed to use footballs in some of those periods, as far as agilities it allows you to run some routes on air. Building in the timing with his teammates is good. Remember, it’s a new year for everybody. It’s a new year for Daniel and the receivers. The have to get some chemistry established and built whether they were together last year or a new guy on the roster, that’s important for everyone to understand. We are starting completely over right now, and we have to start from ground zero. I’d say with the quarterback, there is never just one thing. All of our players are looking for total improvement as a player. With a quarterback, it’s all a mental game. It’s really the grasping and the understanding. If it was somebody’s second year in the offense, you would want to see their command of the offense on the field. For Daniel, we have to be fair. It’s a new offense, a new system we have schemed for him. He’s had a limited amount of walkthroughs of actually being on the field to do this. At this point, I am just looking to see his progress day by day and not looking to compare him to where he was last year.”
On the Team’s Morale: “I see a lot of energy in coming in and improving on a daily basis and that’s increased from Day 1. It’s day by day. We’ve got to stack them together, I say that every day. I see that with our guys every meeting, every walkthrough, every session. That’s all I can ask for from them right now. There’s an urgency to improve, there’s an urgency to learn. We have a lot of guys reaching out to coaches on their own for help. We have players in meeting rooms doing extra. You can see the things you want to go ahead and breathe into your culture coming together already. That’s important and that has to sustain over the test of time. A few days together doesn’t solve all our problems. As far as a starting point, I am very pleased with where we are going. We just have to be diligent with the day by day process of coming in with good energy, being attentive, and making sure we learn and then can execute at an improving level on a daily basis. “
