IrepDC

When Nick Folk returns for the Patriots, we may need to look into their rookie kicker. He's outdueling Hopkins tonight.

The young guys have some things on film to be coached up on. Not enough to make any major declarations yet.

Every year I feel like there's a new Joe Judge coach who tries to overdue the tough guy, disciplined approach. The thing about the NFL is that these are grown men millionaires so treating them like children will rarely work, and you have to do a lot of winning for players to keep buying in. Even with Belichek you saw Gronk and Brady(and others) eventually get tired of the hard nosed approach- and Belicheck is the God standard of that style. There is also a Jay Gruden every year who tries too hard to be cool with the players. They run soft camps with little discipline. They don't want the fight the hard nosed coach has to go through so they try being one of the guys. This extreme usually fails miserably too. The balance, in my opinion, would be coaches like Joe Gibbs or Dick Vermeil. These coaches are no nonsense and run a disciplined camp, but they are also great football coaches who act like human beings and remain relatable to their players. They end up getting the discipline the hard nosed coach wanted, and the motivated players who will run through a wall for them that the cool coach wanted. These coaches are rare but they build powerful team cultures. I would say Rivera is in the 3rd group of coaches- with balance. I have been critical of him at times possibly being in the 1st group, but the way the players are bonding and buying in proves to me he has kept the balance. He has potential to keep developing in this style, and with this young group, things can get really interesting.

Daniel Jones is sitting their preseason opener apparently. I'm reading that as them trying to buy more time before his show and prove season begins. Then you have Toney so low on the depth chart. There's a difference between making a player earn it and over compensating with the hard nosed shtick because you're not a good football coach. If the team doesn't start fast, all these little games will get old fast and that lockerroom will fall apart. There are way too many red flags coming up throughout Giants camp. We of course need to focus on our job, but as a fan, I'm all in at this point that they're about to fall apart this season. They deserve it.

Arrington?

That field looks good 🧐

Dyami Brown looks like the smoothest route runner on our team after McClaurin(Samuel hasn't been practicing). He has the combination of balance and explosion that make his routes look easy. He's the number 1 offensive player I'm looking forward to seeing in preseason against competition.

Standig reported this play correctly as defensive holding. Not sure why Hailey says it's OPI. The ref walks in and calls holding on Apke in the full clip.

A team scuffle says the team is scrappy. A team fight with your QB at the bottom of the pile says chaos. I could be wrong, but I'll take the wager.

The combination with team fights breaking out gave me the impression it's the former. Nothing about it says stable.

Isn't that like 3 players who have chose retirement in the first few weeks of Judge's program? That reads like guys aren't buying in and an epic collapse is on the horizon. Keep the great news coming!

Looking over the day 3 highlights: Chase Young has a lot of energy. You can tell how his presence adds an element to the group. The DL was going through drills. Typical hard work, fast paced stuff. I notice Sweat step up and nearly flip the machine effortlessly in his rep. He looks scary and I think he'll have the best year on our Line. Jamin Davis moves around drills like a DB. Kendall Fuller is still very underrated. He looks noticeably more fluid and confident jumping routes compared to our other DBs. Moreland looks like he's having an up and down camp. Hopefully he learns from his lumps and is ready by the season start. I have confidence in him but he has to show up. Gandy-Golden made some plays downfield. So much going on, no one seemed to mention it. I didn't see any clips of the OL work but I'll try and dig for that. Still a lot of LB and RB clips to find as well.

Scherff seems to be taking the mentorship of Cosmi seriously. Sometimes having a guy to mentor can invigorate a player. Going back over those fundamentals with Cosmi could also sharpen Scherff's game. It'll also add motivation to be exemplary on the field with Cosmi watching/playing alongside him. Hearing him talk helped me realize this is new to him. Scherff contributed immediately, but I think this is the biggest leadership position he's had since being in the league. We had so many vets during his time here that all he had to do was perform. This is his time to be the leader of our OL. The contract will come down to Scherff accepting top 3 money vs number 1 market setting money. We will take care of him a la Allen, but we have a team building mindset in the FO. If he does walk after this year, I hope he finishes this year strong and helps develop the next generation of Football Team OL before he departs.

Our defense is going to be so fun to watch this year. When Collins is the one calming guys down, you know your defense is mean. They're going to make a few teams quit this year. I like that Young's edge seems to be rubbing off on Sweat. Sweat has ridiculous tools athletically. The one thing he needed as a DL was more of a mean streak to start bullying offenses. Seeing him hyped up this early in camp is a good sign. If Jamin is able to absorb the MLB spot by week 1, that says a LOT about his potential. I'd still expect him to start the season at one of the OLB spots, but I'm excited to see him push for the middle. Haven't even mentioned our 4 DTs or playmakers in the secondary, but those groups are better than last year also. As a fan of defensive football, I expect this may be my favorite season yet.

Extending Allen is great news and it looks like a reasonable deal. One down, three to go.

The conversation about which DL to let walk has sprung up again. While I understand the conversation, "You can't have X amount of the salary cap tied to the DL", I don't think that philosophy is the best. Young's contract would possibly be "new market setting," but the others should receive top 3-5 money. We do have a culture and winning tradition building now so the expectation we have to "be that team" to overpay everyone should expire as well. Some would argue that paying 4 DL top 5 money isn't okay, but I'd ask why not? They can all be on the field at one time. They are the best at their positions on our team right now. As long as we continue to build through the draft, we will have young talent developing at other positions on smaller contracts. If any of those players develop, we would be paying them when our DL contracts are expiring and the salary cap was higher. We are in a good position salary cap and roster wise. The only reason you'd have to let one of the DL walk is if they all were asking for #1 in the league contracts, which I doubt, or two if you planned on throwing out more large FA contracts to someone else's talent. I'd hope we learned our lesson there, but I do think some fans would enjoy the nostalgia of complaining about one of the players we let go succeeding elsewhere or a big FA contract not living up to the hype. Those were the days? I'm not buying any of these guys being anywhere near their ceilings. Recent young dominant DL for teams like Ravens, Steelers, and Patriots aged like fine wine- with players playing into their 30s anchoring those defenses. These are not RBs. They're not WRs or CBs. Guys on the DL can play longer and keep getting better as long as they take care of their bodies. I believe getting all of them to at least their 2nd contract would maximize what we already have. If we do let one of them walk, and spend that money on a FA old school style, they had better work out.

If that narrative is true, it could lead to consistency in our FO and Coaching Staff for the first time in this era. Rivera and Wright aren't bad guys to let run the ship for a while. I'm confident we'll be a much better organization both on and off the field under their leadership. The icing on the cake would be them shifting the dynamics to a more hands off ownership. That's my best case outlook on what was such an ugly and embarrassing situation for our team.

Do whatever planning you have to do to get each 4 of the DL to a 2nd contract. We play a different front than San Fran, and we need to keep our depth strength. Do the wheeling and dealing with the rest of the roster, but capitalize on what we already have on the DL. Immediately gambling on replacing them just creates a chance you'll have more holes on the roster. There is plenty of room to be creative with the expected cap room we will have. Not going crazy in FA has been great. I hope we keep that trend so we can resign our home grown talent.

Allen's play style definitely hasn't peaked. He is a bully in the interior and that only gets better with more "grown man strength" and age. He projects to me like a Calais Campbell, getting even better by his late 20s, early 30s. The DL and DT career peak is not early like skill players.

The way our local media tries to stir the pot and antagonize team situations is really annoying. A few of the interview questions I've seen have been blatantly to provoke our players, but guys like Collins and McCain handled them well. Some will say "it's their jobs" but our media seems to antagonize the team more often than not.

If we are trading for Watson, the Texans are more likely to do it after June 1. Here are the cap numbers if they make the trade before then vs after. The far right gives an idea of how much he'd count against the cap for us each year. They pass on more of the cap hit by waiting.

His athleticism makes me want to watch practices against Young and Sweat. These guys will be going at it in the one on ones. Cosmi will have an easier time on game day if Rivera works this how I believe he will.

Now that the draft is over, I'll give my early prediction. I see an 11-6 team, with the proposed extra game. Our defense should keep us in nearly every game- like last year. Our offense looks a lot more explosive and capable of opening up a lead on paper. The upgrades on Offense will change the dynamic of our games this year if it translates to the field. The projection with Fitzpatrick and the new WRs means our passing game gets way more aggressive. Crossing routes and the RB in the flats will still be used... but posts and go's will get a lot more looks too. I.e. McClaurin is going to show the league how great he is. Respect for the deep ball means the running game should have more space this year. More space means we could get an increase in big plays from Gibson. The OL has 2 solid additions to an already above average group. That group should be more consistent for us this year. My possible concern, if I had to pick one, is the coaching. Not that it will be bad, I believe the OC has potential, but he has to teach his system and get it running this year. Last year we never took off, and I get the limitations QB wise; but Fitzpatrick, in theory, at least gives us a broader view of what the offense wants to do. It's time to show us something scheme wise and I'm interested to see what we do with these weapons. If the offense can improve like they did on paper, our defense shouldn't always be playing to "keep us in the game," but instead have more opportunities to play with a lead. That's a different football game for NFL defenses(especially with a DC like Del Rio). That's an attack mode we haven't had the luxury of setting our defense to. This is why the Team's overall growth will feed off each other. The offense improving will unleash the defense. I'm confident the defense will be coached up and developed well into our system. My concern on this side is Landon Collins accepting a role that best works for the entire defense. He likes playing in the box anyway so call it what you want, line up there and call it Super Strong Safety. With that settled let him and Davis work our speed Nickel package inside with Moreland or Roberts in the slot. I wanted to upgrade FS, but I also don't mind Reaves having an opportunity to take the position. Curl needs to lock in the SS this year as well- to build on a great first season. Jackson and Roberts should be solid in coverage with Fuller and Moreland. The DL is the DL. They are going to play football. I'm on record as saying resign all 5 to 2nd contracts(1st rounders and Settle). The 2nd contract is the prime for DL and having them all in their primes is dynasty. They should get the opportunity to showcase that this year with a more explosive offense on the other side. Growing pains with a new QB, some of our young players needing time, and just getting outplayed will lead to around 6 losses in my estimation. We should get double digit Ws in a 17 game season. This roster is young, talented, and we have good coaching. We take the next step this year, and we are putting up a game against anyone in the playoffs. I am actually excited about this season.

Howell and Rattler are definitely on my radar. He may not come out next year, but Grayson McCall is intriguing also. That game last year where we were all scouting Zach Wilson, McCall out played him in my opinion- as a freshman. I'm working my way through all the 22 draft posts now.

Literally what I was going to say. Kid's first step is crazy. He's in the backfield before the OL is out of their stance in quite a few of those highlights.