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Giants coach Judge emphasizes OL, QB Jones

Field Level Media

June 17, 2020 at 4:31 pm.

First-year head coach Joe Judge will wrap up a most atypical offseason with the New York Giants next week, when he springs rookies for a few weeks before their scheduled training camp report date on July 28.

Judge has plenty of work to do in New York — on and off the field — as the Giants and other NFL teams are actively discussing how to approach COVID-19 and social justice initiatives.

“We feel we can make a difference,” Judge told NFL Network. “We’re going to work to do that.

“I want to make very clear that we’re going to support our players. Listen, we’ve had a lot of very long, productive conversations. We’re going to continue to have these conversations as we move forward. With the players, we’ve listened very carefully to them and are channeling our energy and emotion of today (with the intent of) making a difference. A really sustained difference. Our guys are focused on the action.”

The Giants are in transition from Eli Manning to Daniel Jones at quarterback. Jones had an uneven rookie season, but part of his inconsistent play was credited to an offensive line dented by injuries.

“There are some things he has to improve on. I’m not going to get into a full assessment right here, criticizing him in public just yet, but I would just say he’s got a skill set,” Judge said. “I’ve been more impressed with the way he’s worked off the field than anything else right now. He’s had a very good spring. He’s been very active in our virtual meetings. Demonstrated a passion for the game, demonstrated a very good command of the new system and recall. Good situational awareness. And you can tell he loves football. That’s one thing that’s really come through with our experiences this spring.”

Judge is hoping new offensive line coach Marc Columbo and coordinator Jason Garrett, the former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, are able to develop a stellar front five.

“We’re really going to let the competition determine where everything falls out,” Judge said. “So we’re going to work all of our tackles both on the left and right. We’ll have a period of time to see through competitive drills, teamwork, scrimmages and preseason games early on (so we can) best identify” the best starters. We want to work to all of our strengths and do the best thing for the players, the best thing for the team. We’re really going to let what they do on the field determine that.”