Giants Fans LOVE Tight Ends #nfl #sports

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[Music]
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a little blitz and a fumble looking long bobby Johnson touchdown Giants he can
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catch the ball he may have the best hands on of all the running backs or not
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so it's just going to be very interesting it's a fun room i'm actually really excited i hope they've got the
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run blocking because I think this is a really good running back room
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[Music] well welcome back to another edition of
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Inside BBI with John and Eric i'm John McDev and with me as always senior editor of Big Blue Interactive Mr eric
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Kennedy first off uh hey happy Memorial Day it's been uh it's been a nice holiday weekend i don't know about for
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yourself for me it's I'd say it was relaxing but I did a [ __ ] ton of outside yard work today and uh overall it's it's
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been project after project we got graduations coming up this week so uh been busy how about yourself Eric um I
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did the yard work yesterday so today's been qu kind of quiet we had a we had a um tire um car with a hole in the tire
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snail in the tire so we had to get that patch so not fun but it's Memorial Day
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so um Love it love it so uh let's see i'll start with what I What do you have
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what are you drinking first i'll let you go first i am drinking What is this blue Ridge Logger so it's got it's got a bird
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on it nice a bird on it so I'm going with uh St cheek's West Coast IPA um my
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wife found it so it's got the Yeah so there you go um she found it it's a It's
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It's It's not bad i She thought it was funny just from the Sandy Cheeks part so I was like "Sure why not let's go for
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it." Speaking of beer you do you want to promo our Wednesday show i I do i'm glad
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thank you for that uh so Wednesday Wednesday will be very interesting we are going to do it's going to we're going to call it pour four there's going
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to be four topics that we're going to do we're going to pour a beer now just to be clear because someone thought we were
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drinking doesn't mean we were drinking four individual beers it's it's it could be it might it might
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happen but we're going to pour out each one so four subjects uh the the folks
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from New York Rush uh Sean and Chris are coming on they'll be joining us so we're gonna do four topics eric and I picked
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two topics we had New York Rush pick the other two topics i have all four topics
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and only I know which order they will be done in so when we start the show I will pick the topic as we go uh chat will be
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open and somebody asked me a question the other day and Eric even mentioned it when I brought it up about what happened so when the last live show we did we had
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super chats and if you don't know what a super chat is for Yahoo this or for YouTube the second you become monetized
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it gives you options and things and you I just turned everything on and we don't pick anything it's just YouTube lets it
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be whatever it is and so what that means is you can actually It's not like we're being Yeah it's not so
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Yeah so it's like so to be specific we had a couple people that they basically donated or or paid to have their chat
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it's called the super chat uh that will be that's open now for every chat every time so it again we're not pushing you
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to do anything however what I will say is for Wednesday's show because of the amount of topics that we're going to be
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covering and we do want to try to keep it a tight time frame because you know we're going to do about an over a little
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about an hour and 20 so that's really going to give us roughly about 20 minutes per topic so in order to do that
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if there are super chats I will bring those up we will take if you have questions we will include those i will
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try to do other ones but I can't guarantee that I'll get to those just because we are we do have other folks on
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it's it's really cool that we get a chance to talk with them we want to go over these subjects so we will do that so if you see that if that's there that
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that's what it's for uh you know hey feel free if you want to but we're not telling you or making you do anything
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but anyway drinking a beer on that show it sounds like will be on Wednesday's show um I do
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want to I do actually want to tip off one other thing because it's it's all done except for the date so that's the
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only thing that's going to So I can't give you the date eric already knows because I already shared it with him we will be doing the uh the next season
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preview and and folks feel free to if you want to super chat your request for those things feel free because we do
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have to decide down the road what we're going to do but the next one is going to be on the year 2000 and the reason
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that's pretty cool is because we are going to have um offensive lineman Glenn Parker is going to join us for that 2000
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review so we'll have somebody who was on that team we're going to be able to bring him on we can I don't know if
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we'll keep him for the entire show but we will certainly ask him a number of questions and stuff so that's going to be pretty that's going to be pretty cool
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larry uh will be back matt will be back and Glenn Parker who was on the offensive line of that team that went to
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the Super Bowl will be joining us that'll be really cool and and we we do have a clip previewing Wednesday's show
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the beer's over there in that box wouldn't it be great if you were devil
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fishing and they had beer really watery American beer up the shark sauce you know after this
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beer we should have a beer sometime [Laughter]
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i don't know if you ever saw devil fish did you ever I have seen a devil fish i have seen devil fish do you know the
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running beer jokes in that movie so with when when MS2K does it yeah right i
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assume you've seen Yeah okay oh I that I'm Yeah you're in my wheelhouse on that stuff um so anyway so that's that's
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coming up and we're working on some other stuff some some really cool uh guests until they're locked in I won't
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I'll just say that in case it doesn't work out in case it doesn't fall through but if it falls through but I will say
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if we do get a couple of them even even just a just a couple I think a number of folks here are going to be very
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surprised and very very happy non-traditional Giant guests but definitely football related not not off
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topic stuff so anyway that being said Eric we we uh said we were going to do a
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a preview of the uh 2025 Giants positional group of tight ends and uh
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I'm going to I'll let you kind of start it off um you maybe let's recap a little bit of what we had last year and then
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kind of lead into to this season yeah this is a group that's going to be
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filled with potential so I think there are two groups of fans when they look at the
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roster they're the they're the glass half full and the glass half empty people the glass half empty people are
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going to say this tightening room stinks they haven't done anything you guys are
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overrating it i don't know what your views are going to be and the the glass half full people are going to be like
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"Hey there's a lot of talent now potentially in this room i'm really
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excited about this unit." So we got to try to find a happy medium I think in between these but I think it's a it's a
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very interesting room so so last year the um Theo Johnson gets drafted um of
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course we had Ballinger already on the roster from 2022 who had a promising first part of his year then he had the
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eye injury um never really seemed to sort of regain his rookie magic if you
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want to call it that but Bellinger was in the room and he was really pretty much relegated to third string tight end
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because um Chris Manhurz was signed and he became the blocking tight end so our room really was Theo Johnson Chris
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Manhtz and Bellinger and then late in the season we we picked up um Greg Dulich um from Denver who never really
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played that much um and we'll talk about him he's another interesting guy so the problem with last year was Theo Theo is
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a big dude and and we'll get into him specifically in a second and he's got a lot of talent but like a lot of rookies
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especially rookie tight ends he had his hiccups early in the year dropped passes blocking wasn't great but as the year
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progressed he got better and better in both areas and he had some really cool highlight plays and then Sai kept
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talking about how his blocking was getting better ironically maybe perhaps his best game was the game he got hurt
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in was against Dallas where his blocking was good he had five catches i think he had five catches in that game had some
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really tough runs after the catch and he gets a Liz Frank injury and we don't see him again so then Bellinger comes off
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the bench and Bellinger plays pretty much the rest of the way as the number one tight end with Manht still playing
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the number two guy and um and Bellinger actually looked pretty decent
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blocking which was an improvement for him but didn't really get the ball wasn't really thrown that much to him so
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it really wasn't a great year for for the Giants tight ends but there was the promise of Theo Johnson at least that's
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my recollection of the year i don't know if you want to add anything to that yeah no I think that's I think that's a pretty solid coverage of of what it was
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i mean I think again not to drag the carcass into the into the conversation
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but quarterback play didn't help right it just did not help the tight ends at all johnson did drop some early that
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can't be blamed on the quarterback per se on some of those those are just blatant drops you could see that I think
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he you know the I think his physical piece was a step ahead of the mental
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part of the game so I think maybe you know just trying to overthink what he had to do and just you know because it
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just wasn't a natural thing later you saw some very natural catches from him difficult ones too uh one one over the
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middle where he he's just reaching up and snagging the ball um I I still think the quarterback play though really did
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did hamper this group the one big thing too though leading not just last year but even before is really Bellinger is
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the guy that is the is sort of the um the enigma or the the big question mark like what happened from early in his
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rookie year the eye injury is one thing but he did come back he he played pretty well in the the rest of the season when
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he did once his eye was was healed and then in the playoff game he played pretty well against
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Minnesota since that time he's been really a non-factor and that's been very
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surprising and his play his snaps have gone down his um effectiveness has gone
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down and again I I I thought he showed some flashes late in the year last year
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so he didn't really play that much until December and then when he did come back
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at least he was blocking at a higher level than he was blocking before but he's gonna I think he's we get
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specifically to him let's start with Theo but when we get to him I think you and I are on the same page that it
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that's not given Dan that Daniel Ballinger is going to even make this team so we'll we'll have to see much
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depends on how many tight ends they keep and they'll probably keep three or four
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and it depends on how many they keep and what happens here theo let's start off with Theo cuz he's
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he's a lot more talented than than I think a lot of Giants fans realize it's a matter of can he put it all together
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and we've seen the ability of him to do it there was that really cool 35 yard
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touchdown pass against the Commanders right down the seam it was a bad throw by Daniel Jones too
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um um Theo basically had to sort of twist around to catch that and you saw
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that huge catch radius he has so if you run into a Theo in in person if you see him in person he's a big dude he is a
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big guy right and he on top of that he looks he's bigger than he looks and on top of that he's got a huge wingspan so
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he can snatch the ball and he has good hands i was trying to explain this
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earlier in the last week on the site that you can have natural hands but have
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focus drops so it doesn't mean you have bad you have bad hands it means you get
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a little sloppy with it so I don't think he's got bad hands i think he had early
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on he got you know he it's one of these deals he's a rookie he's nervous he's trying to run before he secures the ball
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that type of thing but you saw some of those those his ability to the snad
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snatch the ball to grab the ball and I think he has that and his blocking
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improved um as the year went along too what what's interesting is when you hear
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hear people like um the Giants PR guys talking about him on Big Blue Kickoff
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Live and you remember they're talking to coaches behind the scenes and stuff like that they say that the the the coaching
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staff is really high on Theo Johnson and I believe that i think they they see a
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ball of clay here that they can mold into a legitimate receiving threat he's
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he can catch he can run he can get down the seam he's got he's and he's there's similarities between him and the draft
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pick Fedoni that we'll talk about again the catch radius his ability to to run to run down the field and threaten the
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defense vertically but he's got that so the good news too on him is this is in
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the old days and you know this when you get the the dreaded Liz Frank injury usually you didn't know if a player
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could come back from that really well right i don't know what they've done with medical science with the Liz Frank
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but it seems like players are coming back from the Liz Frank injuries pretty quickly today knock on wood but Theo I
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believe is already back on the practice field he had this injury at the end of November beginning of December if this
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was like 1990 um I think you and I would be like we're
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not even sure if he's going to be available the beginning of the year but he's already on the practice field so
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again I I whatever medical advances they've done with Liz Frank injuries it seems to be and Andrew Thomas is in that
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same category so it again knock on wood it looks like the Liz Frank issue is not going to be a big deal for him yeah it's
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uh going back to the beginning part of what you were saying i think when we see Dball do the breakdown and by the way I
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cannot wait until we get to the quarterback piece just there's a lot of stuff recently that I'm looking forward to but when you see Dball have the
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quarterbacks do breakdown plays right on the on the board a lot of what you hear is how
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complicated the Giants offense how Dal's offense is there's a lot of pieces to it
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there's a lot of there's a lot of um uh different calls there's different different variations there's a lot and
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as a rookie coming in and a guy who played in a very simplistic offense at Penn State that's a lot to be processing
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and I think that's the part where you're where you were talking about he's got natural snatching hands but I think he
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his his brain was slightly behind his body trying to remember what am I doing on this play i have to get over here i'm
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way on the other side of the field i'm supposed to come across here wait what am I blocking and releasing am I
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blocking holding going in blocking holding going out there was a You could just tell everything was like very uh
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mechanical with with what he was doing early on and that's where the drops came from um right he's a big dude you
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mentioned that and the funny thing is you you mentioned two things they sound like they're they go against each other he's even bigger than he looks because
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he's he's a tall dude he's a muscular dude but he he carries that weight it's
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extremely well distributed yeah so he looks he kind of looks thinner than you than he really is while being a big guy
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so I think he can be a force a little bit more of a force in game more than even more than Bellinger can um I don't
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know the Giants are going to try to exploit that that much i think but that will keep him being the guy if he's
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going to be the guy because he's the real true two-way player that we have at tight end right now the I mean
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Bellinger's close but this guy's got all he's I don't want to dig too far back
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into the Bavaro pieces but he has Bavaro size to a degree he's tall he's a little
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taller than Bavaro maybe not as muscular as Bavaro but he's got that ability to
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do some blocking and he's got that ability to make plays down the field in the passing game and Bellinger's not
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really the down the field guy oh yeah and so defenses don't really worry about Bellinger going vertical on them but
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they're going to have to pay attention to Theo Johnson and I I want to throw this out there too i I do think fans
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sometimes kind of conflate or confuse um wide receivers and tight ends in this
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sense that I've noticed a lot of times when Giants fans look at highlights of tight ends they say "Well geez that guy
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isn't very fast or very fluid." It's a different position so if you look at the
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best tight ends in the NFL they're not nif particularly nifty people even the
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Kelsey's of the world again you're not they're not going to they're not going to run four fours or four fives by you
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but for a big guy for for a guy who is as big as he is and Fedoni when we talk
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about him they because I saw people commenting that Fedoni didn't look particularly fast on film for film for a
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big tight end he does and same thing with Theo Johnson so I think the best
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way to describe what you you were just describing is that the game slowed down a little bit for Theo as the year
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progressed so it it so and that's not unusual for tight ends sai has talked
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about that tight ends is one of the hardest transitions from college to pro
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because it isn't just catching it's blocking it's both and and it takes tight ends usually time to develop not
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always but usually it does and it really happens for all positions too you can't just come into the league usually and
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just it all just clicks for you so the good news is Theo did show the ability
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to do the things that we hope he can do it's just whether he can do it more consistently or not what I do like and I
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don't want to overemphasize it again is when I hear people like John Schmelk bring him up it's he always mentions "Oh
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the coaching staff really really likes this guy." and they really so I so that's the kind of scuttleb butt that
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you you you'd like to hear now the other interesting guy they're bringing back before we move on to um
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Bellinger and um if I can add him to the stage is Chris Manhurz um who
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this is the one of the three catches he he had last year a touchdown which was a
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cool catch it was actually a It wasn't an easy catch and Man Herz is a guy
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that's bounced around the league but wherever he's gone he's been he teams that have had him have enjoyed the his
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ability to block people so he's the blocker on the team he was a free agent
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the Giants said "We want to bring him back." And they brought him back so they have a they have a role in mind for him
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to be the the blocking tight end when they do the 12 personnel so I think there's a pretty darn decent good chance
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that he's going to be back on the roster this year as the blocking guy
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unless somebody else like a Bellinger or a Fedoni show really top-notch blocking
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skills in this upcoming training camp so I I think Manhtz is a guy that's is one
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of those guys that a lot of a lot of fans don't think much about but I guarantee you the coaching staff does
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they want a guy that's able to block the edge and and so I wouldn't be surprised if he's back but he's not obviously he's
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not a threat in the passing game well I mean and he's he's got connections to
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deep ball he go it goes back to it goes back to Buffalo so there's he has an
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inside track they have him for a reason a very specific reason why they want him
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there i didn't see it last year to be quite honest i I thought his blocking was average at best um for a guy that
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that's really why he's on the team so I think those other guys have an
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opportunity but clearly you're going to have to shine because he does have a connection
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to the staff and there's a comfort level there i mean even towards the end of his career Howard Cross really provided
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almost nothing other than blocking the last two to three years he was on the team but you knew what you were getting
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with him blocking wise you knew he you knew that you could put him out there and he would handle that piece of it
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plus he brought that veteran leadership we are a young team and Manhurst does have 10 years in the league so there
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there is something to be said about that as well but I I'm with you some of this is is all dependent upon what happens
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with some of these other guys in camp right and I'm looking at his snap counts now on offense and it and it averaged
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around 30% so he was basically on the field 30% of the time there were games where it was close to 50% and there were
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games where um there was one game here that he was only on the field 13% of the snaps so it varies and depending on who
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the opponent is and and and and so forth so much I think depends too is and we
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don't know this we've kind of talked about this in the last show when we did running backs is how much are the Giants going to run the football if they become
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a more running oriented team and we don't know if they will or not then it makes sense to have a guy like Manner
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more on the roster to have a guy that can run block so we'll see what kind of team they're they're going to be the guy
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I think is more at risk here and I I know you've talked about it before is is is Daniel Ballinger so I think
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Ballinger's at a at a crossroads here i I still would not discount him
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from still being the type of guy that we hoped he would be but I could also see
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him being cut i I I think he's at a crossroads here and he's going to have
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to have a very strong camp because I think there are a couple tight ends on this roster that might be breathing down
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his neck um somebody on in the forum did ask us for you and I to specifically
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talk about what what has happened to him why is he not the same player he was his
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rookie year maybe he wasn't as good as we
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thought he was i don't think it's really the eye injury that's really impacting him he That was a serious thing it was
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an or it was an orbital fracture wasn't it i think he broke yeah and kind of popped out right and it was really I
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mean it was really scary injury i don't think that that's there now when he came out of college the irony was is the he
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was had a reputation of being more of a blocker and an athletic guy but his
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college didn't really use him in that and then his rookie we he while he was sort of flashing as a um a receiver and
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remember he had that really cool endound on the goal line for a touchdown so he ran ran he ran a touchdown and he looked
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like a better athlete and offensive player his than a blocker his rookie year and you know we all had high
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expectations for him and the and remember the Darren Waller experiment going into the the following year and
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that that tight end room imploded because Darren Waller got hurt again and
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and Bellinger just had a terrible season based on the expectation level for him
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his second year and then coming into last year he really became the third
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string tight end so he like I said he played a lot towards the end because the
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injury to Theo Johnson and it's a big camp for him i I'm very curious to see how this goes for him he's a hard worker
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we've all seen him he he worked you know when remember the famous picture of him in training camp how muscle how bulked
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up he was in terms you know his arms so he's he works his tail off but we'll
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have to see he he started his rookie year with 30 receptions um just for 268
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right that went to 25 in 23 down to 14 last year he scored two touchdowns his
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rookie year none since um right and look at his snap counts and look at his snap
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counts have have I mean how they've gone went down last year too i mean he there were games where he barely played yeah
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it's it's something something clearly changed um with the with the Giants he
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was so in his rookie year he was targeted 35 times for 30 receptions 28 times for 25 receptions 17 times for 14
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receptions now again quarterback play does play a role in some of this but
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what what doesn't make sense is just the the fact that he went for he's gone from 30 to 14 so when you look at it when we
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talk about who's in kind of a precarious position I don't look at Bellinger
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necessarily competing with some of those rookie rookie guys that we're talking
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about whether um you know whether we're looking at Fedoni whether we're looking at uh the I think Terry we'll probably
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talk about him or whether you look at Adult even if you count Dolich in that group right because literally what's
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going to happen is those guys are going to compete for a job and if they are going there then it's really going to be
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the Giants are going to decide which one of the veterans are we keeping are we keep are we keeping Mannhearts are we keeping Bellinger manhertz again fits
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something that the Giants don't have with most of the other guys on the team is he is he is supposed to be a full-on
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blocker that's the guy that they can count on if they need to just line a guy up next to the tackle and leave him in
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to block all the time manhertz is going to be that guy bellinger won't be that guy so if any of those rookies come
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through the Giants are going to ultimately decide between I think the two veterans i think it's going to be Manhtz and Bellinger kind of which
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veteran is staying if they keep the rookies now if those rookies don't really develop or they think they're a
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little ways away then then I think Bellinger and Manertz both make the team but if you see any of those other guys
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kind of shining and we'll we'll get to Dolich in a minute there's a reason why he might have somewhat of an inside
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track here too that we might we don't want to discount i think Bellinger would be the odd man out if they keep between
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the two veterans he's his his salary is increasing as we move along based on the
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rookie contracts and how they go manhurds has a very defined role that Bellinger does not have so if it comes
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down to it I think Bellinger could be the man out keep in mind we juggled contracts to and it doesn't mean that
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we're in a bad position overall salary capwise for the year we had to juggle
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some contracts and I think they're probably still going to have to do at least one more and then they there might be some cuts as we go through camp and
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when you decide sometimes it's going to be who counts more against the cap is going to be the guy that gets cut if I'm
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Bellinger I am focusing big time on my blocking right now because I kind of
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agree with you i I agree with you and I don't agree with you i agree with you in the sense that I think the only sure bet
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is Theo as long as he stays healthy and I think everyone else is competing for a
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spot here and it could go any number of ways depending on how all of the rest of these other guys perform however I don't
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see Bellinger's skill set competing directly athletically with some of the other guys i would try if I was if I was
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Daniel I would try to replace Mannerz's role on this team
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as the blocker because then you get somebody if he can cut anywhere near the blocking level he's a better receiving
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threat than Man Herz and at that point the coaching staff may say "You know what bellinger gives us enough of the
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blocking and better receiving and um he's a younger guy and still has a bit
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of an upside man hurts sort of towards the end i want to go with the younger guy." That would be if I was that would
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be my mindset if I'm Bellinger in this case I would be like "My camp is going to be not that ignored the receiving but
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it's going to be I my role on this team i want to become the the new blocking tight end on this team." That's how I
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would I would approach it if I were him yeah i mean that's that's a fair that's a fair assessment um I'm also
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curious the first team guys are going to get a lot of first team play with with
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the vet quarterbacks the second and third team guys may get a lot of play with our
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rookie quarterback and if you develop kind of a bit of a connection with
28:37
him that that could be beneficial to you if if the coaches feel like you really
28:42
work well with this guy so just because you're not getting a lot of first team reps doesn't mean that you might not
28:49
really have a a solid position if you can show something with the guy that
28:54
everybody on the Giant staff is going to be keeping an eye on is going to be that that quarterback that young quarterback
28:59
dropping back looking around and if he's develops a connection with some of these tight ends that's that's a way to go i
29:04
think blocking him for Bellinger is is is paramount i think you're you're full on right on that one i think that's a
29:10
big deal okay and that brings us to and I want to address some of the
29:15
comments that we're seeing too in chat before we get off here because there's some really good points here um Doulich
29:22
who I don't think people are talking enough about so there's a little bit of a fear factor
29:27
here be based on recent history because of the Darren Waller experience darren Waller as everybody remembers came to
29:33
the New York Giants with chronic hamstring issues and he was an older dude at the end of his career but
29:39
somebody who had had two or three I think three but at least two incredible
29:45
seasons just amazing seasons thousand yard seasons kind of kind of guy that
29:51
could take over a game and the Giants gambled on that and lost when they traded for him was a third round pick third round pick for him right yes I
29:58
think we traded which is not insignificant we as we found out we got Darius Alexander for a third round pick
30:04
so um Dolich was drafted in the same draft
30:09
as Bellinger he was taken around earlier than than um Bellinger on size draft
30:17
preview dulich was his third ranked tight end in that draft bellinger was his seventh ranked tight end um Sai is
30:25
was a big fan of Dulich coming out of college as a receiving type tight end
30:30
and you can see on the limited highlights that he put together in Denver why Sai was was
30:38
high on him this guy is another guy that can get down the field and make games make plays in the passing game and I
30:45
think this might I hope I'm not stealing your thunder here he was catching passes from who when he was in Denver Russell
30:51
Wilson and Russ a lot of his highlights are from what Russell Wilson and that
30:57
that there's two things that caught my eye with that number one um the talent
31:03
level of the tight end and we'll get into that in a second but number two it was evidence that Russell Wilson can throw over the can throw over the middle
31:10
and use the tight end because he was throwing the doulich and Doulich is an athletic guy if he's got the the
31:18
hamstring issues behind him and and he's a younger guy than Waller so let's keep a positive thought on this but if he's
31:25
got that behind him this could be a really big pickup for the Giants um he's
31:31
very young still he's got he's got a lot of talent and he's a he's a he's a
31:37
legitimate threat in the passing game and so he's one of those guys that I
31:42
think he could even theoretically become the number two tight end on this team he's that talented we were all excited
31:48
about Fedoni and we'll talk about him but right now he's the veteran and he's he's and he's also an athlete who can
31:55
get down the field this is a guy that I think has a legitimate shot of not only making the team but also being a big
32:01
factor on the team moving forward we'll have to see do not if you get a chance
32:06
go go and look at his highlights as a receiver on YouTube there's a there's a
32:12
three or four minute clip on him uh catching and then half the passes are from from Russell Wilson so it that was
32:19
interesting well I'll agree and disagree i agree
32:25
with all the statements about what he can be right the problem is his rookie year 33 receptions 411 yards two
32:32
touchdowns since that time he's had I believe if I'm doing my math correctly 13 13 receptions since then um
32:42
he he's fallen off a cliff um he's now moved on uh he's you know with the
32:47
Giants didn't do anything last year um offensively with them so right and they
32:53
caught him and they got rid of him it is it is a gamble it is it is a gamble to say that he could now he physically he
33:00
has the talent right health-wise is a question right but also there comes a point though
33:07
where all all the breaks have to go your way if you're going to he does have that
33:14
that one thing that that you you mentioned i was thinking it he has the connection with Russell Wilson but let's
33:19
not overstate the connection right they didn't play together for very long one season so but but as far as the guys
33:26
with the Giants he has more experience with Russell Wilson than anybody else so that does that does bode well but when
33:32
you draft a player which the Giants did when you have a guy you already drafted
33:37
on the team which we just covered in Bellinger and then you've got another draft who's the number basically your
33:42
number one tight end right now right a guy coming in from the outside who's
33:48
hasn't really done anything in in the last four years that's a that's a risky
33:54
one that's a that's a bit of a a a stretch to say now if again some of the
33:59
guys we're about to talk to talk about if they don't develop as quickly as would be necessary to be part of this I
34:06
think Dolce a has experience b the knowledge of of the quarterback and he has a knowledge of the Giant system he
34:12
was with the team and he's had longer time with the playbook so there is that but it's really going to come down I
34:18
think for Dolich it's really going to come down to other players it's it's I think if he plays the way he plays that
34:23
gives him a shot but it really depends on what the other players do well we'll see so let's take example their both of
34:30
their rookie years so both of them got hurt their rookie years bellinger with the eye injury um Doulich with a
34:37
hamstring injury and and Bellinger played in 12
34:44
games and had 30 catches for 268 yards so third so 30 catches 268 they both had
34:52
two touchdowns but let's focus so 30 catches 268 yards uh Dulich played 10
34:58
games he played 10 games and he had 400 what where is it 411 yards 411 yards on
35:06
33 catches so my point is I'll say this though right on the 33 catches he was
35:11
targeted 55 times so there are there are 22 either poor
35:17
passes or drops or defended whatever he was targeted 55 times and caught 33 of
35:23
them right but he's not a he's not a he's not a kind of guy that drops a lot of passes i'd have to I'd have to check
35:28
that what his drop rate was but the the the issue the the point I'm trying to make here is he was a greater focal
35:35
point as a rookie in Denver's offense than Bellinger was so what I'm my point
35:40
is is and he was more productive in the same basically the same number of games so what I'm saying is if Bellinger we're
35:47
we're we're saying Bellinger is still got the ability to do do more than what
35:52
he has done to date so does Dolich that's my point and Dul Doulich was the earlier draft pick we'll see i think he
36:00
has an ability to to surprise people in camp he could be he's probably going to he could get cut um but I think he's in
36:07
the mix i I do think he's in the mix he's not an older He's not an older veteran that's been around a long time
36:13
he still has promise and he knows that this is probably it for him if he gets cut by the Giants he may not even end up
36:20
on another team someplace but we'll we'll see i'm just saying keep an eye on him because he he's got the talent and
36:28
he's and he has flashed in this league as a rookie and like you said it
36:35
he sort of faded like like Bellinger he's sort of faded the last two years so we'll see what happens with him now the
36:41
guy that everyone's excited about is where is he here is Thomas
36:49
Fidoni so our seventh round draft pick who some projected to go as
36:54
high as the fifth round i saw some guy somebody mentioned that if he had never had the knee injuries he probably would
37:01
have gone even higher than that maybe third or fourth round um so those who don't know
37:08
uh Fedoni was the highest recruited tight end of his class when he came out
37:14
um ahead of Bowers right brock Bowers I think he was ahead of Brock i believe so i believe so yeah so he was heavily
37:21
recruited he was the heaviest recruited um player to go to to Nebraska in
37:27
years and um he suffered two ACL injuries back to back and he missed his
37:34
first two seasons because of those injuries and then he played the last two
37:40
uh um seasons with those injuries and um
37:46
wasn't bad but the the I I saw a commentary from uh a Nebraska or the
37:52
Nebraska version of Inside BBI let's put it that where two guys were sitting around sitting around discussing
37:58
Nebraska football and they were talking about the fact that a lot of Nebraska fans are kind of pissed off at Thomas
38:05
and the reason is is they felt a little bit cheated and this is going to sound a
38:12
little sick but cheated by the injury ies in other words they they saw that
38:18
that Thomas leading up to the draft was one of those guys that a lot of teams were sniffing around and thought he
38:24
might go again in the fifth round and they were like well why didn't he do more at Nebraska and the G and and there
38:33
were people in their version of chat who were like you know overrated you know don't like him and
38:41
there were other people who were saying the quarterback play wasn't good he had those injuries he was the best player on
38:48
offense for them when they used him in the passing game that type of thing so it was it was a funny it was a funny
38:53
discussion because you see that a lot in free agency when a player goes to another team the fan base will say "We
38:58
didn't want the guy anyway i'm glad I'm glad he's gone." But Thomas is
39:05
a big another big guy he's I don't think he's as um um muscular in terms of I
39:12
shouldn't say muscular i don't think he's got the same body type as Theo Johnson in terms of his terms of his
39:19
width but I but he's another tall linear guy with a really really long arms i
39:25
think he's got 34 inch arms really big catch radius ran runs very well even
39:31
after the ACL's did very well in the testing that was another thing that ticked the people off in the Nebraska
39:36
show they were like "Well he tested so good at um how come we didn't use him
39:41
more?" That type of thing so but he he runs well and then at the o at the uh
39:46
mini camp the Giants employees that were there again on on Big Blue Kickoff Live
39:52
um were talking about I think it was Matt Scit who said this um said he moved
39:58
like a wide receiver he said he said you know again he said he looked very fluid
40:03
and he looked very natural out there running patterns and catching the ball and you see that on tape with him at
40:10
times there were some plays in the highlight tape with him like the uh Theo Johnson play where Daniel Jones threw a
40:17
terrible pass and had and Theo had to reach behind him and there's a pass that
40:22
that that um um Fedoni caught down the field where same thing he had to reach
40:29
way behind him and and those long arms of his came into play and then he caught
40:34
you he ran up field and had big yards after the catch so I think there's a chance that Fedoni
40:42
could also be the number two tight end on this team um it depends on how fast he develops the other thing he's got
40:48
going for him is his college coaching staff Matt Rule and his tight end coach
40:54
were pro were pro coaches so in the system that they were teaching at Nebraska was a pro system and there was
41:01
a recent interview on Giants.com with the tight end coach and he said that he said Thomas would have no issues at all
41:06
picking up a pro offense because he said that's what we were running here and he was a pro
41:11
coach i think it was with with rule in um Carolina so if that's true the
41:18
learning curve with him isn't as great as it as it as we saw with Theo Johnson for instance what you were talking about
41:24
earlier so he's a guy that could quickly and some I think overly optimistic are
41:31
saying he could push Theo Johnson a little bit we'll see about that but um but to get him in the seventh round I
41:37
think was was a pretty pretty cool thing yeah I I I wouldn't I wouldn't dare jump
41:43
into the Theo Johnson category just for a lot of reasons i mean the Giants drafted Johnson they have a lot invested
41:49
in him um they took him three rounds higher than they took Fidoni the year before and he was already playing he
41:56
already kind of moved his way into really being the starting tight end before his injury so I would I would
42:04
kind of like no but I do think this guy has legit ability to make it as the
42:10
second guy on the team per se if you want to the the question was in um
42:15
Master Mariner said uh you know why are we talking about pass receiving tight ends and blocking tight ends why can't
42:21
they do both um in today's league there's very few that do
42:26
both well you tend to now see more um
42:32
specific uh players for specific packages i think Fedoni would be the guy if they want to bring another guy in to
42:38
help threaten his his height alone makes him a red zone target and you put both
42:44
he and Johnson on the field you've got two very tall athletic tight ends um in
42:50
the red zone which makes it uh somebody who likes to throw the ball up a little bit throw some jump balls kind of thing
42:56
these are the kind of guys that can go get it especially in the red zone so I think he's playing for uh to make the
43:03
team for sure but I don't think he's I don't think he's any kind of a threat to Johnson minus injury minus Johnson just
43:10
not being healthy when he when we get to camp uh but I do think he's a legit uh
43:15
if if he shows everything that his talent says it can be and the and the knee can handle it he's he's a threat to
43:22
make the team for sure and have a role right and he will like you mentioned he
43:29
will have the ability to stretch the field he can get down the field we'll have to see how much he can cut and do
43:37
those things there are conflicting things like the tight end's coach for Nebraska was saying "Oh he's he's
43:43
perfectly able to to cut and and and and has the agility to be a factor in the
43:49
passing game just not vertically." We'll have to see if that's the case so we we'll see but he can run down the field
43:56
he can run under run after the catch um the good news is he's tested very well
44:01
athletically and to address this question it's never been the case in the NFL as long as I've been watching and
44:06
I've been watching since the early 80s late 70s that it's very unusual to have
44:11
a tight end that can do both very well now there were some exceptions to the rule the the best I've ever saw was Mark
44:18
Bavaro and that's not just me talking as a Giants fan i still haven't seen a tight end that can block as well mark
44:25
Bavaro could block defensive ends by himself yes and he was he was a thousand yard receiver on a team that devoid of
44:33
any other really passing weapons mark Mark was really if you hadn't seen Mark Bavaro play he he if he hadn't gotten
44:39
hurt he'd easily been a Hall of Fame player um Howard Cross for instance who
44:44
followed he was pretty much a blocking tight end um Howard really wasn't a pass catcher and um if it's even gotten worse
44:53
today if you look and scout the college tight ends now they're almost all these
44:59
undersized receiving guys now they're they're it's very difficult to find tight ends coming out of college right
45:06
now that can block and they almost are all these undersized um almost like Hback strictly Hback or
45:14
or or um move tight ends that just you the best you can hope is that they'll
45:21
get in the way that's just the way the college game has evolved because I think that people are going to more spread offenses so it's even harder to find
45:27
people that can that can do that so the thing about Fedoni is this is you see
45:33
people say he's not that good of blocker but then I've seen clips where he's
45:38
that's not the case and he's he gives a really good effort so maybe with tight ends effort is is more
45:46
than half the battle you got to have the want to to block and of course you have to have the ability too but Thomas has
45:52
got the want to there was a play they highlighted it the other day um where he blocked the defensive tackle uh inside
46:00
he was put in motion and he blocked a defensive so he can block whether he can make a living like that we'll see if he
46:06
can then he really is going to cement himself as a number two tight end on this on on this team so we'll see we'll
46:13
see about that the last guy before we get to some of these questions um and the real afterthought right here
46:20
by a lot of is is Germaine Terry who is one of the UD UDFAS and it was a it's
46:25
kind of a um let me bring that up again it's kind of hard to find any information on him in college so he was
46:34
at I think it was California i may be wrong about that he was at another school before he
46:40
transferred and he too I think in 2021 he was rated by ESPN as the number one
46:47
high school tight end coming out of coming out of high school and he his
46:53
career just didn't go the way expected but but he is a really good athlete um
46:59
another again one of these move tight end guys not a guy that again you you really wanted as an inline blocker um he
47:06
wasn't thrown to a lot but but he supposedly has the athletic ability and
47:11
he has the ability to catch the football and the Giants obviously were high enough on him to bring him sign him in
47:20
um as an undrafted free agent and he showed enough in the OTAAS for them to
47:25
not the OTAAS I'm sorry the rookie mini camp for them to keep him on remember they they had a bunch of tryyout players
47:31
and they actually ended up cutting two of their UDFAs and I was curious to see if Germaine was going to be one of the
47:37
guys that would survive the mini camp and he did so obviously his best shot at is going to be practice squad to make it
47:44
um but he's one of the guys I don't expect him to do much but I'm I'm very
47:50
curious about him because of the ranking coming out of high school he has the talent it's just for whatever reason it
47:58
didn't come together for him in college so I think it's a good gamble we'll have we'll have to see but but he's another
48:06
he's a lot like Fedoni in the sense that he was a highly highly recruited guy athletic guy he's another guy with a big
48:12
wingspan we'll just have to see what's there well the bulk of his production is
48:18
his last year so at California he had um eight total receptions for 52 yards yeah
48:25
or Oregon State 6 for 52 last year 23 for 375 and a touchdown right the one
48:32
thing that he brings to the table is he's 270 lbs so he's got like he's got
48:39
like legit weight right he's not just a tall and he's got some he's muscular you
48:45
know 65 245 he's 6'4 270 so this is a
48:50
guy that I think if he comes in and shows he can block then he gets a quicker path to the practice squad if
48:58
he's a blocker because then you've got somebody I don't think he's that big though is he 270 i listed as 270 he's
49:03
listed as 270 but on who's it's a it's it's basically the college version of of
49:10
Okay i think the Giants have him listed at a lower weight but let me I have to check that let me see what they've got
49:15
him listed i don't think I don't think he's that big um that doesn't mean he can't get that big the Giants listed him
49:22
as 245 so they didn't have him that big um if that's the case and I do apologize
49:29
that the one place is showing him i'm still seeing yeah there's always a big difference with the college weights
49:36
and the with the when they when they have him with the pros so we'll see i He doesn't look that big to me he doesn't
49:42
look like a 70 guy but he's got a block he's got to block because it's it's that's the only way you're going to make
49:47
team i mean and I mean even make the practice squad if he can't block they don't they don't really because somebody
49:53
else is also going to get cut that probably could make the practice squad um you know so you're you're going to
49:58
have to show you can block i think his role if he makes it is going to actually be contrary to that though i think it's
50:04
going to be a a receiving type i don't think it blocking is his strength again he's more of a a move blocker than than
50:11
an inline blocker so I think if he's he's going to have to really show that he's going to be able to be a um a pass
50:21
catcher that they can develop so we'll see again we're probably spending too much time on him right now i I think
50:27
it's a good gamble i think I think again he's got the talent it's whether or not they they can coach him up enough to
50:34
make the practice squad and then a year in the weight room year of pro coaching
50:39
and see because remember some of these guys aren't going to be here the following year right um because Manhtz
50:46
is probably one way or the other manhertz is probably this is his last contract here he's another one-year deal
50:52
we don't know what Bellinger's future is going to like even if Bellinger makes the team he's going to be be a free agent and I would be a betting man on
51:00
that he's probably not going to he's not going to stick stick here um he'd want to test the free agent market even if
51:07
he's if he's um makes the team so you want to get some guys on the practice
51:14
squad to fill in roster spots before next year's draft so we we'll see with
51:21
him remember the practice squads are huge now so they can stick a tight end on there if they want to but you made a
51:26
good point too some of these tight ends could end up on even like a dosage could end up on the practice squad we'll have
51:31
to we'll have to see so um now there were some good questions here um this is
51:38
the way the game um Duncan the game's kind of changed a little bit the
51:43
fullback's really been eliminated from the game for the most part um it's not
51:49
that you every now and then you'll see a team have one but they've kind of gone extinct don't you think John the
51:54
fullbacks yeah it's for for most teams there's very few that actually use them
52:00
the Giants are going to be We talked about this with the running back preview they're they're not going to carry many
52:06
we're we're probably looking at three running backs that they're they're going to carry on the team one of the tight
52:11
ends is going to play that fullback kind of role like a move like a move back
52:17
yeah so I Yeah so the Hback and for those who don't know the Hback is kind of like a move tight end so and like
52:24
sometimes they'll refer to an F tight end versus the Y tight end who's the inline blocker so when you think of
52:31
these guys some of them are going to are guys that you can block in line put which means they put their hand in the
52:37
dirt and they can block other guys are guys that you really don't really want to do that you want them to be moving
52:43
around and blocking on the move so for example on the of the guys that we
52:48
talked Man Herz can put his hand in the dirt theo Johnson can probably put his hand in the dirt doulich is probably a
52:54
guy you don't want to do that with um Terry may might not either so So the
53:01
fullback doesn't mean that you don't have a guy like a fullback it's just the the traditional fullback is sort of been
53:07
disappearing the Greg Camellas and the Charles Ways are are are sort of extinct now I think oh I I No I to I totally
53:15
agree i totally agree um other positions will also play a role we talked you
53:21
talked about are we going to go three or four in my opinion uh last year I thought it was going to be three it
53:26
ended up being four i think it's going to be four again this year i think but I think Dal just likes having tight ends
53:34
yeah I do too anyway you want to yeah and he used to he used to coach the position remember in New England and
53:42
they he like you said I think he likes them i like likes having them on the field and that's one of the reasons why
53:48
I think they'll go four if they but Andrew makes a good point here too they're competing they're competing
53:54
against wide receivers they're I would say they're competing against other running backs
54:00
um I I'm leaning towards four but again you have to see the fourth player
54:07
deserve making the roster at the same time is is is the fourth tight end going
54:12
to be more important to the team than the fourth running back i my guess is yes but we'll have to see um because I'm
54:20
a little more optimistic on guys like Greg Doulich than than than John is we
54:25
we'll just have to see but Andrew that that's a really good point and special teams comes into play there too right
54:31
that's a big that's a big factor so we'll have to see there um
54:37
Paul and that's a good point so hopefully we don't have hopefully we don't have that that
54:43
problem as much as we have in the past if our tackles can stay healthy they don't have to do that with
54:49
Luminor and and Andrew Thomas they just have to hope those guys can stay healthy
54:56
the depth is a little bit better this year and which and when we talk about it what's interesting is on the offensive
55:03
line is Marcus Bo is starting off at tackle and and of course they signed in
55:09
free agency a couple of swing tackles so we'll have to see that um Andrew brings
55:16
up cap implication here and this is something that you talked about John Bellinger's cap figure so um that's not
55:25
insignificant again 3.6 million that's higher than I thought it was going to be then that's what you cuz you've been
55:30
bringing that up for a while and I'm thinking how much could he possibly be making but you're right that's not insignificant so
55:37
um so if if you were to assume if you were to assume Theo's the on the team
55:43
you assume Manhurst is on the team that's two so now you're talking who's the third tight end if Fedoni shows
55:51
anything if he really show like the Giants drafted him for a reason they're not just like get a guy in the seventh
55:57
round we don't really care we're just going to cut the guy they you you think he has an opportunity to make the team
56:02
if he makes the team he's three the fourth guy is going to be made up of
56:07
somebody of Dolich Bellinger and now Cost comes into play so then Bellinger
56:13
would be out dolich depending on he probably is in at that point it it
56:19
really does come down to like what do the Giants want to do with Bellinger is going to decide really somebody else on
56:25
the team or not on the team it's just whether they want to carry that salary if if talent is almost equal right then
56:31
the salary is going to go yeah and it's it's it's going to be a fun
56:39
group to watch because I think let me back up for a second i
56:44
don't think I think in most drafts your seventh round draft pick it's he's very he's not there he's he's
56:52
there's no guarantee for a seventh round draft pick to ever make a roster but I don't think Fedoni is a typical seventh
56:58
round draft pick i think he's because I think he lasted to the seventh round because of the ACL's if he wasn't for
57:04
the ACL's I think he's he gets drafted much higher than this therefore I agree with John i think he there's more likely
57:11
if he shows anything he makes the team now if he does if he
57:17
struggles and um they think they can get him on the practice squad and no no other team's going to grab him then
57:23
obviously that's a route there but if he shows anything in camp you're leaning towards keeping Fedoni on the roster as
57:30
as your third tight end and the question then becomes do you keep a fourth tight end at that point that's that's how I'm
57:36
approaching this right now um I also like I said I see Doulich is having
57:41
having a um someone that you can't ignore on this just because of talent do
57:48
I would it shock me if he's cut no but I also would not shock me if he ends up
57:53
being the number two guy in the short term on this team because because the talent was there and he was the he was
57:59
the higher regarded player in the Bellinger draft for a reason and he has flashed enough to show you that he can
58:07
be that kind of player but as John has pointed out it's been a couple years like Bellinger before he's really done
58:13
anything so so we'll have to see and that's why that helps Fedoni um who's who's your backup pass catcher on this
58:19
team right now like if if say Theo Johnson pulls a hamstring and he's out so last year they they put Bellinger
58:26
back in that role so if if so let's say we're in week seven and Theo pulls a
58:32
hamstring you're not Manhtz isn't your pass catcher if you're and again now we're talking May 20 May 26 we haven't
58:40
even hit OTAAS which start start tomorrow so we don't even know so we may hear tomorrow watch tomorrow they'll say
58:47
oh my god Thomas Fodon is lights out in OTAAS but who do you think would be your
58:52
pass catcher right now your backup pass catcher i mean right now legitimately you you would still have to say
58:58
Bellinger based on based on the experience based on what he's actually done in the league um because Fedona you
59:05
just don't know i mean you can't say for sure that's the guy you're everything is based on you know projecting what you
59:12
hope he can do bellinger you're projecting what he's done in the past
59:17
and what you think he could still do so there is at least some proven track record even if it has declined the last
59:23
couple years it'd have to be currently Bellinger I would think but your point is now I can see where you're you're
59:29
going dol is the guy that has the most receiver yeah yeah so that's where I'm I
59:36
actually if we had to play a game tomorrow I would think Doulich is the better pass catcher than Theo John
59:44
between the two i mean not Theo Johnson um uh Bellinger between Bellinger and Dulich I think Doulich would be the
59:50
better pass catcher but that's a that's a really that's Steve that's actually a good question so you could see John John
59:57
and I are the gears are turning there yeah it's kind of like well now obviously the guy that they would like
1:00:03
to become that guy is is Fedoni but again John and I tend to operate from
1:00:08
the perspective that rookie is a rookie and you got to be a little bit um conservative in terms of predicting
1:00:16
what their potential is during the rookie year too we have to see what we have in Fedoni i will say
1:00:23
that based on the comments coming out of the rookie mini camp there's no reason
1:00:28
to be pessimistic about Fedoni so far so far the the comment that again from Matt
1:00:34
Sciteac from giants.com was like he was like "Wow he's a much better receiver than I thought." And that's the kind of
1:00:40
the same kind of thing that you heard out of out of the Senior Bowl too where the Giants had a coach coaching directly
1:00:46
it was Angela Baker I think who's who's no longer a coach with the Giants but she was coaching the tight ends at the
1:00:52
Senior Bowl i think she was co coaching Fedoni specifically at the Senior Bowl so they got they got their hands on him
1:00:59
in that in those practices in the game so um so for for a for a free shout out
1:01:05
to anybody in the chat on our next show give me the three tight ends from the 90
1:01:11
Super Bowl team not you Eric i know you tried to stomp me this the other day on this i You
1:01:17
didn't stmp me no no so anybody who knows if you know it you'll get a free I'll just shout you out on the on the
1:01:23
Wednesday they're gonna they're gonna they're gonna search Wikipedia real quick probably but I'm only going to give I'm only going to give you're only
1:01:30
going to get like like a minute to figure it out let's see wait a minute i
1:01:35
see Optimus is easy trying easily trying to answer this
1:01:41
so did we hit all the questions understand there we go well done well done
1:01:49
i knew i'm trying to see did we hit all the questions if we didn't hit your question please retype it guys i'm
1:01:56
trying to look through your questions right now to see if we missed anything here so um Bob Morasco
1:02:02
yes yes that dude was he was essentially they had him as another offensive
1:02:08
lineman yes yeah he was a good blocker but uh Moatt was not on the 90 team he
1:02:13
did not um he did not catch the any he was not part of the the What was Moatt's last year with the Giants that was it
1:02:20
was it 89 was it 89 either that or he was hurt but it was it was it was Bavaro cross uh Morasco or the tight ends
1:02:27
morasco caught a touchdown pass against uh against the Bears in a playoff game yeah and that's that's such a tight end
1:02:32
name too bob Morasco yes and now we've got now we've got an offensive lineman Marcus Embo so there you go all right
1:02:40
not that I'm just again looking for correlations but uh yeah no that was uh
1:02:45
that was good so uh again we're trying to hit the questions on this stuff on Wednesday night just I'm I'm being I'm
1:02:51
just being honest i'm not going to be able to hit the individual questions super chat questions will get hit on that night we're going to be busy with
1:02:57
the other guys we got four big topics to go through and we're going to be drinking beers and it's going to be really hard for me to keep up on a lot
1:03:03
of those things get the questions in though we'll see let's not become too horish here we're not it's not a matter
1:03:09
of horish it's a matter of I'm trying to prioritize it takes a lot to keep these things going we're we're we're working
1:03:14
our butts up so So let's finish up with this we'll keep this short i think we'll
1:03:19
keep it short it's an hour what is your overall sense of this group obviously as
1:03:25
on paper you look at this group and you say "These guys haven't done anything."
1:03:31
And you and I tend to be more optimistic about stuff are we being overly optimistic are we being not optimistic
1:03:39
enough are we being Are we spot on my take personally on this is I'm
1:03:45
really high on Theo um I think getting Fedoni in the
1:03:50
seventh round was a steal hopefully the knees hold up and I
1:03:58
think the rest of these guys are fighting for roster spots that's that's my take right now i think Theo Johnson
1:04:04
and Fidoni are probably more likely to make the team probably Manhurz too and I
1:04:10
could see it being Dulich versus Bellinger at this point um but Manhtz
1:04:16
has got to show he can show he can continue to beat block and you like you said you weren't really crazy about his
1:04:22
blocking last year um but my but I I I I think I'm higher on this group because
1:04:27
I'm high on Theo Johnson and people who are not high on Theo Johnson would probably have a different take yeah I
1:04:34
think I think it's a pretty good take my reluctance to be too optimistic is
1:04:43
this and you just kind of said it without without intentionally saying it right manhertz is the only one of this
1:04:49
group that really doesn't have an injury history bellinger has an injury history to a degree and his play has declined
1:04:56
since injury dolich has a long history of of nagging little injuries but
1:05:02
they've they've held his growth back right yes pedoni is a guy who's been injured in college multiple times
1:05:08
seriously so while he's played since then it can't not be in the back of your
1:05:13
mind and Theo Johnson's coming off of Liz Frank so I want to be more
1:05:19
optimistic i think I'm more conservative about it just because I got to see how
1:05:24
some of these guys make it through camp and that everybody's healthy assuming health is not a factor and we all know
1:05:30
with the Giants that that's not been the case years but assuming health is not a factor then I feel pretty good that we
1:05:37
have a good mix of guys who can do individual things very well and a mix of
1:05:42
youth and and veteran pieces it's just how it shakes out but I that that injury
1:05:47
piece keeps me just somewhat a little more conservative with my enthusiasm what my one of my big
1:05:54
questions moving forward is this and we won't know the answer to this until the
1:05:59
season is over how big a need is tight end on this team in next year's draft so
1:06:06
we don't know the answer to that because it might not be a need at all because if Theo has a really good year and Thomas
1:06:14
Fedoni looks like he's a steal a legitimate
1:06:19
steel then it may not be that big a need but if if those guys don't play up to
1:06:26
expectations then I could see tight end being a a pretty significant need in the
1:06:31
draft next year we just have to That's where we're at it's very it this is probably Is it fair to say this might be
1:06:39
next [Music] to maybe even more so than the offensive line would you say that this is the most
1:06:44
unsettled group because it's we're basing it ma mainly on potential
1:06:50
so on the offensive line you have Andrew I mean Andrew Andrew Thomas still you have you have Renan
1:06:56
um you have Van Roen i mean again you got guys that have a form a baseline of experience this is a group that we're
1:07:03
largely trying to b I think we're we're projecting this more than any Let Let me ask it is this the biggest projection
1:07:09
area of the team that we're Yeah i mean I I think that's that's fair i don't I wouldn't use the word
1:07:15
unsettled the way you said in the beginning because I think the top two are set i think I think Johnson and
1:07:21
Manhurds are on the team i think they're they're they're on the only way man Herz is not on the team is Bellinger lights
1:07:26
it up and one of the other rookies lights it up and the other guys don't and then they're like uh we don't we
1:07:33
Bellinger because he's just too good i I don't see that as being the problem uh but I do think Manhurds and Johnson are
1:07:39
there and then it's we're projecting the rest offensive line when you said that I'm thinking where we keep trying to
1:07:45
project somebody else in at right guard but in reality the Giants brought back five guys that they can start they
1:07:52
brought back Van Roen because they can just start him they know that they can play these guys together so it's not really unsettled we just want something
1:07:58
better right and that's and I guess my it's how I define unsettled my the thing is is again Theo Johnson I have a vision
1:08:05
of what I think Theo Johnson's going to be but it's a projection in my head which maybe end up being
1:08:12
completely incorrect i mean Theo Johnson may not be the player that I think he is we'll have to find out i think he's
1:08:19
going to be a good player but if he isn't a good player this group looks way different to me and I'm a little bit
1:08:25
reticent because of this is because I was very very high on one of the biggest
1:08:30
misses I had ever on the history of the site was how high I was on the tight end
1:08:36
room when Darren Waller and Bellinger were there going into 2023 i
1:08:43
thought because of what Bellinger did in 2022 that he as a number two tight end
1:08:48
he that he would be very good as a number two tight end and I thought with because of what Darren Waller did in
1:08:54
training camp remember Darren Waller's training camp no one could cover him oh yeah and then he come so we all were
1:09:00
like it was daily it was like no one can cover Darren Waller and we were all like oh my god this is great and he wasn't
1:09:06
getting hurt and then we learned what was it like days before the season start he's gonna didn't he look good against
1:09:12
uh in the first series against Carolina the same series that Jones looked good and everybody got pulled out after one
1:09:18
series maybe maybe and then the injury developed in practice leading up to week one and you're like yeah I know the
1:09:24
injury came out of nowhere and it was like as soon as it happened it was like oh my god and then so Optimus confirmed
1:09:30
what I what I said Moad did leave after the nine season he went to the Patriots
1:09:35
where he had the issue with Lisa Olsson uh that's where the missile You love bringing that up the missile was born
1:09:41
hey I didn't bring it up lisa Olsson did anyway that being said um you know uh I
1:09:49
think really the funny thing too for the tight end spot is somebody somebody else
1:09:54
mentioned it about competing with other positions bottom rock and I'm I'm I'm not fully on board with that because I
1:10:00
think the Giants want four guys at tight end they they proved it last year and
1:10:05
how did they prove how did they prove it last year we went and signed um and his name gets said differently each time but
1:10:11
I believe it's Jakob Johnson was the fullback that we signed and you're thinking the Giants wanted a traditional
1:10:17
fullback that's why they went and got him they bring him in and then they cut him right before the start of the season and we go with four tight ends it's like
1:10:24
why'd you even bother bringing them in so I think the Giants want four tight ends the receiving number is one that's
1:10:31
going to vary slightly i think the running backs are going to be three and we're going to stash somebody on the practice squad that's kind of seems to
1:10:36
be the MMO of what we do so what I'm curious as or about is how the
1:10:43
quarterbacks develop with the tight ends right wilson we're still you and I both
1:10:49
I think I don't want to necessarily speak for you but I we question a little bit about Wilson with the tight ends we
1:10:54
know what he does with receivers outside right but it's the it's the backs and they all throw in the backs as the
1:11:00
closer game across the middle that I'm not so sure about jameus Winston on the other hand he was lighting it up um with
1:11:09
the tight end from escaping my my my mind at the moment from Cleveland um
1:11:14
they those guys were like um the guy out of Miami optimus is gonna tell us who it is yeah I know who you're I know who
1:11:20
you're talking about yeah but that's what I liked about but that's what I liked about the highlights with um
1:11:26
Dolich though like I said he was uh Russell Wilson was throwing the dulich in those highlights so So maybe they got
1:11:33
a rapport together we'll see well that's so so what I'm thinking though is like you're going to get a different look
1:11:40
depending on who the quarterback is so my real question is where does Jackson
1:11:45
Dart fall in between those two guys is he a little bit find out we have Does he is he a tight end guy does he use the
1:11:51
tight end i'm hoping that we can get some answers down the road before we even see him play we'll see uh but I I'm
1:11:58
curious to see what cuz his development some of these younger guys who are going to be getting a lot of time with him in
1:12:04
the second or third team it's probably third team reps are really going to get to a feel for him and they they could
1:12:11
find their way on the roster uh just by by developing with him so our third team
1:12:16
tight end probably right now is still Majoku thank you bellinger and Doulich
1:12:24
right the third team tight ends because you're gonna Theo Johnson's gonna be with the first team manhertz with the 12
1:12:29
personnel will be on the first team fedoni too yeah you're right so but so so you're so I would think that Dart's
1:12:38
going to get a lot of time with Fedoni Dulich maybe Bellinger i would think so
1:12:43
i I would and the other thing is and we have when we get the quarterbacks we can
1:12:49
discuss this a lot further i mean how much do the Giants play dart in the
1:12:55
preseason how much of training camp is really designed around we got veterans that we expect will know their job
1:13:02
they're new but we're going to give them time but we're going to spend a lot of time getting Dart ready if we want him to play so that's really going to be
1:13:09
interesting take yeah i wouldn't I'd like I there's so much I want to say right now but I want to save it for a
1:13:14
quarterback preview i I I would think the guy that might not get that many reps is actually Jameus Winston because
1:13:21
I think you might be right because you like you said you got to get Dart ready you got to get Dart ready not not just
1:13:27
ready for the season you got to get Dart practice once the once the regular
1:13:33
season starts he's not going to get that many reps so he's got to get his reps in training camp and in the preseason and
1:13:40
remember the preseason's three games now so I think I think Jamus is the guy that
1:13:45
might be that's going to be interesting how they handle the quarterback position
1:13:51
in training camp because you don't want I don't think they want Dart to be the
1:13:56
typical third string quarterback they don't want him to be Devito last year in training camp being the third guy that
1:14:02
comes in because the way it works is first team first team guys come out
1:14:08
they get they get a bunch of reps second team comes out and get a bunch of reps third team comes out and they get like
1:14:14
just a few plays at the end of practice or at the end of the sequence that they're doing so they they'll have like
1:14:19
one seven on seven 11 on 11s and the first and second teams get
1:14:25
the bulk of the snaps and then towards the end the third team guys do and they don't ever seem to get the same number
1:14:30
of snaps that's my take and maybe that's changed in recent years but in the training camps that I've been to the
1:14:35
third team guys are lucky to get get as many snaps as as the other two units and I don't think you want Dart in that
1:14:41
situation i want Dart you want him to get as many snaps as possible oh I pocket i guess we're No no yeah
1:14:49
yeah no I agree so we did it got a good question which is interesting um thoughts on Kafka Day playing two tight
1:14:55
ends like Bichc did with Gronk and Hernandez so like a Johnson Fedoni or or whoever
1:15:01
um it depends because I think that when we go two tight ends on the field at the same time we tend to have one is more of
1:15:09
the blocker and usually manhurds and then somebody else is more of the two-way tight end um to have two tight
1:15:17
ends that can be I don't want to say two-way because we really only have one
1:15:22
strictly two-way player and and that's Johnson everybody else is is we don't
1:15:27
know what they can block other than Mannerz but Manhtz isn't a receiver so So it's it's it's a different thing you
1:15:34
know the the Patriots basically were running you know if you take Gronowski and Hernandez they were doing more of a
1:15:39
club and shoot but I would love to see nothing they're doing Sorry I was
1:15:46
thinking it's all good i was trying to think I was going to stab and No it didn't work we don't have our our old um
1:15:54
thing with the symbols in it i can't go give you the Yeah I know i know i know but I do like this much better than what
1:15:59
we had i would love to see them run two vertical routes with with Fedoni and
1:16:06
Theo Johnson just down the scene both seems because I think both those guys can stretch the field vertically so what
1:16:13
John is saying is is correct in the sense that a lot of this is we have we we're projecting in this position so
1:16:19
much what kind of blocker is Thomas Fedoni so his co college coaches liked
1:16:24
him as a blocker but we're going to have to see can he block at this level if he can block at this
1:16:30
level and Theo Johnson keeps improving his blocking then you can see more two tight end sets with those two in there
1:16:37
and then at that point Chris Manner's job might be more at risk so I I'm going
1:16:43
to go on record right now to me this is the hardest position on all offense or defense to project right now because
1:16:49
there are too many there too many whatifs too many unknowns too many it's
1:16:55
a very young group other than than Manhurds we're we're still I mean even Bellinger is still relatively
1:17:02
um green he's still on his first contract so I just think this is a very hard group to pro I'm optimistic because
1:17:09
I'm optimistic about Theo i'm very hopeful Thomas Fidoni but that hope in
1:17:15
being optimistic isn't based in reality i'm just it's a gut feeling with me right now so I'm trying to be I'm trying
1:17:22
to be happy no I think I think it's fine i think we covered you know we covered the position you've got you've got the
1:17:28
players that No I guess pun intended we've got all the the the the the folks
1:17:34
that are going to be involved in in you know the decision unless unless someone
1:17:39
else gets cut somewhere else during camp and the Giants decide hey we're going to bring this guy in you know I I think
1:17:45
you're going to we're going to go with what we got and it's just who of this group is going to be there and then it's
1:17:50
a matter of is it three or four it based on history with Dave Bull it appears that it's four but again roster juggling
1:17:57
happens like crazy and we've seen before where they've dropped a bunch of guys that we thought were going to make the
1:18:03
team and threw them on the practice squad just so that they could pull them up later so we'll see how they they
1:18:10
handle it but right now I I would think you lean towards four two are pretty much locked in i would say Johnson and
1:18:17
Manhurz and then it's the other two that you're is really at play but also injury
1:18:24
would change this in a heartbeat so that's another thing to keep in mind yeah and the last thing I will say is if
1:18:30
the Giants were more concerned about this position that doesn't mean they're right but if the Giants were more
1:18:35
concerned about this position I think they would have drafted a tight end higher than they did because it was a
1:18:41
fairly strong tight end group in the draft this year and they did not pursue
1:18:46
anyone really in free agency it wasn't a very good free agent tight end group you and I talked about in the the tight end
1:18:52
preview but I I think they feel pretty good about this group is my
1:18:58
guess not great not like awesome but I think they feel like it's a pretty decent group and I'm
1:19:05
I'm still I'm still encouraged by the fact that when the Giants employees talk about Theo
1:19:12
Johnson they say "Oh they really like him." You know that kind of thing so that tells me behind the scenes they're
1:19:18
hearing good things about Theo Johnson from the coaching staff that's my that's my take
1:19:24
so with that I agree we'll wrap up the tight end preview um I will post this I'll post this on to uh Spotify and all
1:19:32
those good things a little bit later uh keep in mind Wednesday night we do have the pour for Wednesday so we will be
1:19:39
pouring out the subjects and the beers on Wednesday with the with the New York Rush guys they're going to be joining us
1:19:45
we're going to do four topics we're going to go around uh we're going to do about 20 minutes per topic uh we will
1:19:50
try to take questions as we could do it but we're going to have a lot of fun with that and then uh who knows we've got some other things and like I said
1:19:56
the next season review will be the 2000 season we just have to lock down the date and and really that's just locking
1:20:03
in uh offensive lineman Glenn Parker is going to be joining us so that that'll be fun uh to have somebody who was on
1:20:09
that 2000 team especially a team that really they were not supposed to be
1:20:14
Super Bowl contenders they weren't supposed to be very good to be quite honest there was a lot of questions and
1:20:21
the Giants went with the old man offensive line if you don't remember Lis Brown and Glenn Parker playing side by
1:20:26
side we we had an old left side of the offensive line but that settled everything down pedigume was moved over
1:20:33
to right tackle so this was uh this was a big deal it'll be a lot of fun to have somebody on the inside of that and then
1:20:39
we've got some other things coming too that as soon as that we lock them in uh I'm I'm really going to be excited about sharing that uh once once we have it
1:20:45
finalized so yep we're going to be moving our chips to the center of the table that's right all in baby all in so
1:20:53
uh so Wednesday night 7 PM join us live like subscribe all that good stuff and
1:20:58
uh we'll catch you again real soon

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