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The New York Giants have not been shy about acknowledging that safety Nate Ebner will rejoin the team at some point this year.
However, the question has remained when that time would come.
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Ebner had been attempting to make the U.S. Olympic Rugby team ahead of the recent games, but was forced to withdraw due to injury.
“Nate’s continuing his rehab right now at home. He’s been in touch with our medical team regularly,” Judge told reporters earlier this month. “I’m not going to go fully into his deal, but I will say this, Nate obviously was competing for a spot on the Olympic team. The nature of Nate is, he doesn’t know how to slow down, so there was a point where he was kind of pushing and pushing his body and he had to make a decision at one point.
“He could talk more directly about it, but obviously he had to step away from the Olympics and kind of focus more on the football season and he’s at a point right now where he had to kind of step back and refocus on the rehab process instead of worrying about going to Tokyo with the competition. I know he’s working hard. That’s the way Nate is and how he’s wired. We’re looking forward to getting him and as soon as we get a chance to get him back, I’m anxious to see him back.”
Judge isn’t the only one anxious to see Ebner return.
“When he gets here, I’ll coach him. That’s kind of my deal with him,” special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey said on Thursday. “I love him to death. Nate is an outstanding leader and has been a great (special) teamer in this league for years. Anytime you can get a guy like that back in your building with that kind of leadership and that kind of experience, I can’t wait to get him back.”
Ebner signed with the Giants last March on a one-year deal and led all Giants players with 332 special teams snaps (80.58%). He was also used on defense as a fill-in at defensive back and linebacker.