Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The New York Giants completed training camp practice No. 9 on Sunday and here are 10 quick takeaways.
After a brief day off following Friday night’s Fan Fest scrimmage, the New York Giants were back on the practice field at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center on Sunday.
Things kicked off with an early morning press conference featuring head coach Brian Daboll. He recapped the first two weeks of camp and gave an outlook on what’s ahead, including coordinator and assistant coach availability next week.
Here are 10 quick takeaways from practice No. 9 on Sunday.
The New York Giants completed their sixth training camp practice on Tuesday and here are 11 quick takeaways, including a wildcat appearance.
The New York Giants were back at practice on Tuesday and returned to shells in the rising heat and humidity. They will conduct one more practice on Wednesday before taking the day off on Thursday.
Per the usual, things got underway with head coach Brian Daboll conducting a press conference, recapping the prior day’s practice and giving a quick overview of what is to come.
Here are 11 takeaways from Day 6 of training camp practice.
Justin Ellis feels confident as his development as a player and expects to have a “big year” for the New York Giants.
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The New York Giants are in the process of revamping their defense this offseason, which means putting together a unit that fits new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s style.
One player they’ve brought in is massive nose tackle Justin Ellis, who played under Martindale the past three seasons in Baltimore with the Ravens.
Ellis, a 6-foot-2, 350-pounder was a fourth-round pick of the Oakland Raiders out of Louisiana Tech back in 2014 and has started 50 games in his NFL career, bringing some experience and depth to the Giants’ defensive line.
Ellis is looking forward to a fourth year ear under Martindale.
“I’m excited. I feel like if I do the right things and I take the coaching it’ll be a big year for me,” Ellis told Ed Valentine of Big Blue View. “All coordinators have their things that they do. I really like you just never know how we’re going to attack you (as an offense), I just like the aggressiveness of the defense. I like how we dictate to the offense what we want to do.”
Ellis will naturally be in rotation with several other players but as of today, he is considered the Giants’ starting nose tackle. He is acclimating to line coach Andre Patterson’s style.
“Jelly’s been in this league for a long time. He’s been a good player in this league, and now I’ve just totally revamped his game,” Patterson said. “He looks like a totally different guy right now.”
“I feel different. I feel like I’m recognizing how to transition from being a run player — a lot of time when you get in a game and you’re a run guy you’ve gotta play the run first,” Ellis said.
The Giants will need to stop the run as they play three teams — Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington — who plan on running the football a lot this year.
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Writing on the wall for a Danielle Hunter trade
Andre Patterson is moving on to the New York Giants. The Minnesota Vikings are moving on to Ed Donatell as defensive coordinator and Chris Rumph as the new defensive line coach. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for Danielle Hunter to move on as well.
A breakup at this point makes more sense than ever for both sides.
Hunter is playing on a bargain contract for a pass rusher of his elite talent, and the Vikings could be shifting to more of a 3-4 defensive scheme with Donatell overseeing things under soon-to-be hired head coach Kevin O’Connell. That isn’t to suggest Hunter wouldn’t excel in that sort of defense, but he would be asked to do more than simply pinning his ears back and making opposing quarterbacks cry “uncle.”
Do we really need to see that just for the sake of keeping this relationship together? It’s growing stale at this point, and no one needs to stoop to the whole “it’s not you, it’s me” line.
Let’s be straight up, honest and put it all on the table.
Hunter’s contract stinks from his perspective. He’s not even close to making money in line with the other top edge rushers in the league. Throw in the fact that he turns 28 this year and it’s clear that time isn’t necessarily on his side to land that massive extension.
His next contract must be the big one.
Patterson served as both a coach and mentor to Hunter during his time in Minnesota. So his exit is of note considering he was somewhat of a mediator between the Vikings and the standout defensive end last season, when contractual frustrations started bubbling to the surface. When it was announced that Patterson was joining the Giants amid all of the coaching changes happening in Minnesota, Hunter took to social media to post a picture of himself and the highly-respected defensive line coach.
— D Hunt™ (@DHunt94_TX) February 10, 2022
But of course, the Vikings have a valid argument in all of this as well. Hunter might not like the five-year, $72 million deal he signed back in 2018, but he’s the one that put ink to paper. He then went out and posted a ridiculous 14.5 sacks in back-to-back seasons.
An argument could be made that he was well on his way to being paid like T.J. Watt, Joey Bosa and Myles Garrett until the injury bug bit. Hunter missed the entire 2020 season, and he appeared in only seven games in 2021.
The best ability is availability, and he hasn’t consistently been on the field enough for a cap-strapped Vikings team to take the financial plunge.
A trade makes the most sense at this point for both sides. Hunter could land with a team in a better financial position to give him a substantial pay bump, while the Vikings could clear his contract and potentially get a premium draft pick(s) back in return.
Would a team with two first-round picks, like the New York Jets, be enticed enough to offer up the No. 10 overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft for Hunter?
Even though he played in less than half of the games this season, he still looked explosive coming off the edge and tallied six sacks. It’s clear that he’s a game-changer in every way possible on the field when he’s healthy.
And then you have to wonder how he feels about everything that’s happened—losing Patterson, the coaching changes and still playing on a bargain contract. Is this the year where contractual frustrations turn into action or even a holdout, perhaps?
The man that was once delivering more sack lunches than a public school field trip might have played his last snap for the Vikings.
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The New York Giants have hired Laura Young as director of coaching operations and officially revealed a portion of their coaching staff.
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The New York Giants announced some additions to their coaching staff on Friday.
Big Blue officially named their coordinators under new head coach Brian Daboll: Mike Kafka (offense), Don “Wink” Martindale (defense) and Thomas McGaughey (special teams).
The team also subsequently announced the hiring of some key assistants:
In addition, the Giants announced that Laura Young has been hired as the team’s director of coaching operations. Young will be involved in “every aspect of football operations, including coordinating/organizing practice, as well as game day operations.”
“(Young will) have her hands all over the organization in terms of the coaching side,” Daboll said. “She’s with me every step of the way. She’s a rock star really, and I feel very fortunate that I get to work with her each day because she provides just a tremendous amount of support and value to really everyone, but myself the most, I would say.
“She’s smart, there’s really not a job she can’t do and a job she won’t do. That’s her mindset. Very humble, egoless, but driven, smart. I just think she’s the best.”
Daboll took a unique approach to assembling his staff. He leveraged several relationships from his time as offensive coordinator in Buffalo, but also hired coaches he had no prior relationship with.
“I think what you try to do when you’re putting together a staff, whether that be an offensive staff in a smaller form or the entire staff, you try to put together a group of people that will complement one another, whether that’s experience, whether that’s energy, whether that’s detail, whether that’s passion,” Daboll said. “You don’t want to have a cookie cutter approach and hire everybody that’s exactly the same. I think that you have to offset blind spots.”
Daboll will continue to add to his staff over the next week or two as the Giants prepare for the NFL combine later this month and free agency which begins in mid-March.
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Andre Patterson is taking his talents to the New York Giants.
The Minnesota Vikings are officially saying goodbye to another coach with the team’s former assistant, Andre Patterson, being hired by the New York Giants.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the news on Thursday.
Patterson had been with the Vikings for all eight years of the Mike Zimmer era. Although he never shed his job title as a defensive line coach, he worked his way up to eventually being dubbed as the assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator.
So he was clearly a man that wore many hats for the team.
As reported by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano on Wednesday, the Vikings are leaning towards hiring Ed Donatell as their next defensive coordinator.
Before the injury bug hit in Minnesota, Patterson’s defensive front was leading the league in sacks at one point last season. They finished third in average sacks per game behind the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers.
So at the very least, Patterson should be a solid addition to a Giants team that struggled all season generating pressure up front.
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The New York Giants are expected to hire Andre Patterson as their defensive line coach, replacing Sean Spencer.
New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll continues to add experience to his staff and on Friday, news of that trend continued.
Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that Andre Patterson has been tabbed by Daboll to be the Giants’ next defensive line coach.
Former Vikings’ assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson is being hired as the defensive line coach for the New York Giants, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 10, 2022
Patterson was a long-time assistant under Mike Zimmer, serving as the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive line coach since 2014.
Zimmer gave Patterson the co-defensive coordinator title in 2020 and also the assistant head coach title in 2021.
Patterson replaces Sean Spencer as the Giants defensive line coach. Spencer was the team’s D-Line coach for the past two seasons, but took the co-defensive coordinator job at the University of Florida in January.
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Patterson acknowledges the defensive struggles.
Minnesota Vikings co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson isn’t running away from the fact that the defense has stunk to the high heavens in 2021.
The team is ranked 31st in the league in total defense behind the New York Jets. Things were rough in 2020 as well, but few thought it would devolve to the point where Minnesota would be riding next to Gang Green on the struggle-bus.
“You’re disappointed because that hasn’t been us,” Patterson told media members. “We’ve been one of the better defenses in the league since I’ve been here. So that hasn’t been us. But you are what the numbers say you are.”
It hasn’t been the easiest year when playing football in the middle of a global health pandemic. There has been a revolving door in Minnesota of guys coming in and out of the lineup due to failed COVID tests.
Even in Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears, the defense could be without their leading-tackler, Erik Kendricks. They’ve also been playing without standout defensive studs Everson Griffin and Danielle Hunter.
But there’s also the fact that this isn’t some new issue for the team. Sure, they weren’t one of the bottom-two defenses last season, but they ranked 27th with opponents averaging 393.3 yards per game against them.
The writing has been on the wall for a while now that change is needed in Minnesota. It’s only a matter of time before it gets here, and then we’ll see who it takes with it.
Vikings assistant head coach Andre Patterson says Minnesota does not need a penetrating three-technique defensive tackle.
At one point in the offseason, Alabama DT Christian Barmore was a popular player tabbed for the Vikings in mock drafts. Barmore plays on the interior of the defensive line, but he can still get pressure and rush the passer.
However, Barmore isn’t nearly as popular of a mock draft selection for Minnesota to make nowadays. That’s because the Vikings went out and signed DT Dalvin Tomlinson in free agency.
Some were surprised by the move for Minnesota to get Tomlinson, on account of DT Michael Pierce — who the team signed in 2020 — being similar stylistically.
Vikings co-defensive coordinator and assistant head coach Andre Patterson recently shed some light on how the Vikings approach the defensive tackle position when he spoke with the Vikings.com’s Gabe Henderson and Chris Corso (H/T Will Ragatz of Sports Illustrated):
“It’s so funny how other people tell us what we need and they don’t know what we do, right? All the time I hear ‘oh, they need a penetrating three-technique.’ Well, we had the No. 1 defense in the league and we didn’t have a penetrating [DT],” Patterson said. “We don’t ask our three-technique to do that. So why would we go out and get something we don’t use? I don’t get that. Obviously, you aren’t watching us play, that’s the way I look at it.”
That all makes sense. If Minnesota wants to utilize the interior defensive line like that, it has certainly worked in the past. That said, the team has used players like Sheldon Richardson and Sharrif Floyd, both of whom could get pressure from the interior. But Shamar Stephen and Tomlinson certainly fit the bill for what Patterson is talking about.
But Patterson and the rest of the Vikings seem to have a plan and that’s having the defensive tackles clog up holes and take up blockers for the linebackers to run free.
Have no fear, Vikings fans. Yannick Ngakoue is here.
Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter being out is a blow to the Minnesota defensive line.
But it could be worse, because the Vikings acquired a premier edge rusher via trade that should prevent any major setbacks at that position.
The team landed Yannick Ngakoue, who paired with Ifeadi Odenigbo, would make for a good edge rush. Ngakoue hasn’t been on the Vikings too long, but Minnesota co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson had high praise for the defensive end, saying that he has “been better than I ever dreamed.”
“He’s come in early, he’s stayed late,” Patterson said of Ngakoue, via Sean Borman of Vikings Territory. “He’s got a great hunger for knowledge and wanting to be good. I’m excited that he’s here even more after having these days of working with him.”
With Hunter out, a lot will be asked of Ngakoue right away. It will be interesting to see what kind of Vikings debut he makes.
