Tag: David Sills

Giants’ Daniel Jones enjoying Jason Garrett’s offense

New York Giants QB Daniel Jones is learning his second offense in two years, but has nothing but good things to say about Jason Garrett.

Daniel Jones is going through his first camp as the starting quarterback of the New York Giants and some things are working and others are not. Jones is learning a new system under a new coaching staff for the second consecutive summer.

Last year, Jones went through Pat Shurmur’s camp as the second-stringer behind Eli Manning. This year, he’s Jason Garrett’s starter and is expected to get a grasp of Garrett’s system very quickly.

“I’ve enjoyed it. I’m trying to do my best to learn the system,” Jones told reporters on Friday. “Understand what he wants and the detail of what he wants us to execute and how he wants us to see it as quarterbacks. He’s an experienced guy who has had a lot of success in this league as an offensive coordinator and obviously as a head coach. I’ve enjoyed learning from him and enjoyed learning this system and trying to do my best to execute it the way it’s supposed to be done.”

One thing that seems to be going well is the Nick Gates experiment at center.

“Gates is someone who we have worked with a lot and I have enjoyed working with,” said Jones. “I think he has done a good job. Last year he was moving around a little bit position wise. He’s moved around a little bit in this camp so far. Like you said, he is playing a little bit at center. I thought he has done a good job.”

Jones’ two touchdown passes were to tight end Kaden Smith — who Jones is forming a solid rapport with going back to last season — and another second year player, David Sills, an undrafted free agent out of Virginia last year, is climbing up the depth chart at wide receiver.

“I think he is a guy out there you can trust, a guy in the right spot a lot of the time and can get open and make plays,” Jones said of Sills. “He’s a good player and he’s had a good camp so far.”

One pass that Jones would like to have back is the interception he threw down the left sideline to a very covered Golden Tate that ended up in the hands of rookie defensive back Darnay Holmes.

“Just a poor decision there,” Jones explained. “We had a double move called, a situation where I have to be smart with the ball and take care of it and make sure we get points. It was a bad decision and something to learn from.

“As we got going and got into more of the play it out situations where we were moving the ball down the field and executing a drive in a game, I thought we settled in on offense and started to play better. That was part of getting more comfortable out there. I think we will continue to get more comfortable as we get more reps.”

Giants hold first intrasquad scrimmage: 9 takeaways

The New York Giants held their first intrasquad scrimmage on Friday and here are nine takeaways.

The New York Giants held their first intrasquad scrimmage on Friday and as expected, it was hard-hitting, fast-paced and physical — just the way head coach Joe Judge prefers it.

The offense started a little slow, but finished out the two-plus hour scrimmage on a high note. Meanwhile, the defense appeared stout against the run early, but struggled to generate a consistent pass rush.

Those are just two things to take away from Friday’s scrimmage, but here’s a more detailed look at nine more.

Daniel Jones
Photo credit: Giants.com

Daniel Jones is quietly improving

Daniel Jones took a few lumps early during Friday’s scrimmage, starting out a little rough and tossing an interception — something he has vowed to correct.

But it certainly wasn’t all bad. Jones rebounded after his shaky start and finished the day strong, completing 15 of his 26 passes for two touchdowns and the aforementioned interception.

“I was very pleased with the tone he sets in the huddle. He does it every day in practice. But he went out there today in a competitive situation and really stepped up,” head coach Joe Judge said. “He has good command situationally. He knows how to use some of the variety of calls and checks within our offense. I thought he really showed up a lot at the end of the scrimmage. That no-huddle situation we had right there, I was very pleased to see how he commanded the entire team and kept everyone moving through the situation.”

Truth be told, Jones has really only logged two bad passes this camp (from what the media has been able to see). Other than that, he’s been quietly solid all-around.

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Giants add LB Josiah Tauaefa to COVID list, activate WR David Sills

Giants make a swap on the COVID list.

The New York Giants removed wide receiver David Sills from the reserve/COVID list but add linebacker Josiah Tauaefa to the list on Tuesday.

It isn’t clear if Tauaefa tested positive for COVID-19 or was in close contact with someone who did. The team isn’t allowed to release that information, but the Giants will do a swap on the list by activating Sills, who was added last week.

The Giants are ramping up for training camp without any preseason games in 2020. Tauaefa should be in the mix for the fourth linebacker spot in the new Big Blue defense brought along by Patrick Graham.

Tauaefa signed with the Giants as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2019 spending half of the season on the practice squad before being promoted to the active roster in October. He recorded six tackles and two tackles for loss.

2020 Giants training camp preview: Wide receivers

The New York Giants have an interesting group of wide receivers, but what can you expect to see from them this year and in camp?

The New York Giants have a fairly talented group at wide receiver heading into camp but some questions still linger? Who is their No. 1? They seem to have three No. 2s on their roster, so it will be interesting to see who emerges as the team’s top wideout.

They bypassed drafting a wide receiver in this year’s NFL Draft and missed out on some premium talent as this was one of the deepest wide receiver classes in recent memory.

That aside, they still have to play the season and here’s how the unit lines up…

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Golden Tate

The soon-to-be 32-year-old will be entering his 11th season this fall and by what we’ve seen he’s still a viable option in the passing game.

Tate’s Giants career got off to a rocky start when he was suspended for the first four games of the 2019 season after violating the NFL’s PED policy. It took him awhile to get in sync with rookie quarterback Daniel Jones. Once they got used to one another, Tate reeled in 49 receptions for 676 yards and six touchdowns in 11 games.

Prorate that over 16 games, that’s 71 catches for 983 yards and nine scores. Tate is the closest thing the Giants have to a No. 1 although his days as a deep threat are likely behind him.

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David Sills eager to impress Giants in second season

Wide receiver David Sills is eager to impress the New York Giants in his second season and potentially earn a significant role.

The New York Giants did not use any of their 10 selections in the 2020 NFL Draft on a wide receiver and many have been critical of that decision since the draft was rich with stud prospects.

It may not be that the Giants were just remiss. It might be because they feel they have a sold group already. Sterling Shepard, Golden Tate and Darius Slayton are the main three with Corey Coleman, Da’Mari Scott, Cody Core and Amba Etta-Tawo the second team.

But there are a slew of young players seeking to make their mark this summer with the Giants. Undrafted rookies Austin Mack, Victor Binjimen and Derrick Dillon will attempt to crack the roster, as will free agent addition Alex Bachman.

But there is one other player that is piquing the interest of Giant fans this offseason. David Sills, an undrafted free agent out of Virginia who finished the 2019 season on the Giants’ active roster, is a real possibility to become a factor in training camp this season.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Sills has a long history with football scouts and at age 13 was offered a scholarship to USC as a quarterback by Lane Kiffin. He ended up at West Virginia as a wide receiver. Sills played one season at WVU before transferring to El Camino college to try his hand at QB again.

That didn’t quite work out, and Sills found himself back at WVU but this time, he found his niche, scoring 33 touchdowns in his final two seasons there and was named to All-American and All-Big 12 teams in both seasons.

Still, he went undrafted. Too thin and too slow to make it at the next level, many scouts said. The Giants decided to take a shot. They scooped him up and put him on their practice squad after he was released by the Buffalo Bills, where he stayed for 15 weeks before being elevated to the 53-man roster. Sills was inactive for the Giants’ final two games last year, but that may be a thing of the past now.

Last year prepared Sills for the huge jump to the NFL. He drank it all in. Now, he’s ready for the next step in a career that’s taken a decade to take shape.

“Everyday in practice I was going against the first defense and going against good corners and good safeties and good linebackers on a consistent basis,” Sills recently told WV Metro News. “I was taking every single rep. So I was getting my body ready to take a lot of reps.

“I had to give these guys the best look that I could give. Me and a couple of the guys on practice squad, we looked at it like we were going to go out there and show everybody what we were made of. I think that propelled me into putting myself in a good spot for this year.”

Sills will definitely turn some heads at camp. He has excellent hands, can get himself open and, most importantly, has a knack for getting the football into the end zone. He’s been honing his game and feels he’s only going get better.

“The routes in the NFL are a little bit different and a little bit more precise. I’m not going to say it was something I wasn’t good at. But it was something I could definitely refine and be a lot better at. The more reps you get, the better you are going to be at anything,” he said. “They look at you based on what your production is. How it is different than college is that it is not like he is coming in as a freshman, we’ll redshirt him and give him some time and in three or four years he will be a good player for us. Once you get there, they expect you to produce right away.”

The Giants and Sills both hope it doesn’t take those three or four years for him to become a factor. The way things look, they likely won’t have to.

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