Tag: Kyle Rudolph

Evan Engram ‘excited’ about what Giants’ offense could be

New York Giants TE Evan Engram is excited about the team’s additions, what they mean to the offense and their potentially high ceiling.

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New York Giants fifth-year tight end Evan Engram is hoping this season is the finally the one where he ‘breaks out.’

Sure, last year Engram was named to the Pro Bowl but Giant fans are still waiting for the former first-rounder to become a more consistent presence in the Giants’ offense.

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One issue has been the Giants finding a niche for Engram, who at 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds is a tad smaller than the traditional in-line tight end in the NFL these days. He’s played for three coaching staffs in four years and none of them have been able to unlock his potential.

Much of that has been on Engram as well. He’s battled through injuries that have stunted his progress. His propensity to drop passes in key spots has also stained whatever success he’s managed to have.

Now, Engram has just one season remaining on his contract to prove to the Giants they were right about him back in 2017. But it won’t be at the position they originally drafted him at.

The Giants signed veteran Kyle Rudolph this offseason to handle those duties. Engram will be used in other ways. The Giants will still line him up at tight end in some formations but it’s becoming clear that he will be relied on to be more of a weapon on offense this year.

That won’t be easy to do. It never has been. Now, the Giants have a glut of hands that need to be fed the football such as Saquon Barkley, Kenny Golladay, Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton, John Ross and rookie Kadarius Toney.  Engram is not letting those additions stand in the way of whatever he can contribute to this team’s success.

“I’m excited now,” Engram said on Wednesday at the Giants’ joint practices with the Patriots in Foxborough. “I know what those guys are going to bring to the table. The biggest thing for them is to kind of pay attention off the field, stay locked in on what we’re doing so when they get back in, they’re full speed, full force. I have all the excitement about this offense. All of the guys, not just as football players, but the men that we are, how we work, how we try to improve every day. That’s all we’re doing, is working and improving everyday and we’re going to put the best part of it down on the field.”

That is, when they all return from rehabbing their injuries. Rudolph returned on Wednesday and Engram was more than happy to welcome him back.

“Everything, everything,” Engram said when asked what Rudolph brings to the offense. “He’s a receiving threat, he’s a blocking threat, he’s really smart in the film room. I learn from him, every meeting he teaches me something and I know it’s the same for the rest of the guys. He literally is going to help us in every aspect of the game and I’m really excited about it.”

So are the Giants. With Rudolph handling the tight end duties, that will free up Engram to do his thing, which is to provide mismatches in the opponent’s secondary.

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Giants’ Daniel Jones anxious to finally get some offensive weapons back

New York Giants QB Daniel Jones is anxious to see the return of his many offensive weapons — most of whom have been sidelined with injury.

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Almost everything is on the line for New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones this season, which will be his third as the team’s starter. Management has provided him with the tools to succeed this year, but a lot of those tools haven’t quite made it out of the shed yet.

On Wednesday, one of the new faces finally got onto the field. Free agent tight end Kyle Rudolph, a 10-year veteran with a Pro Bowl resume, returned to practice after rehabbing from a procedure on his ankle this spring.

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Jones was glad to see the the 6-foot-6 former Notre Dame star, who will provide mush needed help in the short passing game and in the red zone.

“Good to see him out there,” said Jones. “He’s worked so hard to get back and he’s been behind the scenes a lot helping all of us, helping me, helping the tight ends, and it’s been good to have him out there.”

Jones was then asked what specifically he was looking forward to that Rudolph can provide to this offense.

“He’s played a lot of football at a really high level. He knows the game inside and out. He knows how to make plays. He knows how to get up and catch the ball. I think he’ll make a difference for us and I’m excited to get him out there,” Jones said.

In 2020, the Giants were 31st in the NFL in red zone offense, scoring touchdowns on just 46.3 percent of the time.

Rudolph is only one of the players general manager Dave Gettleman supplied Jones with this offseason. He added the top free agent wideout on the market (Kenny Golladay) and selected Florida speedster Kadarius Toney in the first round of the draft. Both have been sidelined for the majority of training camp with injuries.

“I know those guys are working hard to get back and are working with the trainers every day to get better,” said Jones. “We’re focused on improving as a group and getting ready for Week 1.”

Also on the way back is running back Saquon Barkley, who missed 14 games last year due to a torn ACL. Barkley has been Brough along slowly this summer but is said to be close to returning.

Jones did not play in the Giants’ first two preseason games but will start this Sunday against the New England Patriots. He won’t have his full compliment of weapons but he’s looking forward to knocking off the rust.

“Just to get out there, be comfortable, move the ball and score points,” said Jones of who he hopes to accomplish Sunday. “Like any game or practice, just execute football plays, move the ball down the field and score. So, be efficient and execute as an offense.”

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Giants’ Kyle Rudolph passes physical, activated from PUP list

Giants TE Kyle Rudolph is now eligible to return to practice.

New York Giants tight end Kyle Rudolph, who opened training camp on the PUP list after undergoing foot surgery this spring, has been cleared to practice with the team and will be on the field as soon as this week.

Rudolph was a key free-agent acquisition this offseason, inking a two-year, $12 million deal ($4.5 million guaranteed) with Big Blue after a productive ten-year NFL career — all with the Minnesota Vikings.

The former Notre Dame standout will be limited at first but is expected to be a starter on the Giants’ offense as a traditional in-line tight end. The Giants have been missing such a player for several years now and Rudolph has a strong resume, which includes strengths in both run-blocking and catching the football in the red zone.

Rudolph’s return means the Giants can be more comfortable with whittling down their tight end group over the next week. The Giants are expected to keep Evan Engram and Kaden Smith, but the other remaining members of the group, Nakia Griffin-Stewart and Jake Hausmann, are on the roster bubble.

On Tuesday, the Giants waived Cole Hikutini and placed Rysen John on injured reserve.

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Injured Giants may or may not practice vs. Patriots

The New York Giants have a boatload of injured players, including Saquon Barkley and Kenny Golladay, who may or may not practice vs. Pats.

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The New York Giants are running out of time to get their injured players back on the field prior to a Week 1 game against the Denver Broncos, and there’s no guarantee that it will happen this week.

Despite optimism that running back Saquon Barkley (knee), tight end Kyle Rudolph (foot), offensive lineman Nate Solder (shoulder) and wide receivers Kenny Golladay (hamstring) and Kadarius Toney (situations) are getting closer, they may all miss joint practices with the New England Patriots.

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Or they might all practice. Who really knows?

“Every player is unique and every story is different. I couldn’t give you some kind of arbitrary timetable for any player coming in of when they can make an impact. That’s really all based on the player, how they prepare and how they execute on Sundays,” head coach Joe Judge said of his injured players before addressing some individually.

Solder will make the trip to Foxborough and he’s expected to do more this week, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll practice.

“I’ll talk more with the doctors later. He’ll definitely be on the trip with us. We expect him to do more than he did last week in practice. I’ll see physically where he’s at in terms of entering the game,” Judge said.

The same applied to Toney.

“In terms of his health, he’s progressing, he’s working hard, he’s doing everything our training staff is asking him to do. We’re pleased with the progress he’s making,” Judge said. “He’ll definitely be on the trip with us, along with several other players who are continuing their rehab. We’ll talk [on Monday night] to see if we can build him more into some of the early practice individuals and see if at that point he’s ready to go ahead and progress and do anything more competitive, whether it’s seven-on-sevens or one-on-ones or anything of that nature.”

The update on Golladay was a bit more pessimistic. Although he’s making strides in recovery, it sounds like he’ll be sidelined until at least Week 1.

“They keep telling me how he’s progressing very well in his rehab, he’s really building up and doing much better on a weekly basis. I don’t think you’re going to expect to see him in 11-on-11s this week,” Judge said. “That being said, as we progress to the regular season, we’ve got just about three weeks call it, ballpark, until the first game.

“We’ll see where he goes physically and, again, anybody we put on the field we want to make sure they get on the field and stay on the field by playing healthy and playing effectively at 100 percent. I don’t have an answer for you long-term on that, but I am very pleased with how he’s working. He’s doing everything we ask him to do and he’s making progress on a daily basis.”

And what about Barkley? Could at least one of these injured players come with a positive and optimistic update?

Well… Kind of.

“The priority will be to continue ramping him up and doing more and more. Last week in Cleveland, he did some one-on-ones, some pass drills with our guys and against our defense early in practice. We were keeping him out of competitive periods last week, that was by design. We’ll see where he is,” Judge said. “He keeps advancing in his rehab.

“His foot is tapping every day, wanting to do more and more, and physically he keeps progressing and showing us he can do more and more. So, once we talk to the doctors today, we’ll formulate a plan for what he’s going to do in Foxborough through the practices and the game, but I would expect it to be more than what we saw last week. Now, I can’t say that means 11-on-11 or seven-on-seven, I can’t give that answer right now, but as soon as we find out we’ll let you know before the practices happen what we expect him to do that day.”

So there you have it. Injured Giants may or may not practice this week against New England and we’ll only know the plan once it plays out on the field.

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Giants fall to Browns in Week 2 of preseason: 6 takeaways

Here are six takeaways from the New York Giants’ Week 2 preseason loss to the Cleveland Browns.

The New York Giants fell to the Cleveland Browns, 17-13, in their Week 2 preseason game in Cleveland on Sunday.

Here are six takeaways from the game.

Giants’ Kyle Rudolph close to returning from PUP list

New York Giants coach Joe Judge says it’s possible that TE Kyle Rudolph (foot) will be removed from the PUP list in the very near future.

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For the first time since signing with the New York Giants in March, veteran tight end Kyle Rudolph was spotted running routes on Sunday.

Rudolph joined quarterback Daniel Jones on the field for warmups prior to a Week 2 preseason game against the Cleveland Browns and caught a few passes. It was a promising development for a player who remains on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.

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Rudolph’s situation has been an odd one. The team discovered a foot injury requiring surgery during his physical but opted to honor their agreement and sign him anyway. The veteran later promised not to miss any football this season, but is coming dangerously close to doing just that.

But the crisis may ultimately be averted.

Following a 17-13 loss to the Browns, head coach Joe Judge offered an optimistic update on Rudolph and even implied he may be activated from PUP in the near future.

“He had a good week this week at rehab. When I talked to him with the medical team, it’s optimistic that there may be a chance coming up to get off [the PUP list],” Judge told reporters. “Again, that is an individual basis so we will see what the medical team says on that and see if we can get him out there with the team working.”

Rudolph must be activated from PUP by the time the Giants trim their roster down to 53 men, which comes little more than a week from now. If he remains sidelined at that time, he will stay on PUP for the first six weeks of the season.

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Giants’ Kadarius Toney, Kenny Golladay among those out vs. Browns

The New York Giants have announced that WR Kenny Golladay, WR Kadarius Toney and two others are out against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

New York Giants wide receivers Kenny Golladay (hamstring) and Kadarius Toney (situations), running back Saquon Barkley (knee) and tight end Kyle Rudolph (foot) did not practice against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday.

“[Golladay and Toney] are going to focus more on the rehab with the trainers,” head coach Joe Judge told reporters. “We’re going to keep ramping up those guys as the week goes. They’re both on different levels in terms of their individual bodies, but while we’re here we’ll use the facilities that the Browns are allowing us to use.

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“Our trainers will be here with them, Saquon as well will be in that boat. He won’t do anything competitive against the Browns, so we’re just going to focus on these guys getting in better shape, focus on getting healthy and getting back on the field and 100 percent.”

The Giants officially announced that all four will also sit out for the Week 2 preseason game against the Browns on Sunday. That leaves a window of just two weeks for them to return to practice and potentially get into a live game situation before the regular-season arrives.

While Barkley appears to be headed in the right direction, the same can not be said for the other three. Golladay has rarely been seen since suffering a hamstring injury earlier this month, while Toney continues to deal with issue after issue, and Rudolph has made no on-field progress whatsoever.

The Giants open the regular season on Sunday, September 12 against the Denver Broncos.

Kyle Rudolph contract becoming a fiasco for Giants, Dave Gettleman

Kyle Rudolph remains sidelined with an injury the New York Giants may or may not have known about, and that’s a big problem.

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Shortly after the New York Giants agreed to terms with veteran tight end Kyle Rudolph, it was discovered during a physical that he had a foot injury requiring surgery.

Following a very brief delay, the Giants decided to honor their agreement and sign Rudolph to a two-year, $12 million deal.

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“We are the Giants, we’re going to do everything with class,” general manager Dave Gettleman said in April. “We had an agreement, Ronnie [Barnes] signed off on it, Doc [Scott] Rodeo signed off on it, so we were fine.”

“Once he went through all the medical evaluations, we didn’t think that [changing the contract] was necessary,” assistant general manager Kevin Abrams said.

Rudolph underwent surgery not long after his contract was signed and told the New York Daily News in early July that he wouldn’t miss any football.

“As far as football goes, I was extremely fortunate that the Giants organization and everyone involved [caught it], and how they were able to handle my situation, that I won’t miss any football,” Rudolph said. “At this point it’s about taking each day and taking that opportunity to not only get myself healthy but get myself better. It’s one thing to get and be healthy, it’s another to be ready to go and play in an NFL game. So I’m taking that day by day.”

As training camp opened, Rudolph was placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list where he remains to this day. He has not participated in practice with his teammates and hasn’t even done any side work.

In reality, Rudolph seems a long way off from returning which leads to some very legitimate questions. Additional questions and concerns were raised this week when Gettleman allegedly misspoke during his training camp press conference.

“We knew about [the injury] all along,” Gettleman said. “We didn’t go into this blind. Do you think I do this for a hobby? We knew it. We’re fine.”

Asked specifically if the Giants knew Rudolph needed surgery, Gettleman said, “yeah.”

“Like I said with injuries, he’ll get healthy when he’s healthy. He’s working his fanny off. We’ll see what happens,” Gettleman added.

Shortly after Gettleman’s press conference, he and the Giants clarified the comments, stating they had knowledge of Rudolph’s previous injury but not the timeline regarding surgery. In fact, they went so far as to break down the chronology from start to finish.

“We honored the agreement because our doctors were confident Kyle would be fine following the procedure,” Gettleman said in his clarified comments.

Video of Gettleman’s exchange with reporters has since been removed from the team’s website.

The issue becomes Rudolph’s status as the 2021 regular-season nears. If he’s unable to pass his physical and come off the PUP list, he will automatically miss the first six games of the season.

That’s not something the Giants can afford on the field or off of it.

Rudolph still has a couple weeks to find some level of health and return to the field before this becomes a full-blown controversy, but the clock is ticking and so far, it has not reflected well on Gettleman, Abrams or the Giants.

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Giants’ Dave Gettleman has ‘no regrets’ over drafting Saquon Barkley

New York Giants GM Dave Gettleman has no regrets over drafting Saquon Barkley, maintains his faith in Daniel Jones and praises Joe Judge.

The New York Giants are deep into their 2021 training camp and preseason and with multiple questions still to be answered, the team decided to empty the offices and send the powers that be out in front of the media.

The first person up was general manager Dave Gettleman, the man who has the most to lose — and gain — by this season. The media was waiting with a fusillade of questions regarding Gettleman’s personnel decisions and future plans.

Here are a few of the hot points from Gettleman’s media season on Tuesday.

Giants’ Kyle Rudolph says he ‘won’t miss any football’ following foot surgery

New York Giants TE Kyle Rudolph says he “won’t miss any football” following offseason foot surgery.

When the New York Giants kick off the regular-season against the Denver Broncos on September 12, tight end Kyle Rudolph will be on the field with his teammates.

Rudolph told the New York Daily News this week that he “will not miss any football” following an offseason foot surgery that initially put his contract in jeopardy.

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On the field, meanwhile, Rudolph assured the News on Wednesday that he “won’t miss any football” due to offseason foot surgery — a welcome update on a key piece in the Giants’ 2021 free agent spending spree.

Rudolph had promised a full recovery back in March, as well. But then the timing of his surgery and the status of his rehab were unclear. He sat out spring OTAs and minicamp and head coach Joe Judge remained noncommittal on Rudolph’s progress.

Although expectations are that he will be healthy come Week 1, Rudolph has not participated in any on-field workouts this offseason. He’s been relegated to rehab, film work and standing on the sideline.

Still, Rudolph is grateful to the Giants for catching the injury in the first place.

“As far as football goes, I was extremely fortunate that the Giants organization and everyone involved [caught it], and how they were able to handle my situation, that I won’t miss any football,” Rudolph said. “At this point it’s about taking each day and taking that opportunity to not only get myself healthy but get myself better. It’s one thing to get and be healthy, it’s another to be ready to go and play in an NFL game. So I’m taking that day by day.

“I had no symptoms. I didn’t feel anything. I felt completely fine coming out of last season. After I rehabbed [a foot injury during the 2020 season], I was anticipating coming back for the last game of the year and then playing through the playoffs. Unfortunately that didn’t work out for us as a team last year in Minnesota, so there were no playoffs.”

Rudolph will likely be limited during training camp if he participates at all.

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