In recent years, when a New York Giants player found themselves sidelined with an injury, they were free to discuss it and their recovery on social media or with members of the media.
That will not be the case here in 2020.
After landing on the non-football injury list at the start of training camp, defensive lineman Leonard Williams was asked about his hamstring, but the veteran put an immediate end to that inquiry.
“We can’t really talk about injuries. If somebody wants to get more information on that, you might have to bring it up with Coach (Joe) Judge or someone else on the team,” Williams told reporters bluntly.
There’s a new Sheriff in town and his name is Joe Judge. And like his former boss, Bill Belichick, there are certain things he’s just not going to allow. Discussing injuries is one of those things.
And if you ask Judge about them, he’s not exactly going to be forthcoming, either.
“I’m going to give him the opportunity day by day,” Judge said of Williams. “He’s working with our trainers. He’s doing everything he possibly can to get on the field as fast as possible. Look, we know he’s doing all the right things. I’m not a doctor. When they tell me he’s cleared to go, then we’ll go ahead and activate him for practice.”
Judge explained why he takes this approach during the 2020 NFL Combine.
“You have to understand there’s a reason why not to address injuries, and there’s two folds on this. If I say Billy’s got a hamstring and some expert out there says that’s a four-to-six week injury. All right, when he doesn’t come back until Week 7 or 8, Billy must not be tough. And then when Davey has a hamstring a few weeks later, and they’re completely separate injuries on different people and a different medical-grade, then he comes back in three weeks. Well, he must be a lot tougher than Billy. So, I don’t want to create expectations out there that someone else has to live up to,” Judge said.
The bells of change are certainly ringing in East Rutherford.
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