Brett Jones new kid on the block at fullback
Brett Jones is seen during Giants rookie minicamp at the team's training facility in East Rutherford, N.J. on May 8, 2015. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
The Giants don’t have a traditional fullback on their roster. They make do with what Ben McAdoo calls “a committee.” The surprise member of that group turned out to be Brett Jones.
The offensive lineman who was on injured reserve all of last season played in his first NFL game on Sunday against the Cowboys and twice lined up as a fullback.
“I’ve never played fullback before, I’ve always been an offensive lineman,” Jones said on Tuesday. “Early in the week we had talked about it. We got the opportunity and I was really pumped to get in there and go do that.”
Jones appeared in his first NFL game, but before that he was the best offensive lineman in the Canadian Football League. In the CFL, the offensive and defensive linemen are farther apart. It’s actually pretty similar to the way a fullback blocks from the backfield.
“There is more space in the CFL and coming from the backfield the timing is there, I guess,” he said. “It’s something that I guess I’m sort of used to.”
The Giants seem to be fond of him in the little they saw of him at the position.
“I like him, I like him,” running back Rashad Jennings said. “He’s a hard-working guy. He has the mentality of a fullback. He just wants to hit somebody . . . He has a low center of gravity. He’s a smart guy. And he likes to stick his nose in there. He’s going to be a key player.”
Will he ever get to carry the ball, though? Jones chuckled at the thought.
“They pay guys to do that,” he said. “I just do what I’m told and whatever we have in each week that’s what I’m going to do.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
