Joe Judge insists he'll put the best 11 Giants on the field

At one point in a Giants practice this past week, two rookie defensive backs were lined up for a play. They were within a few feet of each other in the huddle, about 15 yards away from each other, when the ball was snapped, and when they closed in on the tackle, they literally thumped into each other.

Two young kids trying to make the team and establish a foothold in the NFL.

But their paths to that proximity on that play could not have been more different.

One of them was safety Xavier McKinney, the Giants’ second-round pick straight off the pro football production line at the University of Alabama.

The other was Jarren Williams, a cornerback who played at St. Francis (Pa.) College and the University at Albany, went undrafted in April, signed as a free agent with the Cardinals, was waived in July, then signed with the Giants early this month.

In most cases, those polar pedigrees likely would mean one is a sure bet to make the team and the other a distant long shot. And to a certain degree, it still might be that way.

But Giants coach Joe Judge insists that everyone on the team in his training camp will have an opportunity to make the roster for the regular season . . . no matter how they got here.

“Look, the program you come from is really irrelevant,” Judge said. “Some guys have a little bit more exposure to certain kinds of schemes or vocabulary. That may give them a jump-start initially, but really wherever you come from, you have to learn this level of football. I’ve dealt with a lot of guys from small schools, guys who had to change positions, and they’ve been able to do that successfully in the NFL. Once you get your foot in the door, all that matters is what you do here.”

That’s something most NFL coaches will say. In a few weeks, we’ll see if Judge actually believes it, and if his actions will match his words.

There has been no indication that they will not.

“We have a high value for anybody who comes in every day and produces,” Judge said. “That’s what we’re looking for. It’s a production business. We’re looking for guys who improve on a daily basis, guys who fit what we’re trying to do, both culture-wise and schematic-wise. I don’t care where you’re drafted, undrafted, where you came from, rookie, vet, that really doesn’t matter to me. It truly doesn’t. At the end of the day, we’re going to put the best 11 on the field.”

Judge said his credibility with the players is on the line in that regard.

“While on the outside that seems tough to believe at times, at the end of the day, I have to look 53 guys in the eye and I have to tell them that I gave them all the best chance to be successful,” Judge said.

“You can’t lie to those guys in the locker room. Those players know who the best players are. They line up and compete against them. If you force somebody in just because of maybe where they were drafted or how much you signed them for, you have 52 other guys staring at you knowing you’re lying to them because you’re not giving them the best chance right there.

“You can say a lot of fluff around here and there, but you have to be honest with your team. Those guys know better than anybody else who the best players in the locker room are.”

So the Giants keep moving toward their cutdowns. McKinney and Williams will keep working. As will every other draft pick, free-agent acquisition and late-summer body added to pad out the roster.

Because Judge promises it will be a fair competition to make the team and get on the field in regular-season games, whether you arrived from Alabama or Albany or anywhere in between.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

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.