Giants must trim roster to 53 but also could make additions on cutdown day
Giants head coach Brian Daboll (right) talks to the media before practice with general manager Joe Schoen during training camp at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, NJ, on Wednesday, Jul 27, 2022. Credit: Brad Penner
It’s called “cutdown day,” but that’s not all the Giants will be doing as Tuesday’s deadline to have at least a rough draft of a 53-man roster approaches.
Yes, there will be many players whose time with the team comes to an end. There might even be a few who remain on the fringes of the squad, on either injured reserve or the practice squad. But given the state of the personnel the Giants have seen on their practice fields and preseason games throughout this summer, there also is a very good chance that this trimming will be accompanied by additions. Perhaps more than a few.
Trades and waiver claims will become useful tools for this new front office to do some of the finishing carpentry on the framework that already has been assembled.
“I think we are open to improving our team in any way we can,” Brian Daboll said on Monday. “Joe [Schoen] and his staff, we’ve been meeting all morning on different things and they’ve been doing a really good job of their communication and talking to the coaches and looking at different players to evaluate.
“I think Joe is open for business.”
That could mean new homes for some players. Wide receiver Darius Slayton, who has struggled to find a role with the team in this camp, told reporters on Sunday that he would not be surprised to be dealt elsewhere in the coming days. There have been conversations about just such a swap between the Giants and other teams, as ESPN first reported.
Others will face the emotional yo-yo of making the 53 on Tuesday only to be waived on Wednesday or Thursday when the Giants go sifting through the refuse from the rest of the league. With close to 900 players hitting the heap by Tuesday, there are bound to be some gems and goodies who the Giants feel may be better than the ones they have.
About two weeks ago, assistant general manager Brandon Brown said he and the front office already were doing work on potential waiver claims, reviewing preseason games around the league and watching those fourth quarters played by no-namers whom the rest of the world tends to ignore.
“I’m knee-deep in it right now,” he said on Aug. 19. “It’s an ever-evolving process where every stone has to be [turned]. You want to make sure that you’re dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s, whether it’s position need, whether it’s creating competition at all levels. You’ve got to know what the marketplace is. Whether we’re looking or not, you’ve got to know what’s out there.”
This week, as the Giants make the transition from a just-completed preseason toward the regular-season opener on Sept. 11 in Tennessee, the coaching staff is joining the scouts and personnel folks in that charge.
“Our coaches are upstairs working on a lot of different things right now, from players who could potentially be released to people on the street to Tennessee stuff,” Daboll said Monday. “There’s a lot of things to do in this particular week of the season getting ready for the opener plus managing and putting together your roster.”
The Giants made a few obvious cuts on Monday, waiving seven players. They will need to hew 20 more by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, although Daboll said most of those decisions will have been made before the team heads out on the practice field for a workout that is scheduled to run from 1:45 to 3:45. There still will be plenty of tinkering left to do between then and the time the charter plane takes off for Nashville.
Daboll, going through this process for the first time as a head coach, has stressed how difficult it is to end the careers of some players by parting ways with them. But even he can’t shake how thrilling it is for those who presumably don’t have to sweat losing their jobs this week — meaning him and the assistant coaches — to see the team get closer to the ultimate shape it will have on Sept. 11.
They have been drawing up game plans for the first few opponents with broad strokes for some time, but once they know which colors actually will be on their palette, they can start on the details.
“It’s an exciting time,” Daboll said. “I think all of us are ready to get going here for the regular season . . . But you have to take care of the things first that get you there.”
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.
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