The Giants opened the week with confidence that quarterback J.J. McCarthy and running back Cam Skattebo would be ready to play against the Commanders on Thursday night and nothing changed on that front over the last couple of days.
Neither McCarthy nor Skattebo received an injury designation on Wednesday, which leaves both of them on track to play as the Giants try to improve to 6-2-1 on the season.
McCarthy briefly left last Sunday’s win over the Eagles with a hip injury, but returned for the fourth quarter and moved up to a full practice listing on Tuesday. Skattebo missed the Eagles game with the hamstring injury he suffered in Week 7 and also moved up to full participation the last two days.
Linebacker Malik Harrison is the only Giants player with a designation. He’s questionable to play due to a groin injury.
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Giants rookie linebacker Arvell Reese was all over the field in Sunday’s victory over the Eagles.
The league has now recognized his performance, naming him NFC defensive player of the week.
This is Reese’s first career player of the week award.
Reese finished the contest with 12 tackles, 3.0 sacks, and a forced fumble in the 19-11 victory over Philadelphia.
According to the league, Reese became the youngest player since 1982 — when the sack became an official stat — to have at least three sacks in a game. Reese is 21 years and 70 days old. The previous record holder was Vernon Maxwell, who was 21 years and 321 days old on Sept. 11, 1983.
The No. 5 overall pick in this year’s draft, Reese has tallied 68 total tackles, 4.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss, and an interception so far this season.
When the dust settled on the trade deadline, the Colts still had running back Jonathan Taylor under contract. It was not the outcome that most around the league expected.
All signs pointed to the Colts taking the best offer at 3:45 p.m. ET and processing the paperwork before the top of the hour. Whatever the best offer was.
But that’s what a functional organization would have done. The Colts currently are not.
The Giants were willing to give up a second-round pick and a fifth-round pick for Taylor. It’s unclear for now whether anyone else was willing to do better than that.
In the interim, Taylor spent two weeks not knowing what would happen. He didn’t get an assurance he wouldn’t be traded until roughly an hour before the window closed. (Even then, the leak felt more like a “last call” to interested suitors.)
The fans spent that same period of time wondering what the Colts were doing. And Taylor got only eight carries in the 42-7 loss to Jacksonville, at a time when it felt like a trade was imminent.
So what happens next for Taylor? If they try to trade him in the offseason, they won’t do better than they would have done when a contender was willing to pay a premium in an effort to win now. And if they don’t get at least as much as they could have gotten on Tuesday, will they refuse to trade him again?
Taylor could end up being stuck on the Colts during an obvious rebuild. Then, by the time it’s rebuilt (if it ever is), Taylor will be past his prime.
The simplest explanation is that the Colts slipped into dysfunction on this one. And it’s no surprise. Owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon is still fairly new to the job. The G.M. has been fired. And coach Shane Steichen hopes to win enough games to have a chance to keep his job; he surely wasn’t lobbying to lose his best player.
So what should the Colts have done? When they were doing the deals for guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, they should have asked for the various Taylor suitors to make their last, best offers. And the Colts should have made a final decision then and there as to whether he’d be traded or retained.
Instead, they decided to wait and see whether the offers would improve. Taylor was left to wonder about his future. After the Week 9 loss to the Cowboys, he basically said goodbye to Indianapolis.
The Eagles didn’t play it that way with running back Saquon Barkley. They knew what was out there, they decided not to take the best offer, and they informed Barkley that he wouldn’t be changing teams.
The Colts instead kicked the can, not accepting the best offer and hoping it would impove. That gave Taylor two weeks to ponder the possibility of playing for a contender before the Colts decided not to pull the trigger on a trade.
They’ll never admit it, but the Colts will come to regret not taking the best deal. Because the offers won’t get any better after the season. At some point, Taylor is going to realize it’s in his best interests to request a trade.
That will be a problem for the next G.M. to deal with. And that wrinkle won’t make the job more attractive to a candidate who has options.
The Giants didn’t make any big deals at the trade deadline, but they tried to make a very big one.
The Giants called the Falcons to see whether running back Bijan Robinson was available in a trade, according to Jordan Raanan of ESPN.
That would have been a blockbuster, but it’s unsurprising that the teams didn’t make a deal. The Falcons made a big investment in Robinson this offseason, signing him to a three-year, $66.8 million contract extension, and from all accounts they view him as one of the most important pieces of their franchise.
There’s no word on what the Giants were willing to offer, or whether the Falcons engaged at all, or simply told the Giants, “Not interested.”
The Giants did make one big trade this season, acquiring J.J. McCarthy, who has played well enough for the Giants to win their first two starts and remain in first place in the NFC East. Acquiring Robinson would have been a strong sign that the Giants believe they’re serious contenders, this year. That the Giants even tried showed that coach John Harbaugh meant it when he said they’re a team trying to win now, not build for the future.
Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers elaborated on his issues with comments made about him during last Sunday’s Fox broadcast during a press conference on Tuesday.
Fox announcers Joe Davis, Greg Olsen, and Pam Oliver discussed Nabers’s body language at several points during the game and shots of an agitated Nabers on the sideline were shown multiple times. Davis was particularly critical about Nabers’s response to a touchdown by teammate Isaiah Likely and Olsen said in response that “there’s a very fine line between being demanding, being a competitor, and all those great things” before adding that Nabers has “just got to keep it in check.”
Nabers responded to those comments and misattributed quotes that claimed Olsen called him a bad teammate in a social media post after the 19-11 win over the Eagles. Nabers said the broadcast tried to “create a narrative” that wasn’t true and shared more thoughts on the matter Tuesday.
“I just feel like the narrative on me is always all the bad body language things that people have been saying about me,” Nabers said, via a transcript from the team. “But as far as that, if it’s a problem with anybody, the cameras can stay off me. The thing about it is, don’t tell the world something that’s not me. I’m [going to] speak up for myself all the time because there’s nobody else that’s going to be able to speak up for me. So, I’m going to use my own voice and be able to speak up about me being a bad teammate. And I felt like that was just a lie, just attacking my character as a football player and as a teammate. Like I said, I’ve never been on a team where anyone has called me a bad teammate that I know of.”
Olsen took issue with the incorrect quotes about Nabers being a bad teammate and the wideout was asked if he’s heard from directly from him since Sunday. Nabers said he hasn’t, but “he can reach out and we can have a simple conversation.” Beyond that, Nabers said he’s done talking about the subject and that he’s moved on to Thursday’s game against the Commanders.
Cam Skattebo is set to return to the Giants lineup for Thursday night’s game against the Commanders and he won’t be looking over his shoulder at any new additions to the team’s running back depth chart.
The Giants were reportedly bidders for Jonathan Taylor at one point and they were linked to other potential moves in the backfield, but they stood pat on deadline day. Skattebo said on Tuesday that he understands why some would be “skeptical” that the Giants have enough at running back while citing his average of around 60 rushing yards per game, but that he wasn’t bothered by any interest the Giants had in other backs because “they know what I can do”
“You’ve seen what I can do,” Skattebo said, via Darryl Slater of NJ.com. “When I come out and I’m ready to play football, I can be one of the most dangerous backs in the league. Simple as that.”
Skattebo was up to full practice participation Tuesday after missing Week 9 with a hamstring injury, so he should have every opportunity to prove himself right about what he’s capable of doing for the Giants offense.
Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy and running back Cam Skattebo returned to full participation in Tuesday’s practice. The two players were listed as limited in Monday’s walk-through.
McCarthy has a hip injury that briefly forced him out of Sunday’s 19-11 win over the Eagles, and Skattebo has a hamstring injury.
Wide receiver Darnell Mooney (chest) also returned to full participation on Tuesday’s report.
Outside linebacker Abdul Carter (knee/back) and linebacker Malik Harrison (groin) remained limited, and cornerback Colton Hood (finger) was added to the report as limited. Coach John Harbaugh said Hood dislocated a finger.
Right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (calf), tight end Theo Johnson (neck), wide receiver Charlie Jones (thumb), wide receiver Malik Nabers (knee) and left tackle Andrew Thomas (groin) were full participants again.
The Vikings’ quarterback situation has been a rollercoaster with more lows than highs since Kirk Cousins left for the Falcons and Sam Darnold left for the Seahawks.
They’re expected to make their next attempt at fixing the situation on Tuesday.
A source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that the Vikings will trade for a quarterback before Tuesday’s 4:00 p.m. ET deadline.
The options, per the source, are “Daniel Jones, Geno Smith, Mac Jones, Kirk Cousins, TBD surprise, TBD huge surprise, but it will be someone.”
Other possibilities mentioned by the source were Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston.
Whatever the Vikings do, it’s going to cost them. If they’d had a deal in place before Monday night’s game, it would have been cheaper. After last night’s debacle from Carson Wentz, teams will be putting their thumbs — and elbows — on the scale.
Regardless, they need to do something. If they don’t, 6-2 could become 6-11. And that would possibly result in a new coach in Minnesota come 2027.
In the categories of “surprise” and/or “huge surprise” would be (and this is just the throwing of a dart): Justin Herbert, Matthew Stafford, and Sam Darnold.
There have been a number of big moves on the trade front over the last couple of weeks as teams with eyes on competing for the Super Bowl have made big swings to improve their chances.
The Giants have made one significant trade and the move to add quarterback J.J. McCarthy in the wake of Jaxson Dart’s torn ACL has worked out well thus far. The team is 5-2-1 and in first place in the NFC East, which has led to a lot of speculation about whether there are more moves to come ahead of Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline.
While many expected the Giants to be better in John Harbaugh’s first season, that standing might find them a little further along than anticipated and Harbaugh was asked about how the team will weigh a short-term move against the long view of team building.
“Very true, very important, and yet you want to do everything you can do to make your team as strong as you can right now, because we’re in the now, and we’re told to live in the moment, be where our feet are planted, concern ourselves with today, but that’s not at the expense of tomorrow or just prudent planning,” Harbaugh said, via a transcript from the team. “I think we just have to look at each situation, and just weigh it out in terms of, okay, what’s the cost? What’s the benefit? And is it worth it? Is it going to benefit us? Is it a good thing for the Giants, and for the organization, and the team? So, I would say that the now weighs more important than the future, if you’re going to put it on a scale, and kind of go from there.”
People like to talk about championship windows, but they don’t always open and close on a prescribed schedule and the Giants will have to decide if it makes sense to try to widen their current one in the next few hours.
The Giants didn’t hold a practice on Monday, but they say quarterback J.J. McCarthy would have been able to participate if they weren’t coming off of a game on Sunday.
McCarthy was listed as a limited participant due to the hip injury that briefly forced him out of Sunday’s 19-11 win over the Eagles. Head coach John Harbaugh said at a press conference earlier in the day that the team believes McCarthy will be well enough to play against the Commanders on Thursday night.
Linebacker Abdul Carter (knee, back), linebacker Malik Harrison (groin), wide receiver Charlie Jones (thumb), wide receiver Darnell Mooney (chest), and running back Cam Skattebo (hamstring) were also listed as limited. Harbaugh said he expects Skattebo to play after he missed the Eagles game.
Right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (calf), tight end Theo Johnson (neck), wide receiver Malik Nabers (knee), and left tackle Andrew Thomas (groin) were listed as full participants.
