Giants Clips
When Colin Kaepernick was being ignored by the NFL teams, he didn’t have much to say. Now that he’s selling a book, interviews with Kaepernick are popping up everywhere.
We haven’t paid much attention to his various sit-downs and sound bites because, frankly, it’s an old story. The NFL has long since moved on from Kaepernick, freezing him out long enough to make it unrealistic that the now-38-year-old quarterback would have a plausible path to a roster, a practice squad, or even a tryout.
Still, one news item caught our eye in recent weeks. With Kaepernick’s book tour putting him back in the vicinity of the front burner, Giants coach John Harbaugh told Ian O’Connor of The Athletic that Harbaugh wanted to add Kaepernick to the Ravens in 2017.
Through it all, Kaepernick got one workout, five years ago with the Raiders. With the Giants now desperate for quarterback help (and with Jake Haener and Brandon Allen as the most viable options behind new starter Jameis Winston), why not bring Kaepernick in for a look?
Kaepernick continues to say that he’s staying in shape, and that he wants to play. It should be immediately obvious whether he still has the abilities that made Harbaugh interested in him nine years ago.
Harbaugh’s New York staff includes Greg Roman, who was the offensive coordinator during Kaepernick’s first four years in San Francisco. It would be easy, in theory, to configure the offense to fit Kaepernick. If Kaepernick still has the skills he had when he last played.
It starts with a workout (and quite possibly ends with one). There’s no reason not to give it a whirl. The anthem controversy has subsided. (Harbaugh and the Giants surely would want assurances that Kaepernick wouldn’t dust it off, if he ended up on the sideline before games.)
The threshold question is how does Kaepernick look? And there’s only one way to find out. The Giants, who now face not having Jaxson Dart for up to the rest of the season, have plenty of reasons to give Kaepernick a chance to show them what he can do.
It would be different if John Harbaugh hadn’t recently spoken in such glowing terms about Kaepernick. With not many viable options available in free agency — and with Harbaugh having considerable power in New York — let’s see if Harbaugh puts his recent words into current action.
With Jaxson Dart’s injury worse than expected, Jameis Winston will become the Giants’ starting quarterback. The team, though, is in the market for a third quarterback.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that the Giants could re-sign Brandon Allen.
They have Jake Haener on the practice squad.
Allen, 34, has spent five of the past six seasons with Giants quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan. He backed up Cam Ward with the Titans last season.
Allen, though, struggled in three preseason games, going 26-of-38 for 224 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions.
He has played 19 games with 10 starts in his career, completing 56.7 percent of his passes for 1,882 yards with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He has made at least one start for the Broncos, Bengals and 49ers.
Giants head coach John Harbaugh isn’t ready to make any announcements about the extent of quarterback Jaxson Dart’s knee injury.
A report on Tuesday indicated that an MRI showed more damage than doctors initially believed Dart sustained early in Monday night’s loss to the Rams and that he could be out for the rest of the season. Harbaugh spoke to reporters on a videoconference shortly after that report and said that the team is still working to determine next steps with their starter.
“I’m not sure exactly what news or how anything’s been stated,” Harbaugh said, via SNY. “Right now, evaluations are ongoing. We haven’t got any final decisions yet, we’ve learned a lot more. I wouldn’t want to share too much until decisions get made and that takes more than one person.”
Harbaugh said that the team has confidence in Jameis Winston, but Harbaugh said it’s “pretty self-evident” that losing a starting quarterback is a big blow to what the team would like to achieve this season.
One day after an apparently serious injury to Bears starting quarterback Caleb Williams ended up being not nearly as bad as it seemed, an injury to Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart has turned out to be far worse than believed.
Via NFL Network, an MRI showed that Dart’s knee injury is worse than expected. He’s now expected to be out an extended period of time, and possibly for the rest of the season.
It’s very bad news for a team that showed great promise in Week 1, and it moves Jameis Winston into the starting job. He struggled in relief of Dart on Monday night, completing 11 of 27 passes for 111 yards and an interception.
The Giants have no other quarterbacks on the 53-man roster; Jake Haener is on the practice squad. Which means that the Giants will likely be scouring all available options for another player at the position — from free agency to a potential trade with a team that has a surplus at the position.
Originally, it was believed that Dart had an MCL sprain. Coach John Harbaugh told reporters on Monday night that the injury was in that “neighborhood.” Clearly, it wasn’t.
The 2023 season featured more than a few serious quarterback injuries. The 2026 season has started with four of 32 starters suffering injuries during the first two weeks of action.
In Week 1, the Seahawks lost quarterback Sam Darnold for at least one game with a glute injury. (He could be back in Week 3.) In Week 2, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams pulled a hamstring and is week-to-week. In the late-afternoon window, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels dislocated his left elbow, again. On Monday night, Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart sustained what is believed to be an MCL sprain.
More recently, the next man up in Chicago (Tyson Bagent) has landed in the concussion protocol.
The situation highlights an ever-present risk when it comes to playing football. Quarterbacks get hit, in all sorts of ways — after weeks of practice in which they’re insulated from contact.
As Mike Tomlin said in Week 1, the inability to hit quarterbacks in practice put defenses at a disadvantage. The quarterbacks are at a disadvantage, too; they’ve gone from bubble wrap to fair game.
On Monday’s Let’s Go!, North Carolina coach Bill Belichick (who is far chattier than he is during games) suggested that limited padded practices make it harder for the blockers and, in turn, the quarterbacks.
“The offensive line has really gotten shortchanged because they’re not in pads very often,” Belichick said. “Basically 20 times a year, 10 in training camp, 10 during the regular season. And I think 20 practices is just not really enough for those guys to develop their skills. And the defensive players are ahead of them and offensive lineman gets beaten and you know who’s getting hit. And so I think one thing that would really help the situation would be some type of developmental program for offensive linemen who don’t play. Not saying guys that have played 16 games, but talking about guys that don’t play, that need that development coming into the NFL and type athletes they face and pass protection and blitz pick[up] and all that. It’s so involved and so difficult that I think that would help the quarterback’s longevity as much as anything.”
Even with a highly competent offensive line, a quarterback is always one play away from taking a big hit, and possibly from being injured. And nothing can change a team’s fortunes faster than losing their starting quarterback.
UPDATE 9:10 p.m. ET: Actually, the number is five. Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray suffered a concussion on the third drive of the Week 1 win over the Packers. Carson Wentz replaced Murray, who has been cleared for Week 3.
The Rams didn’t have receiver Puka Nacua on Monday night. It made Davante Adams the focal point of the passing game.
And it added up to Adams catching nine passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s wide receiver one to me,” coach Sean McVay told reporters after the game. “He ain’t a two. He was special and it showed all night. That’s what he’s consistently done and I’m really happy for him. I thought he made some great plays, but you could see there’s a lot of trust that he and Matthew [Stafford] have. They were able to get a lot of work together this offseason, and it’s only going to continue to build. I was really happy for him. He did his thing tonight.”
And the Giants didn’t seem to do anything to adjust to Adams doing his thing.
Giants coach John Harbaugh was asked whether the Rams did anything that made it hard to cover Adams.
“They didn’t do anything special,” Harbaugh said. “He just made plays.”
Should the Giants have assigned cornerback Greg Newsome II to cover Adams wherever he goes?
“We had a lot of ideas,” Harbaugh said, “a lot of things we tried to do.”
They apparently didn’t try to double Adams, or to rotate the safeties in his direction.
It couldn’t have hurt. Yes, it would have made it easier for others to get open. And while that may have meant more opportunities for the tight ends, the Rams got very little from other receivers. Tutu Atwell caught one pass for 19 yards, and Konata Mumpfield caught one pass for 12 yards.
So, yes, maybe the things the Giants tried should have included taking Adams away. On Sunday night, the Broncos presumably will.
The first real sighting of Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. on Monday night happened when ESPN cameras captured him giving his former head coach, Sean McVay, a post-game hug. During the game, OBJ made even less of a cameo appearance.
Beckham was on the field for only three snaps. Out of 58 total offensive plays.
By way of comparison, Malachi Fields had 47 snaps. Malik Nabers played 43. Darnell Mooney was on the field for 42.
Even Braxton Berrios — primarily a special-teamer — had five offensive snaps.
Making the lack of involvement from Beckham more surprising is the fact that starting quarterback Jaxson Dart made an early exit with a knee injury. Beckham and backup quarterback Jameis Winston have a strong rapport, and Winston struggled in relief of Dart, completing 11 of 27 throws. Why not give Beckham and Winston a chance to connect?
The other question is whether Beckham has frustrations regarding his lack of involvement. Yes, he’s apparently happy to simply be back in the NFL after a year out of football. But, with only three snaps in a prime-time game, is he really back?
In Week 1, Beckham was on the field for 11 of 69 snaps. He has been targeted zero times, through two games.
From the Giants’ perspective, it’s fair to wonder whether a game-day roster spot is being wasted on someone who isn’t contributing to the cause. As MDS points out, the Giants have receiver Dalen Cambre on the practice squad. He was second in the NCAA in special-teams tackles as a senior, and he blocked two punts at the college level.
Yes, the Giants bringing Beckham back to Big Blue is a good story. The fans love him. But the early-season trends aren’t encouraging. At some point, they’re going to need his roster spot.
Especially if they don’t put Dart on IR and add another quarterback (other than Berrios) to serve as the backup to Winston.
Giants pass rusher Brian Burns limped off the field in obvious pain on Monday night, but in the locker room after the game, Burns said the medical diagnosis showed that the damage to his ankle wasn’t as bad as it felt.
Burns said as he sat at his locker that he could feel his ankle getting stiff but the Giants’ medical staff had told him it’s a low ankle sprain that shouldn’t cause him to miss much time.
“It eases my mind to know it’s not nothing serious,” Burns said.
Burns said he’s had similar injuries and knows how to rehab them so he can get back on the field quickly.
“I’ve dealt with this before,” Burns said. “It all depends on how fast you can get the swelling and inflammation down. I’m going to do everything possible to get as tamed as I can.”
Burns said he would begin his rehab while on the flight from Los Angeles back to New York.
“The recovery process starts now, so it will be ice and compression until we get back to the facility and do more work on it, try to stay off it, keep it elevated,” Burns said. “That’s all you can do with sprains. I’ve dealt with it before.”
Burns is one of the Giants’ best defensive players, and on a night when quarterback Jaxson Dart, wide receiver Malik Nabers and left tackle Andrew Thomas all got hurt, a serious injury to Burns was the last thing the Giants needed. Fortunately, he’s going to be OK.
The Giants have gotten some good news, for now, regarding quarterback Jaxson Dart’s knee injury.
Via NFL Network, it’s believed that Dart suffered a sprained MCL.
The assessment is based on a preliminary exam. X-rays were negative, and an MRI will be conducted on Tuesday.
After the game, coach John Harbaugh was asked about the report. “We’ll know more tomorrow,” Harbaugh said. “That’s in the neighborhood of it, I would say. We’ll get an MRI tomorrow and have a really good feel for it, and give you more information then.”
The MCL can heal with rest and rehab, unless the tendon is completely torn.
If Dart misses time, Jameis Winston will continue to play in his place. On Monday night, Winston completed 11 of 27 passes for 111 yards and an interception.
The Giants host the Titans on Sunday, with the Cardinals next and a visit to the Commanders. So they could find a way to win some games, even if Dart is absent.
The Rams are back . . . and so is Aaron Donald.
Eleven days after a lackluster performance against the 49ers in Australia, the Rams rebounded with a dominant 28-6 victory over the Giants in Donald’s season debut. Both teams are 1-1.
The Rams might have won big anyway, but the Giants had no chance after Jaxson Dart injured his left knee on the first drive. The Giants had only 182 yards, and Jameis Winston was 11-of-27 for 111 yards and an interception.
The Giants crossed midfield six times, but punted six times, kicked two field goals, threw an interception and once turned it over on downs in their 10 possessions. It was as depressing as their season-opening win over the Cowboys was encouraging.
Donald, playing his first game in 981 days after unretiring Aug. 30, made three tackles, including a tackle for loss.
The Rams gained 481 yards despite playing without wide receiver Puka Nacua. Davante Adams more than made up for Nacua’s absence, catching eight passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns.
Matthew Stafford threw touchdown passes of 31 and 11 yards to Adams, 10 yards to running back Kyren Williams and 5 yards to tight end Terrance Ferguson. Stafford was 22-of-31 for 327 yards with an interception to go with the four touchdowns.
Williams ran for 85 yards on 12 carries, but he did lose a fumble. Blake Corum had 12 carries for 79 yards.
Giants safety Jevon Holland totaled eight tackles, an interception, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in an elite performance.
