The New York Giants are currently 2-7 and on the cusp of another losing season, and it now appears they will be without their veteran quarterback for at least the next month.
But they appear to have deeper issues than that after a frustrated Xavier McKinney revealed there may be communication issues between coaches and players.
“Honestly, it sucks. But, I don’t know, man. I don’t really have a lot to say. I think from a leadership standpoint, I think they’re letting leaders lead, listening to leaders and captains Didn’t do a great job in terms of opinions,” McKinney said via ESPN. “But obviously losing sucks.”
McKinney didn’t specify who “they” were or what the issue was, but when another captain, left tackle Andrew Thomas, was asked for comment, his sentiments didn’t go down well.
“I would say you have to ask Xavier that question. I don’t know exactly where he’s coming from or where his feelings are coming from, but personally I think we’re doing a good job in communicating with our employees. Did a great job. Anything we needed, or any frustrations we had, or any questions we had, I felt like they were very open,” Thomas said Monday.
From a thousand feet up, the problem looks pretty simple. Thomas is getting paid this year (he signed a five-year, $117 million contract extension in July), while McKinney is not.
Thomas is a committed soldier now, especially after missing seven straight games with a hamstring injury, and he’s here for the long haul, while McKinnie may not be in the team’s long-term plans.
The Giants opted to let McKinnie “sing for his dinner” this season – or further establish himself – before they decided to keep him with an extension.
McKinney was a second-round pick out of Alabama in 2020 and will become a free agent in March unless the Giants make a move between now and then. Teams may still be wary of McKinney’s maturity this offseason after an off-field hand injury cost him two months of the season last year.
Plus, McKinney was a Dave Gettleman draft pick, so we don’t know where he fits in a Joe Schoen/Brian Daboll world, even though he was named to the team before the season team leader.
Daboll was asked on Monday what he thought of McKinney’s postgame comments.
“We’ve done the same thing every week since we’ve been here. We have good communication,” Daboll said.
“We meet every week. Have good conversations and learn about what’s going on and what’s going on around the building. So we feel really good about our leadership, how we communicate with them and how they communicate with us. … I think Saying, the meetings we have every week, the captains meeting every Friday, they are good, productive meetings.”
With eight games left, we’ll see if these “cracks” show up further. Regardless, everyone in the building will be playing, coaching and/or working on their collective and individual Giants careers over the next two months.