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Big Blue Banter: A New York Giants Football Podcast

RB Preview: A Changing of the Guard

Dan and Nick preview the Giants RB position as the team transitions from a one back system to a rotation. They discuss the upside of Tyrone Tracy within the new structure of the offense, Eric Gray’s future, sleepers to make the roster and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:
38m
Broadcast on:
28 Jun 2024
Audio Format:
mp3

Dan and Nick preview the Giants RB position as the team transitions from a one back system to a rotation. They discuss the upside of Tyrone Tracy within the new structure of the offense, Eric Gray’s future, sleepers to make the roster and more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Just go to indeed.com/bluewire right now and support our show by saying that you heard about Indeed on this podcast, that's indeed.com/bluewire, terms and conditions applied. To hire, you need Indeed. With the July weekend on the front. It got discussed on a presidential debate. I think you know it's incredible right there. That was my favorite part. The debate was an absolute joke in the travesty to our country, which we don't have to go into too much further, but it's embarrassing that those are two candidates. I think everyone can at least agree on that regardless of where you stand. But the best part of it by far was Joe Biden trying to say he's a six handicap. You know how hard it is to be a six handicap in golf. And then Trump's like, "You're not a six. I've seen your swing. I know that swing." I love that. I love that line. "You're not a six. I've seen your swing." I know that swing. It was just such a good freaking line right there by Jerome Poo is actually supposedly a good golfer though. He cheats like crazy. So it's like one of those like I would have never been surprised to hear that he's like the biggest cheater on a golf course, but also I'm even more surprised to hear that Biden thinks he could be a six handicap in golf. You know, it's crazy how hard it is. But this is not what the show's about, Nick. It's just funny. We got Fourth of July weekend coming up. Bit, bit dry, I feel like, on the Giants front from just a, you know, what's it called? Transactions. We haven't had many transactions with the Giants. No trade discussions, nothing like that. We're really in this thick of this, thick of this until training camp. But we have one thing that we didn't touch on, Nick, which was Daniel Jones bringing the team down to North Carolina to throw with his receivers. I thought that was great. One thing that I noticed there and I tweeted about the time, Nick, was like neighbors was there. And look, you could look at it like he should be there. Why wouldn't he be there? But not this doesn't always happen every time, right? Like these receivers, these rookies or new players of the team that haven't been ingreciated into the, into the mix yet, they're not always with their team right away in these kind of voluntary. This is as voluntary as it gets kind of work out. Carriostoni was not one of those types of players and just the difference between him and a Tony is just so amazing and they're both first round receivers and they just approached this whole thing so differently. So I was excited to see neighbors there. I was excited to see all those players there as well. What did you make of that? And did you get a chance of looking to that at all? I saw just going around Twitter. It's something that I would expect from NFL teams at this point, something I would want. Now I know it's not an obligation for these players to go down there and I wouldn't hold it against any player for not attending. But at the same time, I see the players that do attend and I say at least people are buying into this and there should be some semblance of a rapport once we transition to training camp and into the season. It's a good step going into training camp. Yeah, it is a really good step and I think I've always felt like the rapport is the biggest thing when it comes to these receiver quarterback situations and why things work and why they don't work. So I'm hoping that this will help Jones and neighbors develop a rapport because there's a few things I've noticed throughout the offseason. One thing, even just when we had a chance to meet with Daniel Bellinger and interview him last week, how he discussed, you know, Drew Locke's been great and he's understood from the start. And the more we've learned, the more we know there is no competition. We thought maybe there might be based on some comments made by the CLXGM earlier in the offseason. But, you know, it turns out there will be no competition. Jones is the QB one. So I want him to get that report down with Malik neighbors and we've set up a four and I've said it before and I know you, I don't know if you agree, but I assume you agree and I think you do. Daniel Jones is the highest ceiling quarterback on this roster right now. What are you laughing at? Well, you're just like, I think you agree. You might not agree. But you know what? You do agree? Yeah, I don't agree because you've never asked you this. I just assume. We've talked about it. Yeah, I would agree that he is the highest ceiling quarterback. I still don't think that ceiling is super high. But if he can maintain his athletic ability, post injury and also develop a more aggressive approach to see the field a little bit more clearly speed up his process, then yeah, he definitely has, I would say the highest ceiling. Yeah. At least of what they have, right? I mean, it's true lockdown Jones and Tommy DeVito, exactly. Give your highest ceiling quarterback the most time and the most reps you can get with these receivers, especially Malik neighbors, because he's a special type of player that can beat man coverage consistently. And that was something that, who said, was that Bellinger, someone we spoke to recently are not Bellinger. Someone recently I saw like in an interview with the Giants was just like, look, what we have now with Malik neighbors is somebody who drew locks at this. This was a, did you get a chance to watch John Schmilk interview to all three quarterbacks? It's actually a good interview. You can check it out on Giants Huddle. And Drew Locke was like, I had this when I had DK Metcalf in Seattle. We had the same thing. And it's that defenses are scared to play man coverage, like they don't want to leave him one on one in man coverage of a player who they can and that changes everything for your offense. And so we need that to prove to be, you know, something that impacts the games too. It's not just, oh, can you win in man coverage and get open because we know Malik neighbors can do that. But it's, will the ball get out there on time? Will Jones see it? Will he get the ball out in front of him from the receiver? Get the ball out on time and put it in a good spot for the receiver and start challenging downfield. And the only way that's going to happen is if they build a rapport. So I'm happy that they're working already. Same, same man. Get at it. We need some damn good football when training camp preseason and then the regular season rolls around and hopefully Jones can progress well and his recovery seems like it's coming along well. Well, that's the other one thing that I want to say before we get into the show. That's what Jones did say in that interview that things are progressing really well and he expects to be ready for training camp. So that's another huge plus for this Giants team going into 2024. Get Jones ready for that first practice, you know, said 11 on 11s, hopefully where you can start to run routes and throw passes to, I'm sorry, throw passes to Malik neighbors running routes. So we'll see what happens there. But today's show we're going to do some precision previews heading into training camp in these next few weeks. We've still got another what month until camp, maybe three, three and a half weeks a month until camp. So we're going to start with a running back position. We're not going to do any order. There's no order to these Nick. I think we both agreed on, we're just going to kind of go, excuse me, which position catches our fancy for that day. So we wanted to talk running back today and I think the theme of the show is just a changing of guard, right? I mean, that's where we're at to start this, start this 2024 season. There's been, we're moving from a one back system essentially. There were other backs who got some touches, not many to a committee system. This is something I've been calling for for a while and I know you're on board with this one too. I think the committee approaches the best in the NFL. Sure one back is great, especially if he's a superstar like Barkley was, but there's risk and there's inherent risk in a one back system that that back goes down. Now you're putting responsibilities on the plate of players that haven't had a lot of reps. And we saw this with Eric Gray. He struggled in bass production. He struggled with a lot of things because he didn't have those reps. Now you get that mix of guys, Singletary, Tracy, you know, maybe Donte Miller, maybe Eric Gray and now you have a situation where these guys are getting more reps and they're able to actually step into a game and impact the game. So I'm excited to see this committee approach because I think long term it's the best for the Giants. Well, it's also just not allocating a bunch of money to one running back, which was going to be the primary method of keeping Saquon Barkley as a New York giant. You would have had to allocate a certain percentage of your cap that frankly in today's NFL a lot of teams seem to be a little bit uncomfortable. And when you look at Saquon Barkley, last year, I think he rushed for over 100 yards one time. He averaged less than four yards per carry, the breakaway percentage has gone down. There's a lot of advanced stats that are suggesting that Saquon Barkley might be on the back nine of his career, that and, you know, reality and age and things of that. He's 27. He's had quite a few injuries, but it doesn't take away from your overall point that this is a changing of the guard. Saquon Barkley is no longer there. Every defense the Giants played circled number 26. Now that threat is not there, and that could lead more defenses, theoretically speaking, to allocating more eyes on, obviously, it's going to transition Malik neighbors, but the passing attack in general, which struggled when Saquon Barkley was there to begin with. So can the Giants find a way around the lack of Saquon Barkley and more of an emphasis on their passing attack and upgraded offensive line is certainly going to assist that Daniel Jones being healthy will also certainly assist that. So that's the goal at this point. When it comes to the running backs, I feel like they've added enough unique players along with a stable veteran in Devin Singletary to at least mend the fact that they've lost Saquon Barkley. I don't think you can fully mend it because he was that important to the offense. He was basically the face of this team since he arrived here in 2018. But as I said, I think that it's going to start getting uglier and the Giants got out when they could. Yeah, I think the key thing you said is just the transition of what the offense's identity is now, and it may not show up right away, though we're hoping it does, but this is going to be a pass first offense for as long as Brian Dable is here, this is what it was originally built to be. This is what they brought him into be. It's what it was in Buffalo when things were working well, and it's what it's going to have to be with Daniel Jones or whoever is the quarterback moving forward for this year. It'll be Jones and he's going to have to operate a pass first system. They tried to do it a little bit down the stretch run of 2022 had some moderate success. A good game against the Colts sort of, you know, obviously the two great games against the Vikings from a pass first standpoint, some struggles to they were three seven and one down the stretch of 2022 with that style. They also didn't have Malik neighbors then, right? And they also had problems still in the offensive line that we're hoping like, yeah, 2022 was better than 2023 for an offense line situation, but it wasn't ideal, right? Like we can't be that's not what we're striving for like 22nd or 23rd best O line. We got to try to hope that this game thing can get to 15 or 14 or 13 O line this year. They have to get into the mid pack this year. And in my mind, honestly, Nick, after three years, if they don't get mid pack O line with all the investments that Joe Shane has made, that's when you can start to seriously question is Joe Shane, the guy like in someone brought us up to me yesterday, like they showed me a statinik and it was like predicted offensive lines by I think Warren Sharpe or Mike Clay, one of those guys projected for 2024 and they projected giants would be the worst offensive line in the NFL. And he's like, if this happens and it comes true court to projection and shout out. I forget who it was. Someone who follows us on Twitter. And he's like, if this happens, what do you think? Is that it for Joe Shane? I was like, you know what? Yeah. Yeah. Offensive line of football after this year, I'm probably ready to move on from Joe Shane at that point. Unless obviously there's like injuries and like those types of factors like Sandra Thomas goes down for the year. Obviously it's not his fault, but like enough is enough at this point, like we're turning into like ghetto men type range if we have that kind of line. So I think, you know, there's factors that could change this thing moving forward, Nick. But to me, the key here is look, there's uncertainty at the running back position that we haven't had since 2018 since we started doing this podcast, like we knew going into every year, Barkley was going to be on the field for 80% of the snaps, 75% of the snaps. Now it's kind of uncertain. Like we assume Devin Singletair will lead the pack and we could start there because he's had the familiarity in the system. He picked up fast, but we don't know what kind of touches Eric Gray and Tyrone Tracy and Miller are going to get you. This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all gotten back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better with NFL Sunday ticket in YouTube TV. 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Remember, we loved Damian Pierce coming out of Florida. Damian Pierce had a great rookie season with the Houston Texans, and then Devin Singletary comes in there and essentially just steals his job when the guy from San Francisco Bobby Slowick ends up being the offensive coordinator out there. Now, it's a little bit more of his own rushing system, but Devin Singletary has a ton of experience running power gap if that's what Brian Dable and Mike Capko want to do. So I believe he's going to be that number one guy. What is the portion of snaps he receives as a number one guy? That could be less than 50% if they want to work Tyrone Tracy into this, if they want to get Eric Gray involved, or maybe even an Austin Miller or a player like that ends up making the roster. Just Sean Corbin, we've been talking about for all seasons. But that's where the conversation gets very interesting is, what is the percentage of snaps that a player like Devin Singletary will earn here on this offense? Yeah, that's where it gets interesting. And, you know, last year, so here's the thing that interests me about it, Nick. Last year, it felt like, you know, no matter what the situation was, the JACON Barkley is going to be their guy in the backfield. And let's be honest about the situation and look, he's still the best player and a lot of this was offensive line base. But he averaged 3.9 yards per carry last year, Saequan didn't even break a thousand yards. His yards per contact after attempt has gone significantly down since his prime, 2018, his breakaway speed and his breakaway run ability, right? That's 40 plus yard run, significantly down. Okay. Also, in addition to that, his success rate has gone significantly down. So what were the giants? What are the giants missing without Barkley? It kind of just depends on the offensive line, right? Like, this is what we've been saying for years on this podcast. There's two camps. The running back makes a running game, but the offensive line really ultimately makes a running game. This is how football works, in my mind. It's like, yes, if you have a great old line, it'll be better if you have a Barkley instead of a DeAndre Swift. We'll see that this year with the Eagles. Eagles will be a better team with Barkley than they were with Swift. But there's still that barrier you have to get over that's based on the offensive line and the blocking. And I don't even think it's just that, Nick. I think it's also like the continuity, right? Of the team, like, can they set up the pass to disguise the run? Can they set up the runs to disguise the passes? Working and functioning throughout, like, the timing of the play. And all that is, I bring up all that to say, Nick, it has nothing to do with the individual running back. Like, all of those major factors that play, that come into play if a run play is successful or not, the play call, the design. Again, not to do with the individual. So I think that it's great that giants are transitioning away from the individual. And you brought up at Stephen Sinclair, we don't even know how much that individual will play. There's no guarantee he's going to play 70%, 80% of the snaps. I think he's probably right. He's probably in the 50%, 60% range. He's never done in his career. And he's probably not big enough to play that role, Barkley played. So then it comes down to who's taking those other snaps. And I think that's a really interesting part for me, because I think it's going to come down to training camp and the preseason and it's going to be like we talked about before, there's not going to be an open competition at quarterback. There will be an open competition at running back and it's not just like RB2 quote unquote, it's a lot of snaps. There's no more RB1, RB2, RB3, it's a full rotation at this point that obviously single put their lead to an extent, but that's not a guarantee that will even last all year. No, not at all. I think Tyrone Tracy, especially if he can prove himself as a pass block or will work into that role. I think he's going to be a mismatch. We talked about this on previous episodes against linebackers in this division. And there's a lot of old guys there. There's a lot of guys who will struggle in man coverage if they decide to run man coverage against the running back. So there could be something to be exploited by the New York Giants offense. I'll say this though, man. I didn't realize this, Pro Football Focus has over the last two years, the amount of missed tackles forced between Devin Singletary and Saquon Barkley. First before I even say that, Saquon Barkley is a better running back than Devin Singletary. But over the last two years, remember, this goes back to 2022, they have the same amount of missed tackles forced. And Barkley has millions more attempts, not millions, but obviously, but a lot more attempts, correct? What are they? Does it have the same? There were 47 attempts in 2023 and 312 or 313 attempts in 2022, whereas Devin Singletary had 193 in 2022 and 238 in 2023. So you're talking about a pretty big difference there. You're talking about almost 200 carries less, 150 to 200 carries less. And Singletary is more forced missed tackles over that time. No, the same exact amount, same exact, sorry, the same exact sparkly. With 150 to 200 less attempts, does that really surprise you all that much? Let's be honest about the situation. Barkley is not forcing the same missed tackles he was before all the injuries. That's not what at least what I saw on tape. No, he's not. But that's also because before the injuries and young Saquon Barkley was amazing. I do think a product of this statistic, one thing we can take away from it is the fact that Houston was threatening teams down the field. Houston was very close of offense. So Devin Singletary was put in a position where it was like him against the safety in the alley, whereas Saquon Barkley wasn't put in that position as frequently. I agree 100%. When the offense can move the football through the air and challenge vertically, it's going to open up the defense. The safety is going to have to play further off the corners, the linebackers that all play further off. It's not the case with the Giants and hasn't been. So that's a big factor in a wide bark. But Barkley to me is not really the same. It doesn't, like to me, he didn't even really run the same. Ever since that bears injury, like he used to go into contact, break tackles, give everything to get out of contact, to force yards after contact, didn't feel like that anymore. And the missed tackle stuff, it didn't really feel like the foam boost stuff as much either. But then again, part of that is also playing style. I feel like Brian Dable and everyone who worked with him during his time with the Giants had him get vertical, commit to getting vertical more often, which obviously is going to impact those force miss tackle numbers. And we like that. We praise that. So I don't want this to be a bash Barkley thing, but it is eye opening to hear, regardless of all these circumstances and factors, eye opening to hear that on almost 150 to 200 fewer carries, single throw is the same force miss tackles. Yeah. And it's not even a bash Barkley thing. Look, the Eagles are in a better position to compete for Super Bowl right now. They had the income to bring in a sick one, Barkley, sick one, Barkley is going to help the Eagles significantly with a mobile quarterback and those two wide receivers in Dallas, Goddard. It's a great situation for their offensive Giants are in a rebuilding mode right now. So allocating with a quarterback making as much money as Daniel Jones is with all the holds on this roster, bringing in now a running back to help bolster the offense. Yeah, that helps, but at what cost when you have all of these other holes along the team, you need to add defense, you need to add secondary, you need to add a pass rush or all of that. So that also factors into the sake one, Barkley equation. Sure. And that's a big factor as well for where the Giants were at, like you said, but you know it is interesting to see. I think single Terry has been a more effective runner than people realize and he's going to be more effective. But the key thing that you mentioned that excites me is like, what do the Giants have in Tyrone Tracy? because there's no one on this roster, including them, saying to her, who has the physical upside of a Tyrone Tracy. No, we're close. No one even remotely close, including Eric Gray, like the way that he can move at his size, the way he can force Miss tackles, which is, you know, great force miss tackle rate create yards after contact, something we just discussed. And obviously run routes have become a mismatch as we're running back. If he can pick up the other stuff, the mental side of it, you know, the blitz protection, being on the same page as Daniel Jones, earning the trust of the quarterback, not just that though, like there's also reading the playwright as a running back, right, picking your spots, like understanding the processing side of just running the football, something he's going to have to improve on like, like you said, you know, when we previewed him or reviewed him neck after the draft, most of his runs are from the shotgun, like he's going to have to like base it just getting a feel for running from under center is even going to be something he's going to have to. But if you can pick up all that stuff fast, like that's when it gets exciting because now we're talking about potentially somebody who can, and we've seen this happen before, like David Johnson was a mid round pick and became their work horse back and the featured back. This is not like in the NFL, if you're running back on day three, you can still become a featured bag. Even Damian Pearson, his first season with Usen was a day three pick became a featured back. Obviously, he hasn't fit Bobby Sloak system that well. That's one thing. But, you know, Tracy was drafted for this system. So I'm excited about that. That to me is the biggest, one of the biggest upside pieces the Giants have normally. You wouldn't think that with a fifth round pick. But at this specific position running back, that's the one position where fifth rounders can bang hit the ground running and potentially take over a big role. Man, you can even look at the advanced statistics. I mean, the story is crazy in and of itself is somebody who played wide receiver for so long in the big 10 at Iowa and then went to Purdue was a productive wide receiver at Purdue. But they're like, hey, when you get running back, he's like, all right, it's my last eligible year. But I guess I'll do it. And then he ends up getting drafted as a running back and leading the NCAA in yards after contact per attempt. It's an incredible statistic to lead as your first year at running back, right? They run predominantly at a shotgun, tenth and breakaway rate, 17th in missed tackle forced. So this is a player who can run and understands how to kind of manipulate angles, how to shield his bias. I still think there are there are little things behind the line of scrimmage with reading and deciphering footwork, things of that nature that can develop as he becomes more accustomed to playing the running back position and then obviously the pass protection thing, which he wasn't a net day, he wasn't terrible at it. I think there's even a realistic argument that you could say he was better than Eric Gray was when Eric Gray was at Oklahoma in Tennessee. But when you look at Tyrone Tracy, you see like a true receiver who's operating on the backfield who has advanced skill as a running back at such a short amount of time. That should cause excitement, especially on a team that has been devoid of explosive playmaking talent. Now you add Malik neighbors and you add Tyrone Tracy, yes, you lose Saquon and that is a big loss. But Tyrone Tracy Jr. could add another element to your passing attack, which could also help Daniel Jones could also help the running game. That's the key. You're talking about the theme of this as changing of the guard and how the Giants are going away from a running one back centric type of offense that goes through the run. Well, one way to do that and go past first and unlock Jones to his fullest extent, Daniel Jones to his fullest extent is giving him a running back that could be a mismatch in the passing game. Because what does that provide him? The same thing with Malik neighbors are going to provide him. Easy layup throws, which is what he, which is going to be helpful for any quarterback. And those types of throws give the opportunity to create big plays without your arm or you know, without the timing. I wouldn't even say you're out with your arm without the timing of the passing game being as crisp as it is for maybe a Joe Barrow or some of these elite type quarterbacks, because you just get the ball out there into space, the running back Tracy catches against a mismatch linebacker or neighbors against a mismatch corner. And then they do the rest after the catch. We saw this late stage Eli, right, like played in Eli's career. He wasn't doing that, at that point, he couldn't really, the whole line wasn't great. So I think give him time throw down field and all of those things. And so a lot of it was just slant to Beckham and let him do the rest. And that, in my opinion, still required a lot of timing and velocity. I remember watching in a training camp the way that they threw those quick slant routes, Eli to Beckham, that ball zipped in there to Beckham and it hit him in really good spots. If you go back and watch some of Eli's slants, the Beckham everyone's like, oh, it was all Beckham. He was just throwing him a slant, back him to the rest. Well, guess what? The ball zipped into the spot, it hit the outstretched hands, in stride, and that played a big role in a lot of those touchdowns to Beckham. That still needs to happen from the quarterback to get that job done and it plays a big role and yeah. But you know, you give these opportunities, you make these easier layup throws, a possibility in this offense. And now we're talking about more explosive plays out of those two players that you didn't have last year, neighbors and Tracy. That's why I still think the highest upside play for the Giants in position is Tracy earning a 30 to 40% snap share or near one. And that brings us to another question, Eric Gray. Eric Gray had 17 carries last year, fumbled once. He tried to be used as a punt returner, he mopped a couple of those as well, 2.8 yards per carry at 48 yards on those 17 carries. I think one of the last carries that he had was against the Eagles, it was a 10 or 12 yard carry, which was impressive, but that's what we're grasping at. But I also feel like it's very easy to be down on Eric Gray right now, because when you draft the rookie, he has like no impact and actually it's kind of a net negative because they put him in a position where he wasn't accustomed to being successful. He hadn't worked as a punt returner and he failed at that. So a lot of giant fans, you, Eric Gray, like this guy sucks. He's just here because you can't get rid of him because he was a fifth round traffic. And I think that's a bit unfair because he was putting a position behind. Say Juan Barkley, he's not going to earn any carries like that now though, heading into training camp. This is where you need to prove yourself, Eric, right? Because you're in a position where you can earn a portion of Devin Singletary snaps or you can even usurp Devin Singletary and become the lead back if you really just thrive and show how competent you are as a running back. I don't necessarily think that's going to happen. But there's a role that Eric Gray can earn right now and it's just can he? And I think if there's one thing he has to really improve upon from what we saw in preseason, it's that it's that pass protection, man, because you're not fine in the field. If you can't pass protect like that with Devin Singletary on this roster who can also eat up those early down snaps. You're 100% right, Nick. And I think that's the interesting part. The assumption might be, oh, Eric Gray is, you know, obviously the two locks are Singletary and Tracy. They're going to be on the roster for day one. We're talking bubble now, right? Like training camp, who's on the bubble, who's going to make this roster? Those two are locks. Everyone kind of assumes Eric Gray is a lock, but I'm not so sure if that's the case because he was a fifth round pick and fifth round picks can be cut. Like it's not like the draft investment for those types of players is just not the same. But I will say this. One thing I did find interesting is that Brian Dable in during OTAs did mention he's talking about how Devin Singletary is so much familiar with the system. That's going to help him. Those assistants inside out. He said he's done a good job with the younger guys in here, whether it be Gray or Tracy. So he did kind of mention those three, like those two guys alongside Devin Singletary kind of gave me an idea. I don't want to look too much in a coach week, but a gaming idea. But Eric Gray, obviously, is going to have to show more in year two to them to training camp and preseason. But I still think back to what we watched in Oklahoma, we were pretty excited about his tape there. Like obviously it's more of a natural kind of like a single Terry. We looked at him as, but I still feel like from what we saw there, there was a different level than maybe some of the other backs that are on this roster. Yeah, average 3.43 yards after contact, 39% break away percentage. Those aren't quite up to the same standard that Tyrone Tracy has, but he had over 1,300 yards rushing with 11 touchdowns. I like Derrick Gray coming out. Now he wasn't fast, but I think he's quick in a phone booth is how we described him. Let's play a fun game. No, Dan. Let's, this is the off season, right? Like we're just screwing around right now. Let's play a fun game. What is the percentage that Eric Gray makes the roster? Like we say Devin Singletary, Tyrone Tracy, they're locks. We'll have them at 100%. What do you think the percentage is for Eric Gray? I still think it's high. I would still say 75%. I said 80. Okay. Yeah. But now the question is like, if those are the three, so we're pretty high on them making the roster, the other two are 100, 100 for Tracy and Singletary. So now for saying those three make the roster, how are they going to, you know, are there other backs? They're going to make the early and go with three backs and go with four. They've been known to go with multiple backs. Like I'm trying to think back to, it was Barkley, Brightwell, like they had how many backs in 2022, Barkley, Brightwell, Breda, was there one more I'm forgetting? 22. I don't think there was one. No, it was just those three. Now that I'm thinking about it. Yeah. And they all touched the ball at some point. Maybe it could be those three. But, you know, what do you think that, you know, what do you think the future holds for Dante Miller, Jacob sailors, Joshua Corbin, who's still a just Sean Corbin. I should say he's still on this roster. I think one of them can earn a spot. I think Miller is the most interesting just because he has four, two, seven speed. And you can use him. Like dude, I think when it comes to the running back and this is another difference. It's not just say, well, Barkley is in here and there's a changing of the guard. But when we're looking at the running back position specifically, the new kickoff rules are going to factor in. Do you have a running back who can get an angle and just accelerate and make that angle just disappear? Then you might be looking at a way to flip the field significantly or score points on special teams. And in order to do that, you need speed. You need vision. You need acceleration. Now, it's hard to find film on Dante Miller, right? Like he went to, I think Columbia, South Carolina. So like it's a little bit difficult to really find film. He didn't have a huge role while he was at South Carolina. So if that player has that type of field of vision, he's going to make the roster. Now, you look at the Giants depth chart. You have a lot of guys who we presume could be kick returners. Guys who might not make the team, like the Wyoming wide receiver a year or so on day, we'll talk a little bit about him, but you have Gunnar Olsheski, who we all expect will likely make the team. You have Bryce Ford Wheaton. Could he be a player like that? So there's a lot of players that factor into it, but if you want to carry four running backs and you have that roll carved out for a player who can be a true kickoff asset in a new novel rule that is yet to be exploited, Dante Miller with a 427, that's the player at the running back position I look at outside of these top three to say that's a niche that you can earn on this roster. Yeah. And that's going to play a huge factor. We're going to have to see how that goes because there's going to be a lot of good options, in my opinion, at least to potentially take that role over including Tracy Miller, all of these types of explosive players. I kind of think Tracy will be the best at that just based on watching his film and how I think this new rule will impact the NFL and what we'll see from this, which is essentially becomes like a scrimmage play almost like it's an interesting looking play from what I've seen. I'm just looking at, you know, from what I've seen on just clips, but it will change what happens. And you know what else is going to change this, which we didn't even mention, if the Giants do decide to keep three quarterbacks, most teams keep two quarterbacks and they have that extra roster spot for a running back or a line back or typically, sometimes a receiver, anyone who can help on specials. Now if DeVito, if they don't want to lose DeVito or risk losing DeVito, that's three quarterbacks. And that's going to be one fewer running back or one fewer linebacker or receiver, whatever, who makes the team. And then I want to talk a little bit too about Jacob Saylor's. Now this is somebody that Giants just added 5'11", about 200 pounds. I think he's a little bit heavier than that because he came out in the 2023 draft was a undrafted free agent who ended up going to the Cincinnati Bengals and didn't really see the field at all, right? A practice squad cut. Then he ends up going to the UFL and he has a solid season man, averages 4.9 yards per carry five touchdowns, 537 yards, almost four yards after contact. He looked at some of his highlights, you see the burst, you see his low nature. I think some people have, uh, comped him to like a, like a very poor man's version, obviously of like an all-senacular type who can be like a receiving outlet and who can be good around the goal line because of his burst and his low nature and how he just dives into the end zone. So I've seen people at least make that type of, um, you know, diluted comparison. So that's a player that we've never really discussed because the Giants just added him after the draft who maybe we should just pay attention to because he made some noise in the UFL and there are a lot of teams in the NFL right now who are adding these types of players from the UFL to help bolster their roster. Yeah, the Giants have been done a great job of like trying to find hidden gems between him and Miller. Um, he, this is what's going to be fun like about training camp, right? In the preseason and the joint practices they have with the Lions from really excited about later in the, uh, in the training camp, we're going to get to see like what these running backs actually look like. And you know, we're going to get our own, it's going to be interesting to see those that group behind because we don't know who's going to burst and who's going to pop and any of them in my opinion could be better than, than the others. The exception of maybe I would say single Terry and who's, who's locked in and Tracy, but any of the others can really show out to be the best of the group. And if you are, if you play the best, like it's going to be an open competition. You know, we say that about every position and, and Dable's been pretty true to that, in my opinion. Obviously he's starting with a holiday situation, but you know how he didn't play him over players who were practicing and playing better than him. But this is going to be a really significant area of that, of that, where we just see running backs essentially getting a chance to really earn this role, this third running back role. And I want to know what Joel Thomas, how he views these backs, right, like we have a new running back coach as well, right, new faces in the running back room. And he might have a preference, like he was with the Saints, man, they, they have a lot of receiving type of backs. They can go back to Pierre Thomas. You obviously have Alvin Kamara in more recent years. So well, that factor and I think Tyrone Tracy would be the one that we look at in this room and say he would fill that role as the receiving back, but maybe some of these back end guys could also play into that to some degree. And then there's Deshawn Corbin, what's going to happen with Deshawn Corbin? This is the third year we're talking about Deshawn Corbin. We like what we see in preseason, he usually ends up getting cut, landing on another practice squad, getting elevated for a couple of games, and then just kind of disappearing. So can Deshawn Corbin finally earn a role now that Saquon Barkley is not here? He'll have his chance in training camp. Right. It's going to be exciting to watch this group play out. We're going to see a brand new changing the guard for the Giants running back just some we haven't seen before. And it's going to, in my mind, depend a lot on the blocking, so hopefully that can improve as well. Nick, any other thoughts, final thoughts on the running back position? Not. It's exciting. Can't wait to get the training camp to cover this. Have a great rest of your week. Thanks for tuning in to Big Blue Panther podcast. Hopefully you guys enjoy your Fourth of July and festivities for that. And other than that, we'll talk to you soon. [BLANK_AUDIO]