Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll Discuss Roster Moves | New York Giants

I just want to start off again thanking my Pro Staff uh my leadership staff uh it's a lot of work during the month of August with all the preseason games and I there's been 1100 players cut since Friday and the intimate knowledge that the staff has of those players you know going through all the preseason games top to bottom understand the league um at the cut down where depth may be where um you know things may fall a little bit short for for what we need and that helps us in you know strategy planning and all that stuff so Brandon Brown Tim McDonald Dennis hickey Chris Rosetti and his staff Ryan Cowen um did a great job leading the Pro Staff splitting up the league and you know we we ended up claiming uh one player Anthony Johnson from the Green Bay Packers of safety and you know again they do all that work and and we get one player and um you know again it's it also sets the table for us moving forward practice squad claims we just you know an email just came out with the subsequent moves that that we'll go through this evening so I just I thought it'd be important to recognize those guys and the job they do and you know what they mean to the team with that I'll open up to questions yeah there other guys you claimed who you didn't get because there were teams higher we put in one claim yeah so how do you feel with your cornerback to position right now because that's a position people thought you might be looking to add how do you feel with what you have at outside corner opposite yeah I feel good with it you've done enough to address that position this offseason yeah I mean drafting Drew Phillips was a we're excited about him we thought that was a good pick for us in the third round um you get a certain amount of swings and certain players are available so it's a position we'll continue to look at as we will with all positions and if there's an opportunity to to upgrade there we will um I think there was again 1100 players drafted or drafted there 1100 players that were cut since Friday I think there was 26 we just talked about this 26 players I believe were claimed five were Corners so of 1100 players five were Corners that were claimed so you know just that's a important position when we're making these trade calls or um depth you know depth calls with other organizations about you're going to go if you called every team 32 out of 32 would probably say looking for depth at corner so you know it's a it's a difficult position to to find you know we're always going to look to to upgrade across the entire roster but you know that that position in particular you know one or two injuries away there's there's not a lot of teams that have three good corners on their on the roster as you as you really look through it so um again like I said every every position we'll we'll continue to look to to upgrade if we can how set aren't you having uh Nick McLoud get the first crack there yeah they're going to compete it out you know Flats back now so those guys will compete and you know again we'll we'll we'll leave that to Daves and his staff and and how they want to do it going into the week one with uh Minnesota and you know again I'll let him talk about who's going to play and not play how do you see cornerback too do you see it as a competition both guys could play ready to name a starter yeah I have a good feel for it I'm not going to share it with you right now but have a good idea of the direction it's going Joe when you um um you guys walked off the field at the end of last season obviously your tasks at that point to improve the roster um how much do you feel you have and in what main areas do you feel you have I feel like we've improved in in several areas but again like it's you can improve the team still has to come together as a team and every team's different and I know Dave has talked about it and I talk about it you know you still got to come together I like the chemistry of the team where we are now I think that's important and you know some of the best teams aren't always the most talented team but they come together they you know they work hard they know their assignments they execute you know again we we don't know how this team's going to react when we're down 10 or how are they going to react when we're up 10 and when adversity strikes you know what's that going to look like so again talent wise again we we like the group we have we're excited about them and you know we'll see how they Jael and how they execute once we once we get out there on Sunday I mean obviously like not not the expectations or the results but what do you think when you look down this 53 man roster you like better now than you did then yeah I like the group I I don't want to go position by position but you know I like the group we like the team we like the chemistry we like where we are and you know excited to get things going this week obvious you obviously want to improve every year right I mean do you feel like this is your strongest roster of the three again same thing like we talk about it all the time your your one or two injuries away from you know again we like the group we like where we are you know again if you're sitting up here last year with the Bengals you think they were going to be home in the playoffs but no they have talented roster and you know burrow gets hurt so again you prepare the best you can you put together put together the best group you can and you know again you hope hope things go well and you know again I'm confident in our staff I'm confident in the players that we have and you know I look forward to seeing how this team comes together and gels Joe what to you would make a successful season this year yeah again I'm not going to get into what's successful and not what's you know I mean we're worried about Minnesota and getting on to next week again we we like the group and you know we're going to see what happens were you surprised by any of your players that cleared waivers you're able to bring back on the practice squad here was I say that again were you surprised by any of the players that you guys had that cleared wavers that you were able to bring back on your practice squad I wouldn't say surprised I would say happy I'm glad we were able to get some of the guys back that we got on the practice squad so yeah um you know sometimes you worry about losing some guys and again you put some time and effort and our coaching staffs to a good job developing these young men and if you get the opportunity to continue to work with them you're excited about that and also the practice squad is an extension of of the roster so you try to you know tread between developmental players and guys that can come up on on Sunday if you need them to play if something happens on a Friday or something that you know they they've played in Sunday games and they know the offense and you can trust them to execute their assignment so uh you know we like the group we have right now we we'll have a workout tomorrow with some guys and um we'll continue to churn that to to try to have the best practice squad we can Joe how hard is it to to really improve a team at this time of the year you know you you build a roster free agency in the draft and then and then this this time of year comes along you know how hard is it to make big impact moves yeah I think probably the biggest area where you can do it is the the practice squad you know again those those players again that's your emergency list now used to have six or eight practice squad players and you'd have these workouts and you'd have to sign somebody off the street and they have to go play on Sunday so to me you know trying to gather the best practice squad that we can where again those guys can be elevated on Sundays and help you win games and um you know if they have familiarity with this or coach on our staff or whatever it may be but to me that's you know that's your depth throughout the year so um you know when you put 16 players 17 now at the international times 32 you know what's left on the Street there's not a lot so to me the emphasis right now will be making the strongest uh practice squad we can because that'll be our emergency list throughout the year and um you know maybe around the trade deadline there's a chance to improve again but um you know I think most rosters are set and then why were why were you so judicious with just the one claim was it is it was because of what you have or because of what was out there you think into it thinking we can maybe make three four here when you go through it yes and and sometimes it's fantasy football you think they're going to you know people aren't cutting good football football you know like good football players are going to get out there and you're going to put in you know 15 claims across the league that are going to change your roster so a lot of times it's depth players you know that that can come in and and again get you through a season or you know a depth safety that if if an injury occurs and they have to go start then um you know you're looking for those guys so again there's typically not a a lot of Frontline you know um you know starters that you're going to get you know maybe some vets that that get cut we've I've got experience with that but you know again Nick mccloud's still here he's he's a valuable role player for us and um you know Jason pinck is now starting for us Tyreek Phillips started games for us so um you know history says you can find some good good football players during this time but you know again you we're pretty thorough in our process and identifying who may or may not help us and you know again it's you know the way it fell there was there was one claim and also when you claim somebody you have to get rid of somebody so that that affects that position room too so you got to take all that into account do you see how much difference can Brian Burns or one guy make to a defense I mean you're stting primarily mostly guys either few rookies maybe or almost everyone else's guys that were here last year so how much of a difference do you think Brian Burns can make to this defense yeah any good player makes a difference I wouldn't say I can't quantify it um he's a good pass rusher he's done a good job in Camp it takes 11 people to play good on defense it takes 11 people to play good on offense special teams but when you have a good player that certainly helps the other 10 players um so having a good pass rusher if we can get him into those pass situations pass rush situations should help the back end but but again it's it's team football it's the greatest team sport there is so we need all 11 to play but certainly the the good ones Jordan they they help what's the challenge you had over 10 days still till Minnesota just with your players now every day in practice just to focus on yeah we've had two good we've had two good days yesterday we had a good day with obviously missing a lot of the practice all of the practice squad players so it was uh it was high Tempo but it was lower reps today we had a full training camp practice we had one-on ones we had two on tws we had a bunch of Team periods against one another tomorrow it'll be similar with shells on and then the players will have the mandatory three days off the coaches are you know are be we we worked hard in the offseason on I would say the early part of the Season just getting a feel for schematics but you don't really know that team you're playing until they have all the pieces so you know the game planning for a team is not just the scheme or the coordinator it's now the pieces so now once these teams have their 53 and you know you know somewhat you know not everybody plays in a preseason but you know somewhat of you know the guy's strengths and weaknesses and again you go back and look at some of the tape of the free agents that I'd say Minnesota acquired some of the rookies you know you're doing a lot of work right now as a coach in staff you know you're looking at the stuff you did in the offseason you're looking at the three preseason games right now we're spending a lot of time doing that as a coaching staff but for the players right now what we're doing is trying to make sure we we clean up some of the things that you know we've had issues with whether it be in training camp preseason whatever it may be so those I'd say periods that we have are some are just offense vers defense some are problem plays if you will that we've had in all three phases so we're focusing on us the players will have three days off here after tomorrow which are mandatory we'll continue to work uh as a staff and you know make sure that we're we're doing everything we can do leave no stone unturn to get ready for the for the opening game Dave Dave you guys you said you went pretty hard today I'm just curious we talked about the first team offensive line yesterday how' they come through today and the fact that you you have have proven Commodities on that line maybe except for JMS who you know is going into year two how much more of a I mean is it more of a feel for knowing what you're going to have in week one up there if those guys are healthy versus maybe last year you're waiting to see how guys will react yeah I'd say 100% with the with the Five Guys we have knowing they've only practice a couple practices but you have four veterans and a second-year player that are pretty diligent in their craft they they've played a lot of football they understand what it takes it's why we put gvr at Center just to give him some reps early on it actually helps you with the system when you have to play center because you're making a bunch of calls he's played next to alumor for a season you know rion's played a lot of football at Green Bay hasn't missed a snap so those guys are working well together but everybody needs to practice you know practice is important it's you know practice and preparation helps you you know game and you need to practice so those guys have had a good day of practice it was good to get them out there in pads you we'll need another good one tomorrow and then get a couple days off and then get started again but they've played a lot of football sorry yeah that's okay you've said you've gone back a couple times and watched Evan Neil's Alabama tape where he obviously played left tackle are you convinced that he be a swing tackle for you guys like could he do left tackle and right tackle or is it enough for him to have to get back into the flow at right tackle yeah we'll work through that probably next week like Dave said we're still we're still doing you know good on good here and you know the giant stuff that we need to correct on so you know once we get into game week we'll talk about who's going to be active who's not going to be active and what their roles may be if if injury occurs so what about guard for him have you guys contemplated that at this point no no no why not because we have enough guards he needs to continue to work at right tackle would you like a Brian would you like a swing tackle or could you have a different backup left tackle than you have a backup right tackle you you could have both yeah again it depends on who goes to the game so um again I think there's some flexibility with the depth that we have now at the offensive line some of those guys were starters now they're backups we have some young guys that were developing you know cubis has come along nicely as a young player undrafted but has a good skill set and traits that you covet an offensive linan he's he's a tough kid that's that's really smart and then you know we have some other experienced players that have played so you know the depth is there now it's just determined you know what eight or nine if we want to bring that whatever it may be uh to the game but you know the Five Guys we have will be the five that start and hopefully stay out there Jo what do you how do you feel about Daniel and the first team offense do you see an offense that can take off and be explosive from what you've seen against Detroit Houston and the Jets here how do I feel I feel good about it the other words you put you know that's all you're say I feel good about it I feel good about where we are expect to keep three quarterbacks on the 53 all year L yes yeah we Dave's and I were at the team or at the owners meetings in March and I mean I think they set a stat it was quarterbacks took backup quarterbacks took almost 25 200 more snaps last year than in the past so I think I mean you've already seen a couple C you know was in Buffalo with their backup or up in Minnesota with a guy there's already there's already been some injuries with quarterbacks as is so you know I think it's you know the way things went last year we just you know we like where Tommy is uh Drew had the injury unfortunately so you know we're going to continue to work with him and then and Daniel we just think it's probably the best thing to do right now with us that Ru if that rule hadn't if that rule hadn't changed in terms of uh it what did you seen from your quarterbacks this summer uh they've continue to progress uh get better again Drew Drew just arrived here so um you know his ability to pick up the offense and execute the offense through Camp I'm sure um you know from what you guys have seen Daniel early on there was a little bit of rust and then you know I thought he really picked it up and had a good camp you know I understand there's maybe a throw you know he would have wanted back in the Houston game but I thought overall you know when you step back and look at the good if you want to look at through that lens you know I do think he had a good camp and you know again in the Houston game in that preseason game when he was you know when he played with the exception of you know one throw you know I thought I thought he played well you look at this more Joe after the joint practices the preseason games the the summer as a whole when you assess the talent of this team is it what you expected it to be before all that began or are you guys a little bit further along than what you expected yeah they've got to go out and execute you know whether it is or or not like we got to go make plays on Sunday we got to you know we're getting ready for Minnesota and you know whatever I sayone none of that matters they got to go out and make plays the team is the team right now and we've got to come together in Jael you know offensively defensively and and special teams and um you know see how they do Joe do you think there do you think there is pressure at the start of the season to win games and show results for you and Brian yeah it's it's a little bit like you know you're well not I think from everybody you know really pressure to win every game there's only 17 of them so they're they're all important so yeah I mean we would would love to get off to a fast start we didn't we did year one we didn't year two I mean it helps um if you can again you want to win them all there's low margin for error in in this league and um every year I'm sure everybody goes back and says oh if we would have done this or this would have went our way or if we'd have made that kick you know everybody does that so um they're all important regardless of the time of the year and you know we just you know getting off to a fast start helps and it helped us year one and you know we struggled to do that last year so yeah they're all important though patent not you said um you said um almost everything you said earlier you know in the offseason about Daniel was well if he's healthy if he's healthy you know he's coming off an ACL um now that he's gone through this whole thing maybe for both of you I mean is that kind of out of your head I mean he didn't miss anything um he looked good he looked strong I mean is that out of your head now the if he's healthy part yeah I think he's he's good to go and I'll just say in my 24 years in the league no matter who's back there what their injur injury history is when they that position takes a hit or get sacked or whatever it is if if Daniel had zero injury history you're still always worried at that position when they take a hit you I don't care what team I've been on that's always been a a concern so you know again hopefully we can protect him this year and you know he can stay healthy and you know he can he can be available for us all 17 games Joe I know you're not going to say a win total but you know John Mar talked earlier to us in Camp he said you I want see significant Improvement so what like how do you measure that what does that look like to you this season that you guys you guys asked him you guys had a chance to talk to him that's that's he said sign ific Improvement so you guys talk to the the most important person what did that mean to you did you guys have yeah again we don't Dave's and I don't approach this job without not saying we want to go out and win I mean that's that's what we're here for that's why we work our tails off that's why we were here all night last night doing the the waiver cut down you that's why we're out all spring on Pro days that's why we do all the work not to come up here and not win games so that's that's always going to be the goal I mean I don't understand you know you know I get the question but the goal is to win games always