A terrible season keeps getting worse for the Giants.
They did not ship anyone out Tuesday as the NFL trade deadline came and went, but they did discipline another one of their star players. Their top cornerback, Janoris “Jackrabbit’’ Jenkins, has been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules and will not play Sunday against his former team, the Rams. This follows the suspension of another cornerback, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, earlier this season.
These incidents, added to the 1-6 record and general manager Jerry Reese saying last week the Giants bought into the hype about how good they were supposed to be, cast an ominous shadow on second-year head coach Ben McAdoo’s hold on the team.
On Monday, Jenkins, Eli Apple and running back Paul Perkins were not at the team facility as the Giants returned to work and held a brief practice coming out of their bye week. McAdoo at the time said all three players “were excused for personal reasons.’’ As it turns out, that was not the case with Jenkins.
“At that point, neither myself nor any of the coaches had heard from Jackrabbit,” McAdoo said Tuesday. “I did not speak with him directly until Tuesday morning.”
McAdoo did not want to publicize Jenkins’ absence before he knew the entire story.
Apple and Perkins both experienced travel issues and informed the Giants they would not make it back on Monday, according to a source. In these situations, players are required to alert their position coach or McAdoo, and then it is up to McAdoo to accept the explanation or dole out a fine, if he deems it necessary. Jenkins did not contact the Giants to let the team know he would not be at work on Monday.
This will be a costly violation for Jenkins, who is in the second year of a five-year, $62.5 mega-deal he signed prior to the 2016 season. For each game he misses, Jenkins will lose $758,823, or one game check from his 2017 base salary of $12.9 million.
This is another case of McAdoo having an issue with a prominent player. Rodgers-Cromartie, like Jenkins another cornerback with a Pro Bowl on his resume, was suspended after four separate violations of team rules, beginning with Rodgers-Cromartie walking off the sideline and into the locker room during the second half of the loss to the Chargers. Two days later, Rodgers-Cromartie left the team facility without permission and was suspended for the Giants’ only victory of the season as they beat the Broncos 23-10 in Denver.
Rodgers-Cromartie has since taken ownership of his comportment.
“As a member of this team, there are standards and we have responsibilities and obligations,” McAdoo said after announcing the suspension of Jenkins. “When we don’t fulfill those obligations, there are consequences. As I have said before, we do not like to handle our team discipline publicly. There are times when it is unavoidable, and this is one of those times.”
Jenkins arrived at the team facility on Tuesday and was informed of the suspension. McAdoo said he will review the status of the suspension early next week. A suspension cannot last longer than four games, based on collective bargaining agreement stipulations.
Jenkins turned 29 last Sunday and was back home in Florida celebrating his birthday, as McAdoo gave the players five days off for their bye-week break. Jenkins did not make it back in time and the Giants took another hit in this sorry season. They will face the Rams — the NFL’s second-highest scoring team — without their top cornerback. Apple and Rodgers-Cromartie will no doubt start, with Donte Deayon and Ross Cockrell also receiving playing time. It is not ideal, but nothing that has taken place thus far for the Giants has been ideal.
McAdoo said his message to the team as they reconvened was all about looking ahead. “We talked about flushing the first half of the season,’’ he said.
With the suspension of one of his best players, the second half of the season is not off to a rousing start.