Joe Judge started and ended Wednesday with the same message in the Giants locker room: Be responsible on this rare four-day weekend.
Now he can just hope his phone doesn’t ring in the middle of the night.
“It’s natural for a lot of guys to kind of let their hair down this time of year,” Judge said in explaining his message on the final day of practice before the team dispersed. “You get a few days off, you step away from a stressful situation, you kick back. You have to make sure that you put yourself in the right surroundings and you make the right decisions. We talk very openly with our players about making the right decision.”
The NFL mandates players are free of team responsibilities from Thursday-Sunday of a bye, so many players arranged Wednesday flights home. Some injured players stayed local to receive treatment. The Giants return to the facility Monday — a full week before facing the Buccaneers.
“It’s good for guys to refresh physically, refresh mentally and come back ready to go,” Judge said. “Within that time, we’re not exempt from consequences and we’re not exempt from tragedies, so we have to understand that and make the right decision.”
Judge said he referenced examples around the NFL of players who ran into trouble during the bye week over the past two years.
Though Judge didn’t specify, former Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs III’s arrest has been a talking point in the facility ever since his alleged high-speed, drunk-driving crash that resulted in the death of a woman. The collision happened Nov. 2, coming off the bye. He was released before last week’s game against the Giants.
The Giants converted about $513,000 of kicker Graham Gano’s base salary into a signing bonus to create about $342,000 in cap space, according to ESPN. That goes to show how the Giants are tightly pressed up against the cap, needing the NFL’s version of loose change to get by with every game-day elevation from the practice squad (about $30,000 added to the cap) and the replacements every time an injured player goes on reserve.
Unused cap space can be rolled over to next season. Only the Falcons, Saints and Dolphins have less space than the Giants’ $1.82 million, according to NFL Players Association records.
Young players practiced outdoors Wednesday in the view of the media while veterans went to the indoor facility for an abbreviated workout.
RB Saquon Barkley, LT Andrew Thomas and OLB Lorenzo Carter — all of whom have ankle injuries — “test[ed] the waters” with trainers Tuesday and should keep progressing after the bye, with a chance to play against the Buccaneers, according to Judge.
WR Sterling Shepard (quad) did not.
“Shep right now is on a little bit different of a timetable,” Judge said. “He’s part of this group of some other guys where we’re going to let have this week to really just get their body back as much as possible.”
The original hope with Barkley was he might miss just two games. The count now is at four plus a bye week, which has created a question of whether his surgically repaired right knee (torn ACL last season) might also be bothering him.
“He hasn’t had any setbacks,” Judge said.
In Barkley’s absence, Devontae Booker has stepped up. Booker (hip) was back at practice Wednesday after seeing a doctor.