Joe Judge has a lot on his plate as a first-year head coach.

With training camps starting later in the season amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Giants also have a pretty decimated secondary.

The Giants picked up James Bradberry in late March, but Deandre Baker is away from the team dealing with legal issues in his alleged involvement in an armed robbery in May, and Sam Beal opted out of the season. Xavier McKinney also suffered a fractured foot earlier this month.

But despite three potential what-would-have-been starting defensive backs out for the foreseeable future, Judge is happy with the development of what is left of his secondary in training camp.

"Those guys have done a really good job of improving on a day-by-day basis.... We've got one more week right to really look at these guys and evaluate them and see what kind of progress they can make," said Judge, noting that the second week will be preparation for their Week 1 matchup against the Steelers. "I think when you put it all in a scope, we have to make some fast gains and fast evaluations in terms of, you know, we're two weeks into practice, really [this is] the start of the third week. This is typically when we'd be getting ready to play our first preseason game. So the evaluation we would make on these guys at all positions starting in the first preseason game this week, we're really tying up and ending training camp in that time period."

Judge gave further credit to his secondary, considering the different schedule than what they're used to in regularly timed training camps in the past.

"We got a number of guys out there working, working hard. They've shown improvement, and talking about the rate of that training camp as it relates to where they would normally be, I just we have to just go ahead with these young guys and look at the progress they're making relative to previous years, [be]cause it's not really about where anyone else is right now -- it's about where they're gonna be long term, and that's what we have to look through," Judge added.

Despite the absence of Baker, Beal, and McKinney, Judge did not seem to eager in potentially bringing in newly released Prince Amukamara or Earl Thomas, or Logan Ryan, who is still unemployed with just 10 days until the season kicks off in Kansas City.

"Our focus is on developing guys on our roster, and it's just a natural part of the National Football League, that you have to be aware of the waiver wire and who's available on the street. That's just our job to know who's available so when by and need, we can fill those spots," Judge said. "But our priority right now is the guys we're working with on a daily basis, making sure we put them in the right position to make plays, and then we can evaluate them properly."

The Giants kick off their season at MetLife Stadium against Pittsburgh on Sept. 14.

Popular in the Community