Isaiah Hodgins talks Giants' wide receiver battle, Daniel Jones impressions
A midseason acquisition last year, wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins said he will benefit from the experience he gained with the Giants as the wide receiver competition begins to intensify at training camp.
“[Last season] was really beneficial. Just being able to compete against top teams, to play in huge games and playoff games and be able to be in the grit and grind with this team,” Hodgins said after Monday’s practice.
“It was good to be able to see the character in that locker room and whether we take a hit or whether we’re winning big games, just never change and keep working throughout the week. I definitely love the guys in the locker room, and it made me feel more a part of the team being in those moments with them.”
Hodgins had 351 yards on 33 catches and four touchdowns in eight games with Big Blue a year ago after he was claimed in November after being released by Buffalo. He added 108 yards on nine receptions with a touchdown in the playoffs.
“I feel very comfortable in the offense and the scheme [now],” he added. “Just being able to take a different approach to my game and knowing that I’m not just thrown into the fire like I was last year. [Now I] kind of get to work on some mental stuff for me. Kind of like looking at coverages and disguising stuff and seeing stuff that I give away and stuff that I can work on in my game. So, I’m trying to take that next step myself.”
Head coach Brian Daboll said he wasn’t surprised Hodgins, who had familiarity with his offense, hit the ground running as a mid-season addition, but this year, the slate is whipped clean.
“He’s got a foundation to build on, but we start back over,” the head coach said. “There’s different competition in the room. But he’s got a good mindset.”
The WR Battle
And this year, with some new faces in the wide receiver room and the addition of tight end Darren Waller to the offense, there will be a strong battle for playing time ahead of Week 1.
“It’s a competitive room, and I think as coaches you want that, but as players you want that too,” Hodgins said. “You don’t want to just get handed a spot and you don’t want to just sit there and not compete either. You want to… know that you got to work day in and day out because you got people all around you who can make plays, and I feel like that’s what I love about our room. If it’s somebody not doing the best one day, he’s going crazy the next day just because we got so many people.”
For Daboll, that’s what this time of year is all about.
“That’s what training camp is for. That’s why we are out here,” the head coach said. “I think everybody deserves an opportunity. Those that deserve the opportunity should get the opportunity. Then, what they make of it is up to them. Maybe they want more opportunity than they’re getting and I’ve talked about this at the start of camp. You got to control what you can control, whether that is five reps, 10 reps, whatever it may be.
“You don’t get any balls one day, you just got to stay mentally focused on doing your job and when you get an opportunity, make the most of it.”
It reminded Hodgins of his time with a potent Bills passing offense.
“We had so many weapons and I was able to just kind of see the highs and lows,” he said. “When you have a team with a lot of talent, it’s pick your poison, you just have so many weapons. I think we have a lot of unselfish guys on our team that are able to take on that role and understand that every day you may not have five catches, but you just have to be ready for when it does come your way.”
Experience and Youth
One of the new faces in New York, but familiar faces for Daboll and Hodgins is the newly signed Cole Beasley.
The 34-year-old who is entering his 11th NFL season will bring “that veteran experience of just route running from the slot and really on the outside,” Hodgins said.
“I used to always tell the guys about him and how much he helped me, he’s been back for a week or two and he’s already back to critiquing me and helping me with my routes and different details,” he added. “He knows the offense really well. He came up with half the concepts. He’s just mentally on a different level than a lot of people, so he’s a huge help.”
Somebody who will be eager to learn from Beasley will be the Giants’ third-round draft pick Jalin Hyatt.
“He’s been doing great. He’s doing everything a rookie is supposed to be doing, he’s asking all the right questions. He’s soaking everything in like a sponge,” Hodgins said of Hyatt. “He comes up to me and [Darius Slayton] and Beas, he’s always asking questions, trying to watch film and do all the right stuff.”
Hodgins added the rookie can bring “that explosive part to our offense” and “stretch the field vertically for us.”
“I’m excited for him to keep taking it step by step and learning this game, getting all those bumps out of the way, which it seems like he has, and just keep taking the top off of defenses,” he added.
And in the early goings of camp, the explosiveness factor to the offense feels different so far.
“I feel like at any given moment we can be throwing a deep shot to anybody from the ones to the twos to the threes, whoever is in there at any position, to a tight end or a running back,” Hodgins said. “Our offense is very creative, and it’s very explosive, so I am excited to see it in games.”
But it’s on his shoulders
Even if Daniel Jones had not signed a lucrative contract extension this offseason, the Giants’ quarterback would be facing a bit of added pressure entering his fifth season. So far, his head coach said he’s been “consistent.”
“Which is probably a good word to describe him,” Daboll said, “consistent since I’ve met him and have been around him. He’s done a nice job.
Hodgins said Jones’ reputation as a “tall, strong quarterback” preceded him, but since joining Big Blue it has been the mental side, preparation and work ethic that has impressed the wideout.
“He’s the full package, and I think he’s a great quarterback, so I’ll ride or die about him,” he said of Jones.
“I think he put a lot of the league on notice last year, so I think those conversations [about respect] start to come up when you have good performances like he did,” Hodgins added. “A lot of people were probably talking bad, and then he has the season that he had last year, and now people are trying to debate if he’s good or not, if he’s top this or whatever…
"I know he’s not worried about it. I know as a wideout room and as a team we’re really not either. We’re focused on what we can do to win games every week.”
Expectations, Expectations
Expectations outside the building are obviously up in year two of the Daboll era after Big Blue earned a playoff win last season. But the coordination on what exactly the public message on the Giants’ internal expectations still needs to be ironed out.
When asked about comments Sterling Shepard made on Sunday about how the staff has reminded players that making the playoffs isn’t the only goal, the goal is to go further, the head coach said the wide receiver was mistaken.
“I’d say Shep maybe confused that with ‘let’s go out and have a good practice,” Daboll said with an air of facetiousness.
Daboll added that the message to the players hasn’t changed much and that one year’s positive results don’t automatically roll over to the next season.
“We are day-to-day. We got a long way to go. This is a different year,” he said. “I have said it a million times and it is. It’s not cliché. I have been a part of teams that had finished the way you wanted to finish then didn’t finish the next year the way you want to finish. They are two different teams.”
He added: “You’re always trying to improve, self-improvement. It really is a new year. The focus has to be laser and you have to continue to just block everything out and improve each day.”
On this aspect, Daboll was in lockstep with one of the Giants’ wide receivers.
“I try to push myself to forget completely about last year and just sit there and take it day by day and really eclipse what I did last year,” Hodgins said. “That’s our goal, we are not satisfied with that.”
