David Cutcliffe's on Daniel Jones draft criticism: "People that didn’t know ... didn’t know"

Duke coach knew his quarterback would be taken early

Coach David Cutcliffe discussed the public criticism of the Giants when they drafted Daniel Jones and if he knew the team was planning to take him so early.

“i knew in meetings,” he said, “but it’s not my business to talk about it. I knew. I knew there were more than one team that were prepared to take him.”

Cutcliffe said Jones’ knowledge of defenses sold the Giants on choosing him.

“II sat in when they started talking about protections (with Jones), and they were looking at me like, ‘What?’ They understood what he understood about coverages. They understood all those things. They knew they were in the presence of something different.”

That’s what all the talking heads and Twitter experts didn’t see.

“They’re football people,” Cutcliffe said of the Giants. “They knew. People that didn’t know didn’t know. That was pretty obvious.”

Cutcliffe was also there for his former player when the criticism got bad.

“What I did tell Daniel when it got so loud—I said, ‘Wow! Congratulations! The rest of these guys are on honeymoons. You’re getting a real taste of what it’s like to be a professional football player. At least you’re getting it early. Embrace it, man. Then learn to let go of the noise. It’s noise.”

“Not that what the media says or fans say is not important,” he continued, “but if you’re playing or coaching, when it’s good, it better be noise. When it’s bad, it’s just noise. You don’t listen to noise. Anyone like to turn up their radio and listen to noise?”