Justin Pugh Addresses Potential Of Rejoining Giants In 2024
On the latest installment of Talkin' Ball With Pat Leonard, the New York Daily News scribe and podcast host spoke with 11-year NFL veteran guard Justin Pugh about whether or not he'll return to the (hopefully) ascendant New York Giants following a rough non-playoff season for the team, but an exciting individual 2023 for the 33-year-old Pugh personally.
Last year, the 6'5", 311-pound pro vet rejoined the team that drafted him with the No. 19 pick overall in 2013 out of Syracuse University, and resembled his pre-ACL injury self for the 6-11 Giants.
"I think when I went out there and proved last year that I can still play at a high level, I wasn't all the way healthy, you know, a year off. I think that any player coming off [an ACL tear], it takes about 18 months until you're 100% back to normal. The wait wasn't where I would have loved it last year because I had it didn't have the ability to to train a full offseason," Pugh said. "So right now being able to get a full offseason under my belt, I prove that I can play. You know, there's some I didn't know the offense. I was just being told the offense for the first half of the year, what the plays were and not knowing those nuances affects a player like me. I can't give away any advantage and not even knowing the snap count as well as I would like, definitely was was some of the some of the issues I had last year."
"So I think the Giants have a lot bigger fish to fry before they get to Justin Pugh," Pugh said. They know the value that I bring and the leadership that I bring to the locker room. But at the end of the day, once those other cap situations get figured out that I'm sure we'll have a conversation, it'd be better for me to have the conversation in March when teams have cap space, because when you get into the August or into the season, there isn't much cap space available and it ends up getting a little a little tougher to negotiate a deal, which I found out this last year... Fortunately, I had some friends get hired elsewhere in the in the NFL this year. And my my former coach, Kliff Kingsbury, former offensive line coach are in Washington right now. Ben McAdoo, [a] former head coach of mine, is in New England right now. The Cardinals obviously are in my backyard, but I love New York. I want to be back in New York."
