New York Giants: As the Roster Turns

The Giants currently have one open roster spot to fill with several potential options to fill it.

One possible way would be to sign running back Alfred Morris, who in two games for the Giants has 95 yards on 17 carries (5.6 average), to the 53-man roster.

Morris, who has been twice called up from the practice squad to provide depth while Devonta Freeman nursed his ankle injury, can no longer be called up from the practice squad only to revert the following day without passing through waivers.

“Obviously, we’ll approach a lot of different things this week in terms of our roster with a lot of different players,” head coach Joe Judge said of Morris.

If Freeman's ankle continues to be an issue, the logical move would be to place him on IR and have Morris take his place on the roster. Players who land on IR must stay there for three weeks instead of six, so if Freeman recovers, he can always be brought back after a minimum of three weeks if there is a spot open.

The same sentiment holds for the players on injured reserve now eligible to return, such as linebackers Oshane Ximines and Tae Crowder, safety Xavier McKinney, and defensive back Adrian Colbert, all of whom would need roster spots available before they're brought back.

“Over these next few weeks we expect several guys to have the opportunity [to return],” Judge said. “We start their clocks off the IR, so we have to check and see what our total roster is. There’s a lot of things with that that are going to factor in.”

One of the biggest things is that after the Giants play the Eagles, they have a bye week, which would count as part of the 21-day window they receive once they designate a player for return.

“We want to be very calculated when we start that 21-day window,” Judge said. “If you start it too early, and then you lose another week with the bye week, it may set them back.

“There’s a benefit of getting them going with us right away, getting their legs back under them, get them back playing football. There’s also a benefit of holding a little bit knowing you have the bye week next week and there’s really no advantage to getting them to a game next week anyway.”

That factor seems to be in play for McKinney, who suffered a broken foot in training camp and who has been projected to be out of action until the end of November.

“Yeah, I don’t know if we will necessarily see him this week,” Judge said of the team's second-round draft pick. “He was on the field the other day running with the trainers. I know he’s making a lot of progress.

“We have until Wednesday. He’ll be with the trainers [Tuesday]--that may shed a little bit more light on it for us. Based on how we practice Wednesday, that may affect whether or not we start his clock on that day.”

Another player the Giants will need a roster spot for is guard Will Hernandez, who has been on the COVID-19 list.

Hernandez will have a spot waiting for him, but Judge hinted that the team’s incumbent at left guard probably wouldn’t be thrown back into the mix on a full-time basis, at least not at first.

“This guy has missed two games—that’s a lot of football,” Judge said. “We have to be fair to him to get him his conditioning back and get him back on the field, moving around.

“We have to make sure when we get him back, we give him a chance that he’s able to get out there and play a full 60 minutes healthy and make sure he gets some reps on the field to account for some of that lost time and kind of sharpen him back up for some of the movement he is going to see inside at that guard position.”

There are other decisions coming up as well, such as how to fit receiver Dante Pettis, who is completing his COVID-19 entry protocols, onto the roster. Doing so might require the Giants to cut one of the current receivers--C.J. Board might be the name to keep an eye on here if it comes to that.

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