E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he was one of only three sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls until the past few. Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

GIANTS RELEASE 10 BUT WON’T DECIDE ON HOW MANY QBs YET

By Dave Klein
The Giants began preparing for the league-imposed cutdown date of Tuesday, when all teams must reach no more than 53 players on the active roster.

They got a bit of a head start yesterday, the day after absorbing their second preseason defeat, this one to the Jets, 10-6.

HC Brian Daboll, who seemed strangely unperturbed with the defeat, announced that 10 players have already been waived.

They are DT Kyler Baugh, CB Breon Borders, CB Christian Holmes, safety Clayton Isbell, WR John Jiles, RB Joshua Kelley, LB Trey Kiser, RB Lorenzo Lingard, OT Marcus McKethan and WR Ayir Asante.

"That's what we did this morning," Daboll said, "and obviously there are more to come, but we're not at that point. We're still discussing a lot of things, but those were 10 players that we moved on from. We thank them for their contributions and wish them well."

Considerable attention was given to the status of the team’s plan to keep two or three quarterbacks – starter Daniel Jones and backups Tommy DeVito and/or Drew Lock, and Daboll did his best not to answer.

"I think Drew will do more," he said. "I think he will be okay. Again, I can't predict it, but he's moving in the right direction."

Lock suffered a hip injury two weeks ago against Houston and did not see any action last night. But he is struggling with that situation.

"He actually wanted to do some stuff last week to see how it felt," the coach said, "and he really pushed the envelope to be out there [in practice]. He's a tough young man. And then we backed off based on how he felt. So, we'll see where we are this week. I talked about this yesterday. This is still a training camp week for us coming up. And it'll be a good evaluation to see where he's at."

Once again, the question turned to the quarterback situation, and Daboll tried to clear it up some. "I like Tommy, I think he has improved, and I feel comfortable with him."

But to keep two or three of them? "I think it depends on the team and the players," he said. "I mean, there were times when I first started when we kept four quarterbacks, Tom Brady being one of the four. He was the fourth quarterback (in New England). Way back in the day."

He paused.

"I have been part of a lot of teams. Some kept two, some three, some four. Again, you look at the individual player. You see the strides he has made. You think if they're the right strides or you think he can help you, then you decide to keep the player.

"If you need to make a move and put him on the practice squad, then you put him on the practice squad. But if you're referring to Tommy, I have confidence in him."

***** ***** *****

In addition to the presumptive starters, none of the team’s six draft picks saw any action Saturday night, including first-rounder Malik Nabers, the wide receiver who has been burning up the practice field. ... Speaking of draft picks, among the 10 cuts yesterday was OT Markus McKethan, the 6-7, 355-pounder from North Carolina taken in the fifth round in 2022.

The Giants are off Monday and will resume practice Tuesday, the same day the final cuts are scheduled.

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