Giants have their very own German tour guide in fullback/tight end Jakob Johnson
Giants tight end Jakob Johnson warms up before an NFL game against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 22 in Cleveland. Credit: AP/David Richard
Giants fullback/tight end Jakob Johnson ended an interview session on Wednesday by saying “Danke schon,” which means “thank you very much” in German.
Johnson wasn’t trying to bone up on his German ahead of the Giants’ trip to Munich to play the Panthers on Sunday. He’s from Germany. The 29-year-old is a native of Stuttgart and lived there before moving to Jacksonville, Florida, as a 19-year-old.
After college at Tennessee, he played for the Stuttgart Scorpions for one season in the German Football League before entering the NFL with the Patriots through the league’s international player pathway program.
In 2019, Johnson was the first player from the program to play in an NFL game. So the trip to Munich, while cool for the entire roster, is more personal for Johnson, who expects to hand out 52 tickets to friends and family (48 of which he has to pay for).
“Super-excited,” Johnson said. “Just excited I get to share this moment with the people that helped me along my journey, like my former coaches. My family drove me to practice and kind of made this whole thing possible. So for me, those 52 tickets are my way of giving back. I feel like that moment will just be special for us.”
The Giants and Panthers both are 2-7, so it’s not as if Munich fans will be seeing the NFL’s best in the final international game of the season. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun for the estimated 75,000 fans expected to attend at Allianz Arena.
“When I started playing football in 2007, football was looked at like an extreme sport, kind of like skateboarding or something like that,” Johnson said. “But now it’s big. This is the second-most-watched sport in Germany. The local leagues are growing, but NFL football is what people are the most excited about. I think people would be surprised how many German fans will show up. Now, they might not all wear Giants or the Carolina Panthers jerseys. They’ll come in whatever jersey they have. But they’ll be there, and they’ll make the stadium loud.”
Johnson is not even assured of being on the field during the game. He is a fringe player who bounces between the practice squad and active roster. He has appeared in three games this season and a total of 70 in a six-year career that also included a two-year stint with the Raiders.
When he caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Cam Newton for the Patriots in 2020, Johnson became the first player from the international pathway program to score a TD. It remains his only one.
So his role in Munich may be more tour guide than player, but Johnson is up to the task with his lifelong knowledge of all things Germany.
“Bavaria, especially the south of Germany, is probably the best German food that you can get,” Johnson said. “It’s probably my top of the line. Beer is really good . . . I mean, I don’t think that’s probably the best before the game. And I told them, in Germany, we like rules, and we like people to stick to rules. So don’t do nothing crazy. Nobody get in trouble. Germans, we’re very particular, like, no jaywalking, none of that stuff. So trying to keep everybody safe and get everybody to the game on Sunday.”
Notes & quotes: WR Darius Slayton (concussion) did not travel with the team to Germany and has been ruled out. Coach Brian Daboll said Jalin Hyatt will be “the next guy up” in the offense. Hyatt has one catch for six yards this season . . . K Graham Gano (groin) and P Jamie Gillan (hamstring) remain on track to return this week, but the Giants are bringing their backups (Jude McAtamney and Matt Haack) just in case. They already have had to make personnel adjustments after injuries suffered by a specialist in a Friday practice three times this season. Special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial said that trend is “unfortunate” and could not pinpoint any reason for it. As for potentially getting his kicker and punter back, Ghobrial said: “Any time you have guys [return] that you initially came into the season thinking that they’re going to be your dudes, it always gives you confidence.” With Tom Rock
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
