Hard to put name on new Giant Tanner Hudson's TD catch
Then-Buccaneers tight end Tanner Hudson celebrates on the field with confetti after the Buccaneers defeated Kansas City in Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 7, 2021. Credit: EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Gary Bogdon
Tanner Hudson made a great play in practice.
Just don’t ask him what it was called.
The tight end who worked out for the Giants on Wednesday, signed Thursday morning, then was on the field for the first time with his new team Thursday afternoon, broke open down the seam and pulled in a pass from Tyrod Taylor for a wide open would-be touchdown against the Jets. But the three-year veteran is so new to the team and its playbook he laughed and said he had no idea the name of the play on which he managed to make such a dazzling first impression.
“I’m just getting my feet in the water trying to get ahead of everything,” Hudson said. “Just trying to show what I can do.”
Hudson joins a tight end group that is anything but well-established. After cuts and injuries had taken a bite out of about half the room, all the Giants were left with at the position were rookies Daniel Bellinger and Austin Allen and second-year player Chris Myarick. Asked about the depth at tight end, head coach Brian Daboll quipped: “There’s not a lot of it.”
“There’s a bunch of young players that are competing,” Daboll added. “We just added another player [in Hudson] so it’s a good opportunity for those players to go out there and prove and earn the right to play.”
Hudson with his five career receptions gives the Giants tight ends a combined total of… eight. With 22 career games for the Bucs and 49ers, backing up the likes of Rob Gronkowski and George Kittle, he’s the old sage in his new group.
“It’s going to be a learning curve for all of us,” Hudson said, saying he is relying on his younger teammates to bring him up to speed along with his new position coach Andy Bischoff.
“He’s been great since I got here,” Hudson said of Bischoff. “Of course, that was only yesterday.”
Notes & Quotes: LB Azeez Ojulari pulled up injured with a lower right leg issue while the Giants ran conditioning sprints after practice. Ojulari came into training camp with a hamstring injury. The Giants were not overly concerned about this new issue as they left the field but with first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux already sidelined for several weeks being without their top two projected edge rushers is not ideal … WR Wan’Dale Robinson, who was spotted shaking off a leg issue before finishing practice on Wednesday, did not practice on Thursday … To make room for Hudson on the roster the Giants waived OL Chris Owens who they’d signed last week when injuries beset the position.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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