Xavier McKinney glad Wink Martindale is back with Giants
Giants safety Xavier McKinney after organized team activities at the team's practice facility in East Rutherford, N.J., on Thursday. Credit: Ed Murray
Safety Xavier McKinney is going to have to get used to a new teammate at safety (Julian Love is now in Seattle) but he is pleased he doesn’t have to make an even bigger change.
“I think as a defense I'm happy — and I know everybody else is extremely happy — to have [defensive coordinator] Wink [Martindale] back," McKinney said. "So just another year in the system. Just being a lot more comfortable knowing what he wants to call, when he wants to call it. I know that we're building something special based on what we have."
Martindale interviewed (as did offensive coordinator Mike Kafka) as part of the Colts' search for a new head coach. Both Martindale and Kafka returned to the Giants.
Barkley update
Asked Thursday about the continuing absence of running back Saquon Barkley, who is training in Arizona and has neither signed his franchise tender nor come to a contract agreement with the team, coach Brian Daboll said: “There's always a business side of things in this league and those conversations will remain private.”
Daboll refused to answer additional questions “out of respect for the situation.” That included whether he expects Barkley to attend the team’s mandatory minicamp, scheduled for June 13-15.
So far, Barkley has only missed optional workouts.
'A great challenge'
In his second season as Giants coach, Daboll described his team’s learning curve as “a great challenge.”
He also said: “I wouldn’t say I have great patience ever, but it’s May. Our standard is to come out here and work as hard as we can work. That’s what we ask of everybody in the building every day. That’s all I expect — work hard and do the right thing. We’re all going to make mistakes; that’s what this time of year is for.”
Field notes
On the field, Daniel Jones made a nice throw to receiver Darius Slayton with cornerback Amani Oruwariye in coverage . . . On another play, David Sills V made a bid for a reception and fell awkwardly to the field. Jones and Tyrod Taylor were among the players to check on Sills, who left the field with trainers.
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
