TUCSON, Ariz. – Here now, the Giants' quarterback news for Wednesday, Dec. 8.
Daniel Jones' injured neck was examined again, he has not been cleared for contact and he is not expected to play when the Giants visit the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday in SoFi Stadium.
Mike Glennon, who started last week in Miami, remains in the concussion protocol, but Joe Judge is optimistic the veteran will start in L.A.
Jake Fromm began his second week with the team by taking most of the first-team reps as the Giants held their initial practice at the University of Arizona. But practice squad QBs Brian Lewerke and Clayton Thorson, who returned to the team yesterday, also worked.
Jones, who was hurt 10 days ago against Philadelphia, flew to Los Angeles with senior vice president of medical services and head athletic trainer Ronnie Barnes and was examined by Dr. Robert Watkins, who has been monitoring the quarterback's exams remotely. Jones was on the field for today's workout.
"He'll continue to go through practice like he did last week," Judge said. "He'll throw with the team. He'll move. He's in all of the meetings. We'll see if anything changes in terms of his status, but he has not been cleared for contact."
Judge said "there is not an immediate timeline" for Jones' return.
"This could change quickly, it could change over time," Judge said. "Talking to the doctors and the medical team, there are some things that they're just waiting on in terms of just making sure that he's cleared for contact. When it comes to necks, backs, things of that nature, we're not going to take any risks with our players."
Judge continues to expect Jones will return sometime in the season's final five weeks.
"There's nothing at this point that we've been told that would indicate this would be season-ending," Judge said.
Glennon took every quarterback snap in the Giants' 20-9 loss in Miami. The team announced after the game he had suffered a concussion. Glennon is prohibited by NFL rules from speaking to the media while in the concussion protocol.
Jones sustained a concussion in Dallas on Oct. 10. He was replaced in the second quarter by Glennon. Jones was placed in the protocol but was cleared in time to play the entire game the following week vs. the Rams. Judge is hoping for a similar scenario this week with Glennon.
"We're optimistic he's going to be fully cleared and getting ready to play," Judge said. "Assuming everything clears the protocol, I would (expect him to start). We have nothing at this point that would say he wouldn't clear, so we'll wait and see where that goes. But we're going to prepare Jake as if he's the starter today."
Glennon completed 23 of 44 passes for 187 yards vs. the Dolphins. Given that Glennon is a nine-year veteran who will not be a full-time starter with the Giants, Judge was asked if perhaps he would prefer to see what he has in Fromm, a second-year pro who has never taken a regular-season snap.
"At this moment, if Mike was healthy and cleared, we would expect Mike to start," Judge said. "In terms of Jake, again, this is a really good opportunity this week to see him practice and prepare and get a further look at him."
While Fromm took most of the reps with the first team, Glennon spent the morning with the team's athletic trainers. He was on the field for the second walk-through of the day, though primarily as a spectator. The Giants listed him on their injury report as "did not participate in practice."
Glennon can likely increase his workload tomorrow, because it will be a non-contact practice. As Judge said, "for all of our quarterbacks really every practice on Thursday is non-contact."
The following day could be important in terms of Glennon's availability for the game.
"Friday will be a practice that he could be cleared full for and, again, the contact portion for a quarterback on Friday is lighter," Judge said. "We'll put him through some designed drills to make sure he's safe to go out there on Sunday, just as we did with Daniel earlier in the year coming off the Dallas game."
For the first time all year, including training camp, the Giants have five quarterbacks on the field at the same time, though Jones is limited in what he can do.
"In terms of the involvement of the quarterbacks, we're preparing all the guys involved, especially Mike, to come off the protocol," Judge said. "Jake's going to take the majority of reps today, Lewerke and then Thorson (who spent most of the 2020 season on the practice squad was with the team in training camp) is rejoining us, as well. He's actually working right now just with the COVID issue, which we've had no new tests. There have been no new positives, but Thorson's actually working remotely for the meetings and then he'll be in-person with us during practice."
Which is perfectly normal on what is a highly unusual week for the Giants' quarterbacks.
*Three players joined Glennon on the did not practice list: wide receivers Kenny Golladay (ribs) and Kadarius Toney (oblique) and cornerback Adoree' Jackson (quad).
*Jones was one of three players listed as limited. The others were running back Saquon Barkley (ankle) and wide receiver Sterling Shepard (quad).
Judge spoke to reporters before the report was released. He was asked about Toney, Shepard and Jackson, but also included Golladay in his response.
"All three will be out here today kind of in mixed capacities," he said. "All three at some point will be with the trainers, at some capacity will be with us. It's a little bit of a lighter day in the afternoon. Today we'll get the guy's bodies moving throughout practice. Shep (who has missed the last four games) had a really good workout for us on Sunday. We'll see if that turns a corner, if he can get to the game this week. If he can, obviously we would like to have him. Same with KT, same with Adoree'. I know all three of those guys have pushed to get back out there as fast as possible. We'll see how they do today in practice."
"I wouldn't say today's practice is going to rule in or out anybody, but we're going to see how they start moving with the team tomorrow. In terms of Kenny, we expect Kenny to be out here. Again, he'll be in that mix of somewhat with the trainers, somewhat with us. Some of these guys are going to be more involved with the walkthrough portion than they will with the full-speed portion. We expect Kenny to go through practice this week and push through this game."
*The Giants signed wide receiver Travis Toivonen to their practice squad. Toivonen, 6-4 and 212 pounds, was previously on the practice squad from Oct. 19 to Nov. 2.
