The locker Markus Kuhn inhabits stands in a temporary bank positioned in the middle of the Giants spacious locker room, a bank that will be removed this weekend once the roster is cut from 75 players down to 53.
The distance between the temporary lockers and the built-into-the-wall permanent ones is only about 10 feet. “It’s not far,’’ Kuhn said, “but it’s a huge step.’’
No kidding. The Giants this summer have more intriguing decisions to make than most, as there are probably 58 or so players who showed they deserve to stick around based on their work in training camp and/or their performance in the preseason games. Kuhn, a rookie defensive tackle trained in Germany, is one of the many players who today expect to endure hour after hour of waiting until the 9 p.m. deadline.
“Last year I just sat in the room, I’m not going to sit in the room and wait for the phone call,’’ running back Andre Brown said. “I’m actually going to go out, probably a movie or fish, find a pond around here or something.’’
Brown has bounced around from team to team and so, sadly, he admits he’s a “bad expert’’ on what he calls “the stressful day.’’ By Brown’s count, he’s been cut seven times and despite his contention “I still believe this is going to be my year’’ there are no guarantees he beats out second-year running back Da’Rel Scott for a backup spot.
Brown averaged 3.1 yards in the preseason compared with Scott’s 3.2. Brown fumbled in the finale, Scott the game before blocked a punt. Brown is more powerful, Scott much faster. There’s not room for both, unless the Giants opt to go unconventional and cut veteran D.J. Ware. For what it’s worth, coach Tom Coughlin yesterday said he thought Scott and Brown “distinguished themselves’’ in the preseason finale.
“I feel very confident I can make an impact on this team, whether it’s on special teams, coming in on offense,’’ said Scott, a 2011 seventh-round draft pick. “I feel I do belong here.’’
Kuhn as a seventh-round pick this year surely has done enough at defensive tackle to get signed to the practice squad, but he’s aiming for a loftier goal.
“Honestly right now if you play football you like to play and the competitor in me would like to play and be on the 53, but whatever I got to do, I will do,’’ he said.
David Douglas arrived as an unheralded, undrafted rookie receiver from Arizona and he stood out in training camp, but he had just one catch for 23 yards in the preseason games. “I felt like I gave it my all every day,’’ he said.
Not all the fringe players are rookies or first-year players. Marcus Thomas spent the past five years with the Broncos and he was signed late in camp when injuries hit hard at defensive tackle.
“I don’t know, because I’ve seen a lot of things in my career so I’m definitely still just hoping,’’ said Thomas, who recovered a fumble in Wednesday’s 6-3 win over the Patriots. “I don’t have any feeling at all, I’m just going to put it in the Lord’s handsand see where it takes me.’’
Linebacker Spencer Paysinger appears safe entering his second season but he nevertheless tweeted “The anxiety over the next day and a half is sure to take a few months/years off my life.’’
Perhaps the closest race is for the fourth defensive end spot, which seemed to belong to Adrian Tracy, despite a hamstring injury. While Tracy was out, an undrafted rookie, Adewale Ojomo, came out of nowhere after a nondescript spring and led the team with four sacks.
Ojomo, a thoughtful sort, didn’t hide his uneasiness.
“I’m really nervous at this point, it’s my livelihood,it’s a lot banking on this so I’m kind of nervous right now,’’ he said. “I’ll just be getting my mind mentally ready for whatever comes.’’