The Giants are trying to avoid a three-year playoff drought for the first time in 18 seasons, but safety Antrel Rolle isn’t willing to entertain negative thoughts. With training camp underway — and Big Blue boasting a beefed-up secondary — Rolle said this could be as talented a team as he ever has played on.
For a man who has played in two Super Bowls — and won one — that’s high praise. Or heavy hyperbole. Time will tell.
Despite the Giants having missed the playoffs in four out of the past five seasons, the 31-year-old Rolle has no doubt they have the ingredients to bounce back and be a quality team.
“Absolutely. I think this is one of the most talented teams I have ever been on, if not the most talented,’’ Rolle said. “First and foremost, I’m just driven to play this game. And not making it to the playoffs, our expectation is just to make sure we jell as a team. We have great chemistry and everything else is going to pretty much take care of itself.
“It’s almost to a point where you have to hold yourself back — it’s just the first day of training camp. All of the guys are excited, and we’re trying to get out there and see what we can put together. It’s going to be a very special group we have here.’’
Rolle recently was ranked as the third-most dynamic safety in the league on a list by NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks, behind Seattle’s Earl Thomas and Kansas City’s Eric Berry. But after the Giants’ secondary had its struggles last season, Big Blue put their money where their woes were.
The Giants signed a pair of Super Bowl cornerbacks, handing Denver’s Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie a five-year, $39 million contract with $15 million guaranteed and prying nickelback Walter Thurmond away from the champion Seahawks on a one-year, $3.5 million deal.
But Rolle insisted the secondary won’t improve because it’s costly, but because it’s competitive.
“It won’t be based off the money. I think it’s just about the caliber of guys that we have here,” Rolle said. “We have guys that are hungry and guys that want to compete. More importantly, we have a couple guys that can push those other guys, and that makes it much better. We just want to go out there and compete.’’
Much has been made of the Giants’ new offense, but the secondary will have a fairly different look as well. But Rolle wasn’t ready to make any Super predictions or guarantees of the playoffs. He said the priority is to jell as a unit.
“I’m not worried about that right now. I never set myself up for disappointment,’’ Rolle said. “Our goal right now is to play together as a team. Once we do that, everything else is going to take care of itself. Win or lose. It really doesn’t matter at this point. Our main focus right now at training camp is to practice smart and practice fast.’’