#Joe Judge on Daniel Jones’ makeup and state of Giants before training camp

Q: How difficult will it be building a team with one vision?

A: It’s education of the players. It’s not, “Don’t blindly follow me because I say so.” It’s our job as coaches to let the players understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, what the end result’s gonna look like. For us, in terms of the one vision, it starts with educating the players on why we’re playing a certain brand of football, why we’re building our schemes in such a way, why we’re using our personnel in such a way. And why their role’s critical to the team’s success. And that’s everybody’s role.

Q: How do you build or develop mental toughness on a team?

A: It’s gotta be in the way you practice. It’s gotta be in daily expectations when they come in the building. It isn’t something that gets built over a five-minute period in a practice. It’s not something you build overnight. It starts with the kind of guys you bring in your program and their mental makeup. It starts with guys who have had to overcome adversity themselves. It comes with unselfish guys who are willing to make the right decision for the team, what’s not always what’s necessarily best for them as individuals.

Q: What’s the most important rule you will have?

A: Put the team first. That comes in everything you do, every decision you make, you put the team first. That’s it.

Q: What do you hope your players have learned about you so far?

A: I’ve just presented myself as who I am every day. At the end of the day, I want them to understand that I have their best interests at heart. That we understand them as individual people. I want them to understand that every day they come to work, I’m committed to helping them be better at what they do. And that’s my only goal.

Q: Is there a common denominator that defines successful people?

A: I think inner drive. Everyone has that different why. To me it’s that drive. You see that work ethic of how guys find a way to get the job done regardless of what comes up in front of them. And the refusal to allow something to deter what they’re working for.

Q: Have you always had that drive?

A: I couldn’t answer that. … I mean, I’ve always had specific goals, and then I was taught at a young age, you have to work for what you get. You don’t get what you want, you get what you deserve, based on what you worked for and what you’re able to put yourself in position for.

Q: Tell me why you will be successful.

A: At this point, I’m not gonna go into bold predictions in terms of all that stuff. I’ll just tell you this: I’m committed right now to work with my team, and I’m committed to do everything I can to put them in the best position for them to be successful.

Q: When you will leave the Giants offices during this pandemic, how concerned will you be about going home to your family?

A: We’re gonna have protocols put in place by the NFL. We’re gonna work with Ronnie [Barnes, senior vice president of medical services] and his medical staff, and we’re all gonna work to be as safe as we can. To me, it’s more about controlling where I go outside the building. I feel inside the building’s gonna be the safest place. To me it’s more the decisions we make going outside the building, not to expose ourselves and then coming into the building.

Q: Gov. Andrew Cuomo has talked about New York Tough during this pandemic. What does New York Tough mean to you?

A: The one thing about New York — and this is my first time living in this area — but you always know from the outside is New Yorkers are resilient. And there’s a lot of varied differences in the people that make up the city. But they all come together when the time happens, whether it was 9/11 or the pandemic, and work together. New Yorkers are resilient. And you can’t be tough if you’re not resilient. There’s a lot of people who wake up, go to work every day, no matter what’s going on in their personal lives. They get up early, they work long hours, they work hard. The blue on the jersey stands for the blue collar in the city, and that’s who we want to represent. The way we practice, the way we play, the product we put on the field. We want the people of New York to watch us and be proud of that’s the team that they can say represents them, and that’s what’s important to us. I’ve always had a ton of respect for New York and New Jersey and this area. I’m proud that me and my family can be part of it now living in this area, and it’s important to me that this team represents the area.

Q: Why hasn’t the pandemic and why won’t the pandemic be a disadvantage for a rookie head coach?

A: I just think everyone right now is working with the same resources. … All I’m concentrating on is just what we do to prepare our team. I’m not focused on what anyone else has to do to prepare theirs. I’m concentrating on our players and our staff and making sure we produce some continuity there, and some chemistry that we can carry into the season.

Q: Describe Saquon Barkley.

A: I’ve been very pleased at how he’s come to work. He’s definitely had a very team-first attitude. That room as a whole, I think they’ve really taken on [running backs coach] Burton Burns’ personality. There’s a lot of sincere care for one another. They compete, but they work together. I think it’s a group that has varied personalities, but similar dispositions at the same time. These guys are serious about what they do, but they have fun playing football.

Q: Leonard Williams.

A: I think Leonard’s a guy who has a great skill set to work with. He’s very attentive, he’s very urgent to the meetings we had this spring.

Q: Lorenzo Carter.

A: Zo’s a guy, he’s got a big personality, he’s always smiling, but he’s serious about his work. He’s fun to be around. He knows how to light up a room pretty quickly with just smiling, maybe sharing a joke here or there. I’m excited about working with Zo, he’s a high-energy guy. I remember when he was coming out of Georgia, I remember playing against him last year. Now I’m excited to have him on our team.

Q: What have you learned about Daniel Jones’ makeup?

A: He had a really good spring. It’s tough evaluating somebody when you haven’t been on the field with him, but he came to work every day with a full head of steam, he was very urgent, and you can tell he loves football. … That’s important. He’s had some leadership qualities that have shown up this spring in the way he’s conducted himself, in the way he kind of organized some things on his own away from what we’re doing as a team within the virtual meetings. He’s a guy who has very good insightful questions, and he’s not afraid to really ask the tough question and speak his mind when it’s me and him one-on-one, and that’s important, ’cause he gives you good honest feedback.

Q: Bill Parcells always wanted his quarterback to be a battlefield commander. Do you feel you have one in Jones?

A: We’ll wait and see till we get on the grass. I have every bit of confidence possible right now in all of our players. I think Daniel’s done everything to this point that he can do as well as he can. He’s anxious to get on the grass, we’re anxious to get on the grass with him as well. And I know he’s a competitor, so I’m excited to get him out there.

Q: He’s got a new system to learn and he’s had a virtual offseason. Do you expect him to make the second-year leap?

A: In terms of leaps and this and that, he’s learning the system. I want to give him some time to actually get on the grass in practice and work in that system before I start making predictions or expectations publicly for him.

Q: Do you have any sense about the talent level of your team?

A: I’ve watched tapes from afar. … I will say I’m very encouraged with the way they’ve worked, and I’m very excited about getting them on the field and going to work with them. That’s definitely come out of the spring, I’m very encouraged, I’m very pleased, very excited. We’ll let training camp decide really the roster and the depth chart.

Q: If a team takes on the personality of its head coach, what will this team’s personality be?

A: We’re gonna be a smart, tough, fundamentally sound football team. We want to be a team that can adjust game by game, week by week. Go ahead and have the best game plan possible. And we’re gonna be a physical team. We’re gonna have some versatility with our schemes, make sure that we cater to the strengths of our players on what they do well, and then look to put them in those positions, then they can play to their strengths. And we expect them to go ahead and be a smart team that can adjust on the fly and be able to change in a game plan from week to week, and understand how to use their specific skill sets in different ways based on how we have to match or create mismatches on opponents.

Q: How excited are you about your coaching staff?

A: Our coaches have done a phenomenal job this spring in how they’ve been able to adjust and work remotely together. We spent a lot more time away than we did together within the office. What they’ve shown is the ability to adapt, work through issues and problems and find the best solutions for how they work collectively as a staff. It’s very encouraging how they’ve worked together. You could see through different meetings we had in the spring at how they started to jell in personalities. Even though we didn’t have the entire spring being in the building together, you could definitely tell there’s some chemistry being built and I have a lot of confidence in all the guys on the staff.

Q: How much sleep do you get a night?

A: (Laugh) I guess as much as I can. Different times of year it’s different. I’d say on average five-to-six maybe, if it’s the offseason. During the season, sometimes a little bit less, sometimes a little more based on the day of the week. Hey look, I’ve kids kicking me in the head and waking me up.

Q: What would you want to say to Giants fans about what this offseason has been, and what this season will be?

A: Everybody in New York has had to deal with the challenges through this pandemic. We’re dealing with many of the same obstacles. But like everybody in New York, there’s no excuses that are gonna be accepted. We’re going out there, and we’re looking to put a product on the field that they’ll be proud of.