East Rutherford, N.J.: The New York Giants have trimmed three players from their roster to get to the league-mandated 85-man limit ahead of Tuesday's 4 p.m. ET deadline.
Among those removed from the roster were fullback/tight end Jeremiah Hall and defensive back Gavin Heslop, who were waived, and wide receiver Austin Proehl was waived/injured.
Hall was signed as a rookie free agent on May 12 after a four-year career at Oklahoma. He played six snaps in the preseason opener last week at New England. His removal from the roster comes as a bit of a surprise as it was initially thought with Andre miller having a broken wrist that left the tight ends depth to think that perhaps Hall might have a better chance of hanging around given his skillset.
Daboll, however, noted that the team has four of "those guys," referencing the tight ends.
Heslop was signed as a free agent on July 22. He played three games for the Seattle Seahawks in 2021.
Proehl, the son of former NFL receiver Ricky Proehl, was signed by the Giants on February 15. He has been with seven NFL organizations but has never played in a regular-season game.
The Giants' timing involving the roster moves, which were made before Tuesday's practice, was jointly reached by Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen.
"Just get out there, do the player right," Daboll said. "They were going to be released, so try to treat them the right way."
Daboll was asked how he approaches having to deliver bad news to players who have worked hard in their quest to earn a roster spot.
"You do it with a sense of empathy because look, these players are working extremely hard," he said. "They’ve given everything they have in spring, summer camps, and it’s the nature of the business we’re in. And I’ve been on the other side of that, too. It’s not any fun. These guys care about what they’re doing. They’re giving you everything they have.
"So obviously, there’s empathy for the player and what they’ve tried to do, but you’re as positive as you can be with giving someone news that they don’t want to hear."
Not that it makes it any easier for Daboll to deliver the bad news.
"It’s a tough part of the job, just to be honest with you, as a people person and a person who respects what these guys go through," he said.
"In the building, whether they’re a little bit hurt, they’re injured, they’re rehabbing, the training process, the meetings. You respect these guys. And in a couple of weeks, there will be a thousand players that are out of a job. These guys are pretty much the age of my kids. So, I have a great deal of respect for the stuff that they do and empathy when things don’t go exactly the way they want them to be because that’s real life."
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