With losing, such as what the New York Giants have been experiencing this season, comes frustration. And with frustration comes loose lips, particularly of those who are most frustrated with the state of affairs.
And while the organization's brass would clearly prefer that all and any frustrations be kept in-house, sometimes that's not the case. And this weekend, Giants safety Xavier McKinney, in an opinion expressed to ESPN, seemed to let some of his frustration over how the communication within the team's building has been going.
"I think that from a leadership standpoint, I don't think they've done a great job of letting the leaders lead and listening to the leaders and the captains," McKinney, who is one of the team's ten captains elected at the start of the season, said.
It's unclear who specifically McKinney was speaking about, as he never clarified that in his comments made after the team lost to the Las Vegas Raiders 30-6. However, his frustrations sounded like they were directed at the coaches.
“It was one of those things where you have some of your leaders, captains from a defensive standpoint, trying to switch things up,” McKinney told ESPN. “And just not really being heard.
“I don’t know. There are other things that we could’ve done. The execution stuff could’ve been better. But when you got guys out there that are playing and seeing different things and are being vocal and communicating that with the coaches and whoever and are not being heard, it’s hard to go out there and be able to make plays and do things of that nature.”
That the fourth-year safety introduced them to the public domain has raised an alert about the unity in the Giants locker room, which head coach Brian Daboll immediately shot down.
"We do the same thing every week since we've gotten here," he said. "We have good communication. We meet every week. Good talks, go through situations, things around the building. So, very comfortable with the leadership that we have, how we communicate with them, and how they communicate with us."
Left tackle Andrew Thomas echoed Daboll's sentiments. "I don’t know exactly where (McKinney) is coming from or where he’s feeling that, but for me personally, I think we do a good job just being able to communicate with the staff," Thomas said. "Anything we need or any of our frustrations or whatever, any questions we have, I feel like they are pretty open."
Earlier this season, McKinney expressed frustration in cryptic social media posts that implied he felt unappreciated. It's unclear if the source of whatever frustration he was feeling was related to his not getting a contract extension as teammates Dexter Lawrence and Andrew Thomas had received prior to their respective rookie deals expiring.
General manager Joe Schoen told reporters at the start of training camp that he had a conversation with McKinney about where the team stood. But it appears that whatever the two discussed didn't sit well with the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent, who has missed games in two of his three seasons completed to date.
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