James Hudson became one of the biggest storylines after the New York Giants’ 40-37 Week 2 overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys... for all the wrong reasons. To say he brought it upon himself would be the understatement of the century.
That’s what happens when you commit four penalties on the first six snaps of the opening drive. His two pre-snap flags that cost 10 yards weren’t good, but they were at least understandable. Gameday jitters can get the best of anyone. But the two unsportsmanlike penalties, totaling an additional 30 yards, were the real problem: punching James Houston in the back of the head and mauling another defender relentlessly after the play was over. Completely nonsensical.
Well, what if I told you that his complete meltdown was predictable? What if head coach Brian Daboll and the coaching staff knew all along that something like this could happen, and they did nothing about it? That'd be something, right? According to Dan Duggan's latest scoop from The Athletic, not only could this have been prevented, but the signs of an undisciplined player were flashing all offseason in a scathing new development in the Hudson disaster.
New info reveals Giants knew James Hudson was a ticking time bomb
When the 26-year-old lineman isn’t moonlighting as Muhammad Ali and punching opposing players on Sundays, he’s doing it against his own teammates at practice. Over the course of the summer, he got into multiple skirmishes with Brian Burns, as well as an altercation with Kayvon Thibodeaux, whom he punched in the back of the head during 1-on-1 reps. It was and is an embarrassment.
The nonsense was becoming too frequent that defensive line coach Andre Patterson stopped practice to gather players from both sides to let cooler heads prevail. The fact that was eventually brushed off as he's just a player with an edge just goes to show the fans how this regime, led by Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll, simply doesn't get it.
But what's even more embarrassing and concerning is that one of the defensive players practically guessed this was coming back in the offseason, telling The Athletic:
“Some of the things that he does will get a flag thrown. And that’s a momentum changer. That’s getting you ejected out of the game. Be about the team, not about you. What’s going to end up happening is we’re going to have first-and-(expletive)-35 because everybody keeps punching each other in the face.”
And what do you know, that's exactly what happened. On that now-infamous first drive, the G-Men found themselves in a second-and-30 after back-to-back penalties on No. 55. It's almost like this was avoidable from the beginning...
To make matters worse, according to Pro Football Focus, Hudson is the third-worst tackle in the league (out of 92 grade-worthy players):
Run-blocking grade | Pass-blocking grade | Overall grade |
|---|---|---|
49.9 (74th) | 46.0 (73rd) | 32.5 (90th) |
Not only should he not start another game, but he probably shouldn’t even be on the team. This is one of those cases where the caliber of player doesn’t justify the headache.
But don’t just put the onus on the $12 million man. Schoen and Daboll deserve a healthy dose of heat too. Knowing this was a potential issue and doing nothing until it literally blew up in their faces? That’s a failure from the top down.
Also I did have a few puns I wanted to scatter throughout the article, but they felt a little forced and I didn't want them to go to waste, so enjoy:
- Someone's been taking the "swing tackle" position too literally
- This signing was a swing and a miss
- James Hudson’s season is officially in full swing
- James Hudson was just getting into the swing of things