New York Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger didn’t name names, but it’s pretty clear he’s not a huge fan of what the NFL has turned tight ends into. And depending on which side of the aisle you sit, he’s not necessarily wrong.
For years, the G-Men thrived on tight ends who actually liked to hit people. Mark Bavaro. Jeremy Shockey. Even Kevin Boss. They were violent individuals. They were unhinged. They blocked like offensive linemen and made defenders regret tackling them. It wasn’t pretty football. It was punch-you-in-the-mouth football.
Bellinger, now entering Year 4, wants to bring some... maybe all of that back. And judging by what he said after practice Thursday, he’s not exactly hiding it.
"There's definitely a history," Bellinger told reporters. "Shockey, Bavaro, even Kevin Boss, these guys that were here before us. They set the standard of what a tight end is. A lot of it is gritty, hand in the dirt, getting it out of the mud, gritty tight ends. And the new NFL, I guess, for tight ends is a little bit different nowadays. But at the same time, we have to bring that style to the New York Giants, to New York, and show them that we are a gritty tight end group, but we can also make plays, big plays, too, in the pass game."
Daniel Bellinger wants Giants tight ends to bring back physical identity
That quote doesn’t sound like a guy fighting for a TE3 job, although... he just might be. It sounds like someone tired of being lumped in with the rest of the league’s oversized slot receivers. He’s trying to set a tone, and it’s not hard to see why.
The Giants’ tight end room is fine. Not bad, not necessarily good, just fine. Theo Johnson has the frame and tools to be the guy, but he’s got to show up on Sundays before anyone takes that seriously. Chris Manhertz still blocks like it’s 1975, but he’s not catching much.
The rest of the group — Greg Dulcich and Thomas Fidone II — are fighting for relevance.
That’s part of what makes the quote so good. It’s not hollow. Bellinger’s playing time has trended the wrong way. His contract is running out. If he wants to stay, he has to prove he belongs. And if he’s going out, he’s clearly doing it his way, lined up tight, hand in the dirt, looking for violence.
It’s exactly what old-school Giants fans grew up on. And in a league that’s tried to turn tight ends into oversized receivers, Bellinger’s trying to remind people what the position is actually supposed to be.