New York Giants to Sit Most of Their Starters in Game vs. Browns

The Giants will be sitting the majority of their starters in their preseason game against the Browns.

New York Giants head coach Joe Judge has made his decision regarding player deployment in Sunday's preseason game against the Cleveland Browns, and as was the case last week, the majority of the starters will sit.

Judge's decision comes based on the quality of work individual players were able to get in during their joint practices with Cleveland this week, combined in part with a desire to avoid any unnecessary injuries occurring in a meaningless preseason game.

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Then there is the other element of roster building, namely the coaches wanting to see more from guys who will play key depth roles this year or who are fighting for roster spots.

Judge's approach reflects the new training camp/preseason structure in which the acclimation period was increased from three to five days, and the preseason schedule was shortened from four games to three.

This year the NFL has brought back three rounds of roster cuts versus the two it previously had in recent years. However, the three-round cut structure is slightly different from the prior CBA in that the current format requires teams to get down from 90 to 85 after the first preseason game, 85 to 80 after the second, and 85 to 53 after the third one.

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"Look, training camp’s not what it used to be. The duration is different. The ramp up is different. You try to push your team to make sure they can stay on the field healthy and then play effectively for 60 minutes with good football position and fundamentals," Judge said this week.

While there is a chance that some starters may see a few snaps in this game, as was the case last week when receiver Darius Slayton got a few snaps in against the Jets, Judge stressed not to read into anything if that happens.

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"I don’t see playing as a punishment," he said.

The Browns are reportedly not planning to play most of their starters in this game as well. 

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