New York Giants Safety Xavier McKinney Makes a Startling Confession

Giants' third-year safety Xavier McKinney revealed there were some disagreements with the prior coaching staff.

Third-year safety Xavier McKinney confessed that he had some disagreements with the prior coaching staff.

Despite what appeared to be a breakout second NFL season by Giants safety Xavier McKinney, all was not roses and sunshine behind the scenes for the former Alabama star.

Speaking to the New York Post in a candid interview ahead of the Giants’ veteran training camp report date Tuesday, McKinney revealed some disagreements with the prior coaching staff in general.

He also appeared to take some thinly veiled verbal swipes at the former coaching staff as led by ex-head coach Joe Judge and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.

“I think a lot of times we weren’t seeing eye to eye on certain things,” McKinney told the Post, saying the disagreements were with the coaching staff in general. “Last year, my first three or four games, I was barely playing. There were some games where I didn’t even play the whole first half. I think people forget that, too. It was a lot of different things--we had our disagreements from time to time.”

McKinney, who moved into a full-time starting role last year after an injury-shortened rookie campaign, played in all 17 games, making 16 starts. He recorded a team-leading five interceptions to go along with ten pass breakups and 93 total tackles, establishing himself as a core piece of the Giants’ young and evolving defense.

Imagine, then, what he might be able to do in new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s defense, which is planning to redefine “aggressive” as the Giants know it.

“He’s had an open mind to everybody’s ideas,” McKinney said of Martindale. “What we love as a defense, we’re able to just go out there and be playmakers. We don’t have to worry about making a mistake on a third down or a fourth down or something like that. He just wants us to go out there and play, and I think that’s what we’ve missed the past two years.

“Even though we were really good defensively, I think everybody could tell you on the defensive side everybody was so afraid of being the one to make the mistake instead of just actually going out there and playing.”

Martindale wasn’t the only new Giants coach to draw the 22-year-old McKinney’s praise. McKinney lauded head coach Brian Daboll for his approach to structuring practices and taking care of the players at the same time.

“They’ve done a great job of taking care of us. [Head coach Brian Daboll] has done a great job communicating with us,” McKinney said. “There were some days where he would come talk to me and be like: “How’s the defense feeling? Guys tired?” … There’s some things where it was like, ‘We’re sore.’ He would make sure that he chopped some stuff down so we weren’t putting so much on our bodies. That really sunk in with us because it told us that he actually cared about how we felt.”

McKinney then revealed that hasn’t always been the case in the past, as coaches would ask players how they felt only to ignore the players’ feedback.

“When you give everybody your word, and you actually live by it, that means a whole lot more when you don’t,” McKinney said.

“I’m happy with our new staff,” he added. “I’m happy with what they’re doing with us and how they’re communicating with us.” 

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