The Giants have muzzled Jaxson Dart and Jameis Winston.
After the Giants flip-flopped the order of their backup quarterbacks to elevate the rookie Dart over Winston on their unofficial depth chart, team officials made both quarterbacks unavailable for interview this week in what appears to be a violation of the NFL media access policy.
All players are obligated to be available to the media on a weekly basis during open access to the locker room.
“All three quarterbacks are going to be ready to play,” head coach Brian Daboll said when asked about the unofficial depth chart.
A team official shut down noti.group’s attempted interview with Dart on Wednesday, and the rookie first-round pick made it clear that it was not his decision to decline.
The Giants’ stance is that no new policy has been created and the approach remains consistent with established practice.
Requests for specific story ideas will be considered, though the Giants declined to make the backups available to discuss the unofficial depth chart as well as Dart’s preparation for his first true NFL game.
It appears to be a departure from the way that the Giants traditionally have handled media access, strictly adhering to the NFL policy established in accordance with the Pro Football Writers Association and making all players available even in controversial times.
Drew Lock, Tommy DeVito and Tyrod Taylor all were available as needed without formal request while backing up Daniel Jones over the last three seasons.
The policy raises unanswered questions of whether the unofficial depth chart is just gamesmanship for the Commanders; whether Winston is unhappy to be No. 3 and there is concern he will not bite his tongue; whether the Giants are planning to use Dart in the game and do not want him to spill any secrets.
One team source believed Winston would handle his demotion to No. 3 professionally because he wants to stay in New York without ruffling feathers, as a way to help jumpstart his post-playing media career.
The Giants did not require formalized access to Manning or Jones when they were high-profile rookie backups to start the 2004 and 2019 seasons, respectively.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
