Ben McAdoo Addresses the Media at the NFL Combine

Ben McAdoo – © USA TODAY Sports Images

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BEN MCADOO ADDRESSES THE MEDIA AT THE NFL COMBINE…
New York Giants Head Coach Ben McAdoo addressed the media at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana on Tuesday. The video of the press conference is available at Giants.com.

Some key points addressed by McAdoo:

• On whether the Giants need to sign a veteran running back: “If it fits and if it is clean. Paul (Perkins) is a guy that we have confidence in. He missed all offseason last year because of the rules that are in place with rookies and he came into training camp and really had to catch up in a hurry. He had some success with special teams early and ended up being a nice ball carrier for us and grew in protection, as well. But he needs to come back, he needs to get better and he can get better, and I know that he is working to get better right now. Paul is a lot like the rest of the rookies. I think it is important when these rookies get back to New York that they understand that they don’t have everything figured out, that we need to keep our thumb on those guys and they need to grow and they need to get better. We need to make gains; our rookie class needs to make gains. We have a nice class there and Paul is one of those players, but he needs to get better like the rest of them. Even if it is marginally in each area of his game, but we need to make gains there.”

• On whether the Giants are interested in free agent running back Adrian Peterson (Minnesota Vikings): “We will go take a look at him, we will evaluate him. We will get a grade on anyone that is available, and we will make those decisions in terms of what is best for the Giants moving forward.”

• On left tackle Ereck Flowers: “I have a ton of confidence in Ereck. He is a guy that is all in. He is working at it. You can make a case that he could be here right now preparing to go out there and run in the combine. He is a young player that has a lot of room to grow and we expect him to grow, and I have confidence that he is going to grow. Where he ends up is where he ends up. Right now, he is playing left tackle like he has always played for us and we will go from there.”

• On franchised-player defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul: “It is great to have JPP around. We think highly of him. Obviously, that is the business part of the equation and I try to stay out of that as much as I can.  But Jason is a great part of the team, someone who made some progress last year, and it will be good to have him back.”

• On linebacker B.J. Goodson: “We feel B.J. is going to develop and play more for us on the defensive side of the ball, regardless of what position it’s going to be. There are a bunch of a different linebacker spots that he can go in there and fight for. But he did a nice job for us as a special teams role player. He needs to improve there, which he will. But we feel that he has a lot of upside as a linebacker.”

• On whether the Giants will add a true fullback: “It just really depends on how things shake out. Whether it is the free agent market or the draft class, it depends on what you have to choose from. The guys on your roster – going into the season we had two players (Will Johnson and Nikita Whitlock) that we felt pretty good about playing fullback for us and neither of them stayed healthy. That was part of it. For one reason or another, they were not a part of the team. So we had to go in another direction and we had to use what we had. We will continue to evaluate and if we feel that there is someone out there that can help us, then we will use them.”

• On the offense’s struggles in 2016: “I will say this, right now we are in the middle of (evaluating) third down. We are not finished with third down yet as far as our scheme evaluation. But we all know that turning the ball over 27 times isn’t acceptable. We are fortunate to have the wins that we had turning the ball over the way that we turned the ball over, so we can’t turn the ball over that way. We need to handle the ball better, so we need to catch it better than we have caught it and we need to handle it in the pocket better. We can’t have it come out. Way too many fumbles – 16 interceptions and 11 fumbles, way too many fumbles.”

• On the offensive line and Eli Manning: “The offensive line, they need to play better. I agree with that. I think Eli needs to do a better job playing with fast feet, and I think he needs to sit on that back foot in the pocket. We’re seeing a lot of man coverage, so the receivers, it’s gonna take a little time for them to get open, so everything may not be rhythmical. So he’s got to play with fast feet, he’s got to sit on his back foot and be ready to hitch into a throw. Things aren’t always clean in this league, you watch film of the end zones throughout the league and you’re seeing a lot of dirty pockets.”

• On if he will continue to call the offensive plays: “You can keep asking the question and I enjoy when you ask the question, but I am not going to answer that question.”

• On the Giants defense: “We added some guys to the mix (on defense) who were talented men of integrity, tremendous character, they played hard, it was important for them to see each other have success. That was a big part of things. But at the same point in time, we’re not looking to play defense the way we played defense last year. We’re looking to get better. We can’t show up thinking we have everything figured out on the defensive side of the ball. We need make gains, marginal gains, maybe 1% gains, but we need to generate those. We can’t be too big to do the little things. And that needs to show up the first day we get together in April.”

REPORT – ROB LEONARD BEING PROMOTED TO ASSISTANT DL COACH…
ESPN is reporting that the New York Giants will promote Rob Leonard to assistant defensive line coach. That position had been held by Jeff Zgonina, who was hired by the San Francisco 49ers as their new defensive line coach last month. Leonard has served as a defensive assistant with the Giants since 2013.

GIANTS INSIDER WITH CB ELI APPLE…
The video of a Giants Insider Q&A with cornerback Eli Apple is available at Giants.com.

ARTICLES…

• Five burning Giants questions: Antonio Brown’s impact on Odell Beckham contract, Adrian Peterson, JPP and more by Pat Leonard of The Daily News
• Five questions surrounding Giants heading into NFL combine by Ralph Vacchiano of SNY
• What the franchise tag means for the Giants, JPP and the salary cap by Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com
• How franchising Jason Pierre-Paul impacts Giants’ offseason plans by Dan Duggan for NJ.com
• Pressure is on Giants after giving Jason Pierre-Paul franchise tag by James Kratch for NJ.com
• Giants’ Combine wish list begins with dream tight end by Paul Schwartz of The New York Post
• 10 big-name free agents the Giants should pass on by Dan Duggan for NJ.com
• Pros and cons of Adrian Peterson potentially joining Giants by Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com