Aug 302021
 
Billy Price, Cincinnati Bengals (November 15, 2020)

Billy Price – © USA TODAY Sports

GIANTS TRADE B.J. HILL TO BENGALS FOR BILLY PRICE…
The New York Giants have traded defensive lineman B.J. Hill and a conditional 7th-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for center/guard Billy Price.

The 26-year old, 6’4”, 310-pound Price was originally drafted by the Bengals in the 1st round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Price has played in 42 regular-season games, starting 19. Ten of those starts came at center as a rookie in 2018, when he also missed six games due to a foot injury. Price started eight games in 2019 (seven at left guard and one at right guard). He only started one game (at center) in 2020.

The Giants drafted Hill in the 3rd round of the 2018 NFL Draft. In his third NFL season in 2020, Hill continued to see his playing time decline. He played in all 16 games with no starts, playing 34 percent of all defensive snaps (down from 59 percent in 2018 and 44 percent in 2019). Hill was credited with 32 tackles, two tackles for a loss, one sack, three quarterback hits, and one pass defense.

AUGUST 30, 2021 JOE JUDGE PRESS CONFERENCE…
New York Giants Head Coach Joe Judge addressed the media on Monday to discuss his team’s 22-20 loss to the New England Patriots and preparations for the start of the 2021 regular season:

Q: To start with injuries, anything on (Wide Receiver) Darius Slayton and (Tight End) Evan Engram, and anybody else of note who came out of that game banged up?

A: A couple nicks and bumps, kind of normal after-game stuff. In terms of Darius, we’ll have to see how he moves around the field this week as far as going forward. The trainers don’t have a ton of information right now, but we should be able to get him out there this week and be able to take a look at him. In terms of Evan, he’s still going to see a doctor, they’re going to look at some things and kind of measure the severity of whatever it may be. Obviously, (we’re) two weeks out. It leaves a little bit of a different window than it normally would be in the preseason track as far as getting ready for the opener, so we’ll have to see where he’s at in terms of how we manage him.

Q: Why didn’t (Defensive Lineman) B.J. Hill play last night?

A: Actually, we’ve talked to B.J. I’m not going to go through all the details of it, but B.J. will be part of a trade. Until the details are final, I’m not going to go into what club or who’s coming back for him, but B.J.’s been informed, we’ve spoken to him. Look, it was a position where – honestly, he’s a guy who has drawn a lot of interest. I have a lot of respect for B.J. as a player. I think he’s a starting defensive lineman in this league. He’s in a unique position in the room he’s in. He’s in the last year of his contract and I think this is an opportunity to improve our team, and also put a player that we have a lot of respect for in a position to go out there and get paid starter money. It’s something that I think works out for both parties very well. We appreciate what B.J. did. I have a lot of respect for him as a person, a lot of respect for him as a player. I wish him the best of luck going forward.

Q: At that position, depth at defensive line, what have you thought of (Defensive Lineman) Raymond Johnson’s (III) summer? It seems like he’s a young player who has shown some things.

A: I think it’s exactly what you just said there, he’s a young player who’s got potential and demonstrates an ability. We thought before he’s shown some stuff in the pass rush. He’s obviously learning how to play the run as a young player, but he’s definitely got some ability. He’s definitely got some potential to develop and he’s a guy that we’ll evaluate over these next couple days in terms of our roster makeup and where he fits. But he’s a guy who’s got some potential to have a career in this league.

Q: I know you’ve had a chance to watch the film. I’m curious what you thought about the offensive line’s performance last night and especially if you’re concerned at all about how (Tackle) Andrew Thomas played as we head into the season.

A: I think there’s a lot of things that factor in together. Like I said last night, it’s never one person’s deal, a lot of things tie in together. It’s all 11 working on execution, so we’ve got to make sure as all 11 we execute. In terms of the offensive line, I saw some things that were very encouraging and obviously things we’ve talked through as a staff that we’ve got to make sure we focus on and really improve these next two weeks going forward to give our team an opportunity. Look, saw a quality front. We’ve seen a lot of looks these last couple weeks from Cleveland and New England. A lot of encouraging things to build on with what these guys have been doing. We’re building for fundamental discipline and consistency across the board with all the players at all positions, but obviously with the offensive linemen, works by operating as a unit going forward and continuing on with the chemistry – whether it’s five, six, seven, eight guys that rotate through those positions and play going forward.

Q: How much does the IR rule changing factor into your decision-making this week? Where basically you can take as many guys as you want off and it’s three weeks and not longer?

A: I’d say that’s a tremendous change compared to years in the past, it really is. The ability to kind of get certain guys back in a few weeks and not only have to declare whether it’s one or two guys coming back. I’d say compared to previous years with the rule change, it’s pretty significant.

Q: Considering the number of guys that have missed time so far and where you are with injuries, the new injury to Evan and all of that, how ready do you feel entering the season?

A: We have two weeks to get ready for Denver. Our focus really is on ourselves and getting polished up and building chemistry and getting going. This time of year, there’s obviously a lot of roster movement on our roster and others, guys being added, guys being (let go). Things of that nature always happen. We’ve just got to get the guys who are available ready to play. In terms of that, one thing to focus on going into the season is you’re never a finished product Week 1. You need to understand that, keep building, keep improving week to week from how you operate in September to keep improving as a team and build towards those long stretches of the season. Look, we’re going to coach whoever is available and it’s our job to have the entire team ready and the entire team progressing, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.

Q: The youth movement on the offensive line, we’ve discussed that this summer. It is fairly unusual to have five guys 25 or younger. What do you see in that? You obviously signed off on this plan. Would you say it’s kind of a risky plan to have so many young guys with not a lot of fallback options?

A: Look, we’re trying to build the depth on the offensive line across the board and that’s done by coaching everyone every day. In terms of the youth movement, we’ve got a lot of guys – you talk about (Offensive Lineman) Ted Larsen, (Offensive Lineman) Jonotthan Harrison, some of these guys, (Tackle) Nate Solder, they’re older guys. So, in terms of it being a completely young line, everyone’s gaining experience every day and all learning from each other all the time. I couldn’t say whether or not it’s unusual or not throughout the league. I think everyone’s at a different position, the programs and organizations. Everyone’s at a different point of development, so I can’t really worry about comparing our program to somebody else’s. We’re going to coach who we have available.

Q: It sounds like you’re getting (Bengals Offensive Lineman) Billy Price in that trade. What can you tell us about him?

A: Until something’s finalized – things are leaking out already – until something’s finalized, I’m not going to comment on any players, but I have no problem having a full conversation later on when things are finalized.

Q: With all these injured guys trying to get back for Week 1, how much does having your first two games within a five-day span play into that? Are you sort of looking at those as a package, like being ready for one and two, or one or two? How do you approach that?

A: There’s definitely some consideration that we’ve talked about leading up to it. I think being two weeks out, we’ve got to get a better look on where a lot of these guys are. I wouldn’t say being only four days apart from game one and game two eliminates anybody at this point, nor does it lock anybody in at this point either. After game one, there’s going to be some bumps there, as well. That’s just the nature of football. You’ve got to keep on building your depth and use all the rules you have available to you to make sure your roster stays as fluid as possible.

Q: Andrew Thomas said last night that you have been harping on the importance of a fast start. Obviously, you guys didn’t have one last year. Before you got here, they were few and far between over the last decade. What is the importance for you guys of starting fast here this season?

A: I’d say the emphasis on starting fast with me is really through all elements of our program, so that’s about starting the day fast, coming to games prepared, it’s starting practice fast by being physically ready to take the field, being prepared for the install that we’ve worked on, starting the period fast by executing on the first play, starting scrimmages or games fast by executing early on. To me, there’s an element of just being prepared and executing, and starting fast has to be a theme in everything we do. I wouldn’t single that out to any one specific thing. To me, starting fast is just a mentality and an attitude about how you approach things. Showing up prepared and ready to go and then executing when your number is called.

Q: The other thing is on (Quarterback) Daniel Jones. Apparently, the stat is that his average target last night was only 5.9 yards. Was that because the offensive line wasn’t giving him time? Is that Daniel making decisions to check down? Was that (Offensive Coordinator) Jason’s (Garrett) play calling? Because (Quarterback) Mike Glennon’s was more like 15 (yards).

A: No, a lot of that stuff just happens within the flow of the game. We talked last night about how we’ve got to finish drives. We went out there with two 11-play drives, so we were able to move the ball, sustain possession, keep their offense off the field and we’ve got to finish drives. We want to make sure we continue on third down and obviously finish in the red area, but those are big parts of just the flow of the game. There’s an important part of being a productive quarterback, of you take what the defense presents to you. You make sure you take the profit, you’re productive, you keep the ball moving and just production as an offense. At different times, you may have an opportunity to push it down the field and others you’ve got to go ahead and get the ball in the hands of playmakers. I’m never concerned about having short passes. I think there are some guys who take the ball in their hands and extend plays with their legs, and that’s part of it. A lot of play calls are geared towards getting guys into space to make some plays and we’ve got to make plays when they’re afforded to us.

Q: After watching the film of that game, what did you think of Andrew Thomas’s performance?

A: I think across the entire offensive line, these guys did a lot of things that were positive and (there were) a lot of things to clean up. Playing together on the field for the first time really since the Jets game early on, (it was) good to go out there and get some chemistry. There were a lot of things that happened throughout the week against New England last week in practice, things that showed up in the game last night that were positives, that were learning experiences and then some other things that obviously we’ve got to narrow down and focus on these next weeks of saying this is something that we’ve got to fix and clean up across the board. I saw positive things from a lot of the young guys, Andrew, (Tackle) Matt (Peart), getting those guys in there and doing some good things. Obviously there’s some things too that we showed, and really have some good teaching tape. The importance is really taking whatever’s on tape, positive or negative, and make sure we build on the positive and eliminate the negative things going forward. We know that Denver and Washington and Atlanta are all watching the same tape we are right now, so we’ve got to make sure we’re sharp and we’re efficient in correcting it.

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Eric Kennedy

Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.

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