Xavier McKinney Opens up on ‘Disagreements’ With Old Giants Regime

Getty Xavier McKinney looks to get even better with new coaching staff

The New York Giants are a team that has been in a bad place for some time now. With a record of 22-59 over the past four seasons, they have struggled to find success. Multiple head coaching, and big staff changes, haven’t helped with their success. 

But many within the Giants organization think that this season could be different. With a new head coach, and general manager duo of Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen, things could slowly be on the mend. They have tried to change a foundation that was created by Joe Judge and Dave Gettleman.

Daboll and Schoen have already put together arguably the best Giants roster in the past half-decade. It is headlined by exciting, but the young talent on both sides of the ball. One of these players is safety Xavier McKinney. 

The Giants added Alabama safety Xavier McKinney in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft. During his two seasons, he has been a bright spot on the defense. He has recorded 118 total tackles, six interceptions, and 11 defended passes.

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McKinney, who will be a focal point of this new regime, spoke with Steve Serby of the New York Post about both his experiences with the old coaching staff and what he expects in the future. 

McKinney: ‘We Had Our Disagreements Time to Time’

McKinney spoke specifically about the past coaching staff, and how they approached things surrounding him.

“I think a lot of times we weren’t seeing eye to eye on certain things. Last year, my first three or four games, I was barely playing.”

He went on to say, “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 time to time.” 

McKinney finished the interview with a hopeful message to the Giants.

“I know it hasn’t been the best the last couple of years or so. But I think we’re really gonna change things around. Just be prepared, and we’re gonna make you guys proud. I appreciate you all for sticking with us, I know it’s been rough, but we’re gonna turn this thing around.” 

McKinney speaking about the new group like this should bring a sense of hope to the Giants faithful around the world. Big changes, in both culture, and performance, seem to be on the horizon.

McKinney Hopeful for Giants’ Future

Serby also specifically asked McKinney how he felt about the mentality surrounding the current group. The conversation offered an insight into what direction the franchise may be headed. 

“Everything starts off with how you practice, man. I come from a place where practice makes perfect. I’ve lived and died by that. And I think how we practice has been great. A lot of guys are really bought into what we’re doing. When you have people bought in, people are gonna want to play for you and people are gonna want to go all out for you.”

McKinney then went on to explain the differences between the new regime, and the old, in regards to how they practiced, and the culture it created. 

“After every practice, just players, we’re meeting right after practice trying to figure out: “All right, where did we mess up today? What mental errors did we have today? What can we improve? What call is better in this area?” McKinney said. “That type of stuff goes a long way. We didn’t really have much of that these last two years, and that was a big problem. That came with obviously a lot of like everything didn’t look organized.

“Even defensively there were times we played good, but sometimes the communication wasn’t there, and that’s because everybody was kind of on different. … It was a lot of different things going on.”