New York Giants Tom Coughlin on Peyton Hillis signing
New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin watches play on the sidelines during the second half of the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs won 31-7. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Giants are hurting at the running back position, and they decided to sign veteran back Peyton Hillis yesterday after working him out on Monday. Hillis joins Brandon Jacobs and the extremely raw Michael Cox as the three healthy backs on the Giants roster, and Jacobs is definitely the No. 1 guy of the three. That said, it will be interesting to see how Hillis fits into the RB rotation, and he will have to quickly prove that he belongs in order to avoid being cut once both David Wilson and Andre Brown are healthy.
Hillis was cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this season, so there doesn’t seem to be much left in the former Madden cover athlete whose only good season came in a one-hit wonder of a year in 2010.
Even so, it’s interesting to see if Peyton Hillis can find his footing in the league again, and Giants head coach Tom Coughlin spoke about the signing during today’s press conference.
“Hillis knows the offense. He knows the terminology. That helps a lot. He’s a bigger back…he caught the ball very well in the workout. He’s been around. He’s a veteran football player. We know he can handle the first and second down stuff and hopefully he’ll not be too hard-pressed to pick up the third down stuff as well.”
I want to point out the fact that Coughlin praised Hillis for his ability to catch passes at his workout with the Giants, because that’s something that gets overlooked with Hillis. He’s actually a really talented pass-catcher, and he had 61 receptions in 2010.
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