Isaiah Hodgins has an NFL pedigree, as his father, James, was a fullback in the league for eight years, winning a Super Bowl with the Rams and spending his final season with the Jets.
However, the younger Hodgins, a sixth-round pick of the Bills in 2020, played in just three games over his first 2 ½ seasons before joining the Giants last November – and the rest is history, as his long journey led to him leading Big Blue in receiving TD last year, and signing a new deal earlier this week.
“It was definitely a long journey, and looking back, it’s kind of crazy to see how far I’ve come – but I persevered and was patient, and a lot of people mentored me and kept me working hard,” Hodgins told Tiki & Tierney on Friday. “My dad, who played in the NFL, told me to use my time on the practice squad as an opportunity to face good players you may be playing against one day, and I was able to learn from guys like Stefon Diggs, Emmanuel Sanders, and Cole Beasley, and model my game after them.”
And, of course, because he spent 2 ½ years in Buffalo, he was familiar with Giants head coach Brian Daboll’s system, which let him
“Even though I was familiar with the offense, he told me I was going to have to earn a spot – but he said the more plays you make, the more opportunities you’ll get, and that made it easy to come in and get going right away.”
That kind of honesty is something Hodgins says you don’t often see in the NFL, but get from Daboll because he’s “real.”
“He’ll tell you when you’re doing good or doing bad, and he’s just real,” Hodgins said. “A lot of time in this league, there’s a lot of politics or things that change behind closed doors, but with Daboll that doesn’t happen; he’ll tell you what he thinks you can do better, but he’ll also encourage you when you’re doing good. A lot of players respect it because you don’t get that a lot in this league.”
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Because of that, even as the world was wondering if the Giants’ early success was a mirage, a function of the schedule, or something else, Hodgins knew his old OC was indeed building a strong culture in New York.
“We always kept a close eye on the Giants because of Daboll, and I feel like the whole world was trying to figure out if they were for real – but when I got there and saw how hard they work and how hard they practice, I knew it was real,” Hodgins said. “Having fun and winning starts with execution and playing at a high level. The more we started to do that, and it ramped up after we beat Washington, we felt like we knew we could win every game.”
Hodgins will be here for Year Two, and knows that the Giants have a little ways to go to close the gap between them and the top of the NFC East – but he’s confident it can, and will, be done.
“I think Daboll and Joe (Schoen) have a good plan in mind, and as players, we trust them,” Hodgins said. “Overall, it’s just making sure we improve on stuff we’re already good at, and clean up the stuff we need to get better at. I loved our defense last year, so if we can build around our offensive line and bring in a couple more weapons for Daniel Jones, we have a solid core here around that. Fill it in with a couple more pieces, whether in free agency or the draft, and this team will be scary next year.”
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