Xavier McKinney has had the green dot on his helmet in practice during the early stages of Giants training camp, meaning he is the one that is the signal-caller for the defense – a role he started learning during OTAs earlier this summer.
A new role for him in the pros, as he’s been used to seeing one of the linebackers (mostly Blake Martinez) in that role while he’s been in New York, but not something foreign to him on the whole.
“I mean I guess it’s different because the last two years it has been the backer, but it’s not something that's new to me. I've done it before at Alabama,” McKinney revealed. “It's not something that's surprising or it's not something that's too hard. It's different when you've got grown men in the huddle and you're trying to get the call to everybody. Obviously being on the backend of it, you might have to run 30 yards and run back to get the play to everybody, but it's not too unusual to me.”
It might be a little different only in terms of having to learn a new defensive playbook while also doing it – but that’s why new DC Wink Martindale hooked McKinney up with Eric Weddle, who filled the same role in Baltimore that X has with Big Blue.
“We were talking a little bit during OTAs, kind of went back and forth about it. Then he actually gave me Weddle's number,” McKinney said. “We talked, scheduled a couple phone calls, kind of went through some things and some film stuff. I asked him some questions. He just gave me some tips about a lot of different things. It was really helpful, and I enjoyed getting that experience from him.”
McKinney noted that even though it was all over the phone, “it was easy for us to visualize what we were talking about,” and it was easy to learn from Weddle.
“A guy like that, obviously, he's a special player. It was easy for him to explain it to me where I can understand it,” McKinney said. “He gave me a lot of good insight. He definitely helped me. Just being in OTAs, obviously, I was the play-caller and he was the play-caller all the time, so he definitely helped me with being able to communicate it the right way, how to disguise certain things and being on the same page with Wink. He kind of just let me know that Wink is an open book, and he's definitely a player's coach – somebody that's going to listen. He really helped me out in terms of looking at film, studying film, how he did it when he had Wink, so he was really helpful.”
One thing Weddle made sure to tell him was a little advice from Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock: speak clearly and project your voice.
“Yeah, you've definitely got to say it with your chest, but it's not too bad. I think once everybody got used to my voice – just hearing it – they got used to being able to get the whole call,” McKinney laughed. “Obviously, we've had some hiccups here and there because it was new to everybody, but I think we're good now. I'm making sure I'm still getting it to the backers, and they'll get it to the front. We're working through it, obviously. Not too bad.”
Already, McKinney is feeling more and more comfortable in the system day by day, so being able to call out the plays is getting easier and easier. He also got a bit of a promotion towards the end of Friday’s practice, too: a chance to take Wink’s job as the DC for a couple plays.
“We did that before in OTAs, kind of a competition between me and (Daniel Jones) where we’ll call basically the whole period for the offense and the defense,” McKinney smiled. “It's fun doing it. It's a competitive moment. Obviously, we're both trying to win so we are both trying to call the best play for us to succeed. It was cool.”
Jones’ offense beat McKinney’s D on Friday, leading X to quip that “I could have called a better defense, but I called what I called, and things happen.”
Hopefully, more good things will happen for him on the field as he gets more and more comfortable in the new defense and his new role – but so far, like Kadarius Toney with the offense, McKinney is already relishing the freedom of the new system.
“I am definitely still learning it, but I definitely feel a lot more comfortable because I'm able to kind of do everything. That's kind of been my main focus for a couple years now,” McKinney said. “I’m still learning through some things, and getting things down pat, but it’s definitely been fun being able to be everywhere on the field. It's something I always like doing.”
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