The New York Giants’ brief experiment with Kelvin Benjamin came to a rather quick end, with the team cutting the wide receiver, who was aiming to make their roster as a tight end, on Wednesday.
Benjamin was seen storming off the field at training camp and later sounded off on Giants head coach Joe Judge.
“It was just like they were trying to sabotage me to get me out of there,” he told Zack Rosenblatt of NJ Advance Media.
Benjamin, who had not played in the NFL since 2018 with the Kansas City Chiefs, called his time with the Giants “a hoax.”
“I don’t want to bash anyone, but I just felt like Joe [Judge] has had it out to get me since I walked into that team building,” Benjamin said. “It never felt right. The guy never even had a conversation with me until the day they signed me.”
Benjamin was told at the end of Giants minicamp that he needed to get his weight down from 265 to 251, but he showed up weighing 268 after putting on muscle.
He passed the Giants’ conditioning tests a day earlier for tight ends and no one said anything to him. But when he jogged out onto the field for warm-ups on Wednesday, Judge pulled him aside and told Benjamin he was going to be fined for showing up 17 pounds overweight.
“I was like, ‘How are you going to do that?’” Benjamin said. “I said, ‘So you want me to be a smaller tight end than when I played wide receiver?’ He had nothing to say. He quieted down.”
Giants general manager Dave Gettleman also came over to join the conversation.
“[Judge] didn’t even talk to me [Tuesday],” Benjamin said. “The day before practice, he didn’t bring all of this up. I just felt like the dude didn’t like me. Mr. Gettleman knew exactly what went down. It’s crazy how they twisting the narrative about everything like it’s a joke. They make it seem like we don’t even matter. That’s the thing about humanity, man.”
A Giants spokesperson declined to issue a statement in response to Benjamin’s comments, while Judge addressed reporters prior to the start of practice on Wednesday.
Benjamin said he has no desire to pursue any more opportunities in the NFL and left with one final parting shot at Judge.
“I have a perspective on Joe Judge,” he said. “He’s not a coach that can ever win a Super Bowl because he sits there and cusses all day. You can tell he’s one-sided about everything. He’s a know-it-all. That’s not how it’s supposed to work. We all can learn from each other. We’re all humans at the end of the day. The true colors will come out.”
The 30-year-old was a former first round pick (28th overall) of the Carolina Panthers in the 2014 NFL Draft out of Florida State. After two-and-a-half years with the Panthers, he was traded to the Buffalo Bills at the NFL Trade Deadline.
While with the Bills, Benjamin appeared in 18 games, reeling in just 39 receptions for 571 yards and two touchdowns. After a lackluster 12 games with the Bills to start the 2018 season, Buffalo released Benjamin, who then joined the Chiefs for three more games.
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