Sports

What Davis Webb thinks about Giants’ mess now that he’s a Jet

Davis Webb stood at his locker inside the Jets locker room and paused for about 20 seconds before answering.

Trying to choose his words carefully, Webb stammered a bit at the question of what he thinks of the Giants’ 1-6 start.

“I know uh … I think uh …,” Webb said, struggling to find the right words.

Webb is like the guy who had a ticket for the Titanic but never boarded the boat. The 2017 third-round pick by Big Blue was cut by the team the week before the season started. The Jets signed him to their practice squad and he has spent the past seven weeks running the scout-team offense in practice, trying to help the Jets defense get better while at the same time trying to improve, hoping he will get a starting shot somewhere soon.





“I think this could have been the best thing that happened to me,” Webb told The Post.

Webb may be happy to be a Jet, but he still keeps an eye on the Giants. He still has friends in that locker room. Sterling Shepard lives in his apartment building in Hoboken. He and Evan Engram have gone out to dinner. He still talks to Eli Manning occasionally.

“I’ve watched their games,” Webb said. “I think they’re really close to having a really, really good game coming up. I know it hasn’t gone the way they’ve wanted to, but I root for them every single Sunday.”

It would be understandable if Webb were bitter. The Post reported the plan last year by then-coach Ben McAdoo was to start Webb in the final three games of the season. If he were still on the Giants right now, the cries would be for him to replace Eli Manning. Instead, he spent this week pretending to be Mitchell Trubisky to get the Jets ready for the Bears.





“These are the cards I got dealt,” Webb said. “One way or another I’ve got to play them. I’m happy with them. I like being here.”

This season got off to a stunning start for Webb when the Giants cut him on Sept. 2, one week before the season opener. He had spent the summer as Manning’s backup. Then, general manager Dave Gettleman and coach Pat Shurmur, who did not draft him, cut him loose.

“You just don’t expect it,” Webb said. “You ask anyone over there and no one saw it coming. But it did. It took me a day or two to accept it and then once I did I was ready to rock and roll.”

He landed with the Jets and has done his best to help starter Sam Darnold, whom he has known since Darnold was in high school. His chances of sticking with the Jets beyond this year seem slim. Maybe he hangs around as Darnold’s backup next year, but the Jets likely will want someone with more experience.





Webb said he remains confident that someone is going to give him a chance.

“I know it’s going to come,” Webb said. “I know I’m ready. It’s just a matter of when and finding the right spot. It’s about timing. The timing has been a little off in the grand scheme of things from the whole Giants situation a year ago to the firings and the new coaching staff. I just have to keep grinding away and it will come.”

Grinding is what he’s done since arriving in Florham Park. Teammates have noticed his work ethic and how hard he works on the practice field. Before each game, he is on the field hours before kickoff working with assistant quarterbacks coach Mick Lombardi, throwing about 150 passes.





When he is running the scout team, he enjoys talking trash with the Jets starting defense.

“I try to get after Jamal [Adams] every day,” Webb said. “That’s kind of my goal.”

As for Manning, Webb considers him a friend and thinks everyone is being too hard on him.

“I don’t think he’s played bad at all,” Webb said. “I think whoever is writing about it and in the media, you have to understand what the whole game plan is. We don’t know that.

“I think things are getting blown out of proportion a bit … but I really don’t want to comment on what’s going on over there. I’m not there.”

Some Giants fans wish he was right now.





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