New York Giants rookies Justin Pugh and Ryan Nassib have been two peas in a pod long before they were drafted in the first and fourth rounds, respectively, in this past April’s NFL Draft.
Pugh protected quarterback Nassib’s blind side for four years as Syracuse’s left tackle. Both grew up and played their high school ball in the Philadelphia suburbs 50 miles apart from each other. Now only five lockers separate the two budding NFL stars as they have been given the opportunity to break into the NFL together. With the New York Giants opening their mandatory mini-camp on Tuesday, it’s something both rookies cherish.
“It’s definitely a great thing to have him there just to bounce ideas off, [to] go over our playbooks together. To have him there, it’s great for me and I know it’s great for him,” Pugh said.
“[To] have someone you’re already friends with is a great crutch,” Nassib said. “Just to have a guy to go through it all — bouncing stuff off each other, reminding each other of meeting times, stuff like that. Having a familiar face around here is definitely a huge help.”
Even their answers are similar.
The hype of Pugh, touted as a late-first round pick in the draft, and Nassib, who was projected anywhere from the top 10 to the fourth round, entering the draft made the possibility of playing together real.
“I just got goose bumps,” Pugh recalled back in April when he received the news that the Giants took teammate Nassib two days after selecting him.
“We were ecstatic,” Nassib said. “We were pumped. We were like ‘How did this happen?’”
It happened because the Giants were in need of immediate offensive line help as they took Pugh 22nd overall to anchor the ground game as he’s slated to be vie for the starting right tackle position. Nassib became much more attractive to the Giants, who have a franchise quarterback in Eli Manning, after sliding to the fourth round as a long-term projected heir to Manning’s throne.
Nassib, who is surprisingly soft spoken given his field general persona on the field, undoubtedly has the longer road to NFL stardom as he has to not only leapfrog Manning, but veteran journey men quarterbacks like David Carr and Curtis Painter. After slipping to the fourth round, Nassib still has a chip on his shoulder, one that he’s OK with staying there until it’s his time.
“It’s been a big motivation, for sure,” he said. “It’s something that you really don’t talk about; you kind of keep it in. I mean, you don’t talk about, you play about it.”
Despite feeling slighted, he can’t deny the opportunity he has to learn from one of the game’s best in a stress-free environment.
“They are one of the top organizations in the league and to learn under one of the top quarterbacks is a great opportunity at the start of my career,” he said. “I’m just going to take everything in stride, learn as much as I can everyday and get better.”
Pugh, on the other hand, is still enjoying the fruits of his first-round stardom. He was all smiles at teammate Justin Tuck’s 5th annual celebrity billiards tournament in May as he joked around with veterans on the red carpet outside Slate NYC, yet he still remains humble in the locker room.
“It’s been crazy. It’s been a whirlwind ever since the draft,” Pugh confessed. “But right now, everyday is about getting better and better, learn something from yesterday and get better tomorrow. It’s like building a snowball; you start small and then get bigger and bigger.”
Both Nassib and Pugh will have to protect each other when the team reunites for Training Camp later this summer, as the Giants — and the 31 other NFL teams — will surely get their shots at the rookies.
“I’m going to be on my toes. I’m expecting the worst. It’s just a part of being a rookie,” Nassib said.
Hopefully for the rookie quarterback he’ll still have the 6-foot-4, 301-pound Pugh blocking his blindside.
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