Veteran Giants quarterback Jameis Winston and rookie tight end Thomas Fidone II had an animated and extended conversation in the locker room after Thursday’s practice that revealed how player accountability happens in the NFL.
“The standard is the standard,” Winston, 31, told the Daily News on Friday.
“We’re very hard on each other, honestly,” Fidone, 23, said in a separate interview with The News.
Winston and Fidone run offensive plays together daily on the Giants‘ scout team. Winston is an 11th-year veteran trying to lead behind the scenes who is still eager to play well and produce whenever his next opportunity comes.
Fidone is a seventh-round rookie who — even if he might be on the verge of his NFL debut Sunday in New Orleans — is trying to remind the organization why he can help this team weekly on Sundays.
So sometimes the rookie requires constructive criticism from the veteran QB. Sometimes the QB receives clarification from the rookie. Sometimes there is disagreement on how a message is delivered and not necessarily about what that message is.
Winston and Fidone both want to make each other better. They both want to play and win. But every relationship is different.
And in two separate interviews with The News on Friday, Winston and Fidone described their dynamic as direct, constructive and evolving — all in the name of progress.
“Players being able to hold players accountable is way more important than coaches communicating to players,” Winston said.
JW: “An important part of leadership is knowing who you can push and knowing who you have to praise all the time. And I think honestly, in this generation, kids, they don’t take constructive criticism well. So how do you challenge them? You have to spend more time with them. You have to see what makes them go, what pushes them.
“Like last night, we [Fidone and Winston] had a long conversation at dinner, like, ‘Hey, who was one of your favorite coaches?’ So me understanding what is going to get you to be your best, and what can I do best to serve you? Because when you’re on the scout team, on the practice squad, every single day is competition time. So that’s my number one guy when I’m out there. And he’s trying to get better, and he’s a rookie. So I think it’s always that balance between knowing your teammates, knowing how they respond.”
Winston, a former No. 1 overall pick, has played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans and Cleveland Browns. At the moment, he is the No. 3 quarterback on the Giants’ depth chart behind Jaxson Dart and Russell Wilson.
But that just keeps him hungry: hungry to improve himself for his next opportunity and hungry to bring others, like Fidone, along with him.
“I’m always gonna push everybody, because I hold myself accountable, and I expect everybody else to hold me accountable, as well,” Winston said. “But I think it’s my duty to ensure that young guys don’t lose that youthfulness. When you’re a rookie, you gotta stay hungry. Especially if you’re an undrafted rookie or you know that you are capable of playing in the NFL but you’re not getting that opportunity yet, I want you to take that serious.”
“Because that is serious,” Winston added. “Because I was once that, and that’s why I want to be back. And I know how that feels, and I know [what] it looks like. So being able to share that with him and fill him in on certain things like, ‘Hey, this is how it’s done.’ [Tight end] Cam Brate was my guy at Tampa. I know what it looked like. I know how he worked. Because also I could communicate differently to Cam Brate than I did Fidone. So I think it’s consistently learning your guys and being the best resource you can to them.”
TF: “I think that’s just our relationship. We’re very hard on each other, honestly. Whether it’s in the locker room or at practice, we’re very much the same in some ways. Like if we see something, we’re gonna say it. We’re not gonna hold back. And one of us might disagree. And that’s where we’re kind of learning each other, in that way.
“Me and his relationship has definitely grown, and him being somebody I’ve looked up to since I was young. And getting those coaching points from him and being able to learn him and learn where he’s coming from, I think it’s been big for us and our relationship, for sure.”
JW: “When me and Fidone have a conversation, we both say we’re straightforward guys. So if we’re straight forward guys, when I shoot it to you straight, you can respond straight, but I stand on what I said. Whether you want me to sugar coat it or however you want me to relay the message, I just want the message to get through. If what I’m saying is not getting through to you, then what I’m saying is not worth it. I want to be able to speak to you in a manner that you receive it.
“So it doesn’t matter if they can take constructive criticism or if you’ve got to praise them all the time. If i’m not able to reach you or if you’re not comprehending what I’m saying and it’s not making you better, than I have to change up how I’m presenting it to you. And I told him, shoot, I’m learning you, too. We had training camp, I’m learning everybody in here who we can communicate with. But the standard is the standard, and we’re always gonna push to be our very best, because that’s what we love — we want to be the best we can possibly be.”
Winston added of Fidone: “I admire that about him: He works his butt off, and he wants to be great. I asked him, ‘Have you ever had anyone lead you? He’s like, ‘I really never had a leader from the offensive side outside of a coach.’ And I was like ‘Well, OK. And I want you to do the same thing for me.’ I don’t want this to be just a one-sided thing because then you’re gonna feel like I’m picking on you. I want you to have that freedom to say, ‘Man, Jameis, I was open here, you missed me on this, did you see this?’”
Fidone said if something goes wrong and needs it corrected, Winston is “gonna call it out.”
TF: “We’re much alike in that way. We’re very direct. To the point where it’s hard to see where we’re coming from sometimes, where I’m coming from, where he’s coming from. So that’s where me and him are just learning each other.”
JW: “We can have that collaborative [conversation], because I feel like collaboration leads to success. But if we take things defensively, then no one’s gonna get better. And if I’m saying something or I’m not able to communicate it in a way that you receive it, then we’re definitely not gonna get better. We’re just gonna be beefing. And I don’t want things to go around in a circle, because now it’s not progressive. And I want us to be progressive. Because t’s all about the work getting done and us doing our best.”
The veteran quarterback has seen teams succeed and fail, and he said player accountability is a consistent part of a good culture.
“I believe self-policing, players being able to hold players accountable, is way more important than coaches communicating to players about what they do,” he said. “The fact that we can sit in a meeting room and I tell Jaxson, ‘Hey, Jaxson, look at your footwork on this.’ And he’s like, ‘OK, cool.’ Or Russ can share, ‘Hey, Jameis, your front shoulder flew open on this.’ That self-policing is how you get better.
“Because they’re out there doing it. And then you’re like, ‘OK, he saw this, let me work hard at this.’ Self-policing, everywhere I’ve been, you win by player-to-player collaboration, not just coaches being on your butt.”
Fidone is the only scout team tight end on the Giants’ roster, so every day he is getting a ton of reps.
“It goes from special teams straight to scout team,” he said. “So it’s really eight to 10 to 12, 14 reps [on special teams] back-to-back-to-back. And I’ll get maybe one or two blows on scout if that, sometimes none. So it can definitely push me.”
But Fidone said he’s so much more advanced in the playbook now that he’s able to play “very relaxed” and is “not thinking too much.”
So whenever his opportunity comes, even if it only starts on special teams, he believes he is ready.
“I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from coaches in terms of doing my job and doing it at a high level and being on scout team, giving the ones a good look,” Fidone said. “Every rep is an opportunity to show what I can do with my ability, and I definitely think I’ve done that.
“It’s just a matter of time before the opportunity comes when I’m able to do that on Sunday,” he said. “And once that time comes, I won’t be looking back. Hopefully I can keep stacking those days and making more opportunities.”
That confidence is great. So is the guidance and feedback of a veteran like Winston, who shares Fidone’s urgency — both for himself and for the rookie tight end’s budding career.
