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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Giant Hubtle Podcast presented by Fordham. I

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Speaker 1: am joined by the Director of Football Operations, Ed Triggs

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Speaker 1: and uh and what is the director of football operations

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Speaker 1: job entail? What doesn't it entail is a better question, Bob,

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Speaker 1: But for me, it's it's salary cap, managing the cap,

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Speaker 1: planning for the future. Uh, it's contract negotiations, compiling the contracts,

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Speaker 1: sending them to agents, negotiating them. And it's compliance with

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Speaker 1: the c b A. You know, the CBIA is about

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Speaker 1: five thousand pages. A lot of rules in there when

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Speaker 1: it comes to offseason workouts, when it comes to what

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Speaker 1: you can and cannot put in contracts, and it's my

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Speaker 1: job to make sure we don't we don't screw any

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Speaker 1: of that stuff up. Let's talk about your journey before

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Speaker 1: we get into present day. UM. I mean I've known

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Speaker 1: you since you started in two thousand three, started in

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Speaker 1: the video department. Um. What was that experience like for

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Speaker 1: you to kind of start working with an NFL team

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Speaker 1: and working closely with coaches and players. Yeah, it was.

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Speaker 1: It was a great learning experience. I mean, you you

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Speaker 1: have all the video in the world at your fingertips

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Speaker 1: and it's your job to edit it, it's your job

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Speaker 1: to film it, and you're you're inbedded in the filming

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Speaker 1: of these individual drills. I mean, I was a twenty

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Speaker 1: two year old giant fan when when I got the

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Speaker 1: job and I'm filming defensive line drills with Michael Strahan

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Speaker 1: and it's one of those Keith Hamilton's. It's one of

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Speaker 1: those surreal moments where you're like, don't get run over

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Speaker 1: and make sure you keep these humongous guys in the frame.

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Speaker 1: So that was the start of it, and then you know,

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Speaker 1: really being introduced to Coach Coughlin was the jumping off

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Speaker 1: point and for me in my career and basically becoming

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Speaker 1: an adult in this industry. Talk about Coach Coughlin and

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Speaker 1: his influence on you because you start, you know, on

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Speaker 1: the lower level of the video side of things, and

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Speaker 1: then your responsibility started to grow more and more. Um,

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Speaker 1: what is it about Coach Coughlin that was so important? Well,

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Speaker 1: I had heard the stories from people in Jacksonville that

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Speaker 1: he was he was tough, he was demanding, but he

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Speaker 1: was fair. So when he got hired, he needed somebody

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Speaker 1: to do his presentations, his team meetings, and I kind

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Speaker 1: of got volunteered as the guy to do that in

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Speaker 1: two thousand four. So I'm a twenty two year old kid.

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Speaker 1: I sit in Tom Coughlin's office at seven o'clock in

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Speaker 1: the morning. He's like, I need you to put these

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Speaker 1: five thousand things in a power point And I had

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Speaker 1: never even used power point before. So sit down there,

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Speaker 1: and every day for twelve fifteen year whatever it was,

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Speaker 1: we we met every morning at seven o'clock and we

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Speaker 1: kind of developed the themes and the mottoes and everything

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Speaker 1: that was going to try and inspire the football team.

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Speaker 1: But I mean he taught me countless, countless things such as,

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Speaker 1: you know, the pride, pride when it comes to your work,

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Speaker 1: Pride that your signature is attached to anything you do. Um.

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Speaker 1: He taught me about teamwork, taught me about the fact

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Speaker 1: that you can't do anything by yourself. And I think

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Speaker 1: that that's something that reigns true in in any job

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Speaker 1: across the country, is that you need help from other

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Speaker 1: people and they need help from you. And I think

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Speaker 1: that his the success that he had as a direct

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Speaker 1: relation to to those themes. What were some of the

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Speaker 1: things in your experiences. Obviously you were part of a

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Speaker 1: team that won two Super Bowls, so you've got a

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Speaker 1: chance to literally live what it's like when a team

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Speaker 1: starts to win. UM that encouraged you or got you

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Speaker 1: fired up to take the next steps in your career

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Speaker 1: journey from video to where you are right now. Well,

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Speaker 1: one of the things that stands out is when we

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Speaker 1: had that success in two thousand seven and two thousand

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Speaker 1: and eleven, the way that each tier of the roster

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Speaker 1: had a grizzled veteran at the position. Each position group

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Speaker 1: had that guy, whether it was Antonio Pearson linebacker, room

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Speaker 1: or Strayhand or Sam Madison or r W mcquarters on

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Speaker 1: the outside, and those guys were the ones who led

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Speaker 1: the way. And then the way that Strayhand taught Ossi

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Speaker 1: and talk Talk and talk Kiwanuka. That kind of team

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Speaker 1: building and that kind of roster structure is something that's

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Speaker 1: that's always fascinated me. Now, it's not easy to do,

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Speaker 1: and we got we got lucky with a lot of guys, um,

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Speaker 1: but a Monty tom Or teaching those young guys Steve Smith, UM,

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Speaker 1: that's something that really stood out and it was important

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Speaker 1: and I think it's something that still ranged true today.

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Speaker 1: So now here are is the director of football operations.

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Speaker 1: You talked a lot about the contracts, C B A

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Speaker 1: and those things. How did you prepare yourself for this

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Speaker 1: next role that you now served with the team. Well,

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Speaker 1: I think you take some of the fundamentals, you know,

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Speaker 1: the hard work of it, the discipline of it, the

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Speaker 1: fact that you have to literally learn the C B A.

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Speaker 1: Learned how contracts are structured, study the contracts around the

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Speaker 1: entire entire league, and that's uh, that's something that that

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Speaker 1: has helped me as director of football operations. You know,

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Speaker 1: you learn, you learn by reading, you learn by doing,

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Speaker 1: and you learn by seeing what other people do. And

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Speaker 1: that's that's kind of my approach to this thing. And

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Speaker 1: you learn every day, whether it's a new memo comes

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Speaker 1: out from the league or a new rule, or someone's

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Speaker 1: doing something funky in a contract around the league and

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Speaker 1: you got to say, well, why are they doing this?

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Speaker 1: If we did this, would this help us gain a

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Speaker 1: competitive advantage? Is there something that we can do to

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Speaker 1: gain a competitive advantage in our contracts? And it's it's

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Speaker 1: a it's a a learning process that never stops, all right.

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Speaker 1: So you went to William Patterson Did you ever dream?

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Speaker 1: And your wildest dreams that this would be your career.

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Speaker 1: Arc No, No, not not in a million years, Not

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Speaker 1: in a million years. I mean I think that when

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Speaker 1: you when you bust your butt and you work hard,

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Speaker 1: you can accomplish a lot of things, stuff that you

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Speaker 1: never thought you could ever accomplish. Um. But yeah, I

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Speaker 1: had no clue that this is where my my career

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Speaker 1: would end up. But it's something that you don't take

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Speaker 1: for granted. You have to earn the job every day,

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Speaker 1: just like everybody in this building. We have to earn

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Speaker 1: the right to be here because if we're not helping,

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Speaker 1: if we're not helping us reach that next level, then

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Speaker 1: they should find somebody who who can't. Can you talk

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Speaker 1: a little bit about what Joe Shane has brought to

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Speaker 1: this overall operation. He's starting to reshape it and revamp

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Speaker 1: it in the way that he wants it, and it's

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Speaker 1: not a finished product yet. And then Brian Dabile doing

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Speaker 1: the same thing football was, and what that experience has

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Speaker 1: been like for you. Well, Joe's first day, I got

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Speaker 1: in at six o'clock in the morning to work out.

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Speaker 1: I'm thinking maybe he'll be working out. I'm gonna try

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Speaker 1: and beat him. In. When I walked into the staff

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Speaker 1: locker room, he finished his workout already and I was like, Wow,

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Speaker 1: this guy is They told me all I need to

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Speaker 1: know about him, um, and that's what I had heard

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Speaker 1: from other people around the league. He's a he's a grinder,

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Speaker 1: he's a hard worker. But most importantly, he's a great guy.

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Speaker 1: And that's what I've come to learn over the over

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Speaker 1: the past five months, that that he's a people person.

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Speaker 1: He listens to what we as a staff have to say.

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Speaker 1: When it comes to a topic. He'll ask your opinion,

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Speaker 1: understanding that he may not always listen to it, but

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Speaker 1: all we can do is present the facts to him

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Speaker 1: or give him what we feel about about a contract,

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Speaker 1: about a player. Um. But he's fair. His energy is

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Speaker 1: is through the roof. I mean, you don't get up

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Speaker 1: at five o'clock in the morning start your day with

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Speaker 1: an hour workout if you don't have that that energy

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Speaker 1: and that juice and the beauty of it is coach

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Speaker 1: tables the same way they feed off each other. They're

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Speaker 1: they're in unison with their principles. They're in unison with

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Speaker 1: the smart, tough and dependable aspect. That motto. Um, and

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Speaker 1: you could just feel it throughout the entire building, the

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Speaker 1: juice that's here, and it's something that you wake up

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Speaker 1: in the morning, you run to work, and you say,

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Speaker 1: I'm excited to be here every day. And I think

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Speaker 1: that's something that that will bring to the field on

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Speaker 1: on game day as well. And the fact that they

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Speaker 1: brought in new people has that sort of energized you,

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Speaker 1: like with your role of now getting new people into

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Speaker 1: the building and different sets of ideas and having it

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Speaker 1: much more collaborative. Yeah, the guys that we brought in

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Speaker 1: and have been outstanding. You know, Brandon Brown is as

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Speaker 1: smart as they come. Um, he's he's another guy who

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Speaker 1: listens to your ideas, but he also wants to talk

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Speaker 1: about his experiences. I mean, he's had a lot of

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Speaker 1: success in Indie, a lot of success in Philly, and

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Speaker 1: he's a he's a great asset and a great ally

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Speaker 1: to bounce ideas off of. Um. You know, Christopher's Ettie

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Speaker 1: or new director pro Scouting, he's as smart as they come.

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Speaker 1: To He's He's opened my eyes about things from the

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Speaker 1: workout process to the waiver wire every day to adding

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Speaker 1: talent um and it trickles down to his department some

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Speaker 1: of the guys we kept like Nicola Testa and Corey Lockett,

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Speaker 1: Stephen Price. Um, those guys are phenomenal at what they

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Speaker 1: do and Chris just adds another layer to it. Um.

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Speaker 1: It's it's been. It's been a great experience getting to

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Speaker 1: know those guys as people too, because that's that's the

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Speaker 1: beauty of this industry is we spend so much time

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Speaker 1: together that you have to get to know him as people.

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Speaker 1: And those are the guys that you don't mind spending

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Speaker 1: twelve hour days with because you know they're putting in

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Speaker 1: the same hard work that you're putting in with the

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Speaker 1: same common goal. Is at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: Although your job title and your role has you a

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Speaker 1: skewed more towards front office, it's got to be a

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Speaker 1: big help for you bay stunt where you started. Whereas

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Speaker 1: a video person, you are there for the coaches and

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Speaker 1: those phone banks in your room where every coach could

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Speaker 1: pick it up and you've got to get down to

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Speaker 1: my room. We need this. That's got to help in

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Speaker 1: your experience. Yeah, it's it's almost like the the on

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Speaker 1: demand nature of of working in the NFL. It changes

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Speaker 1: in roles, but the principle of it stays the same.

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Speaker 1: So whereas it was picking up the phone at ten

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Speaker 1: at night because someone needed help with the video issue,

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Speaker 1: now it's you may have an issue, a CB a issue,

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Speaker 1: or we may need to flag a guy in who

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Speaker 1: got cut and he just cleared waivers and we got

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Speaker 1: to get him on that first flight out in the morning.

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Speaker 1: So so the principle of it hasn't changed. Final question, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know from your time in the video room, I

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Speaker 1: know that you grew very close with Eli Manning, Um,

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Speaker 1: and I know that someone that you admire. What was

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Speaker 1: the coolest thing about your personal interactions with Eli Because

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Speaker 1: for him to be as good as he was, he

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Speaker 1: had to do a lot of preparation, and you were

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Speaker 1: kind of on the ground law of all that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean he would. He was NonStop. He was always

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Speaker 1: in the building, he was always he was always making

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Speaker 1: cut ups. He was always meeting with the receiver separately

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Speaker 1: or the offensive line separately. Um. He was constantly busting

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Speaker 1: everyone's chops, which I think you need that levity to

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Speaker 1: go with the serious nature of playing quarterback in New York.

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Speaker 1: And he's one of those guys that his his plan

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Speaker 1: and his path was perfect because the way he balanced

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Speaker 1: the hard work and he balanced the lighter side of

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Speaker 1: things when it comes to the pressure of of of

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Speaker 1: quarterback in the city. And well, we appreciate you sharing

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Speaker 1: a couple of minutes with us and then and giving

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Speaker 1: the Giants fans little inside us to what goes on

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Speaker 1: on all the different layers of the organization. I appreciate it, Bob.

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Speaker 1: That's Ed Triggs, the Director of Football Operations, joining us

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Speaker 1: for this edition of the Giants Huddle podcast presented by

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Speaker 1: Fordham