Daniel Jones, Giants aren’t saying much about his maskless night on the town

Daniel Jones made his first public comments since he was caught on camera with running back Saquon Barkley partying indoors at a bar in Manhattan last Saturday.

Jones largely declined to comment on the photos during his media availability on Thursday, instead stating that he spoke with Giants head coach Joe Judge and the Giants were opting to handle their situation internally.

“I certainly respect the question and acknowledge the importance of it,” Jones said. “But Coach spoke about it the other day. We have a way of handling those things. We’re going to handle it internally here. Our focus is on the Bucs this week and being prepared to play Monday night.”

Judge spoke about the incident earlier in the week and said that he had talked with Jones.

“I’ve spoken to all of the individuals involved as well as the entire team on what happened this past weekend,” Judge said. “We’re going to deal with things internally. The only thing I’m going to say on that is this group of guys has been very responsible from the very beginning. They’ve tried to do the right thing the entire time. Based on the conversations and the information I’ve gathered from our players, I believe they were trying to do the right thing as teammates with going out and having dinner together the other night.”

The league hasn’t hammered the Giants or Jones or Barkley with a punishment for their issues, but the Giants appear to have handled this situation internally for now. No one on the outside really knows what that means. But Judge’s influence is clear on how Giants players are speaking to the media this year.

At least if Jones gets caught on the town after his bout with the Buccaneers top-ranked defense on Monday Night Football, everyone will understand. The Giants had several starting offensive linemen miss Thursday’s practice due to contact tracing after offensive guard Will Hernandez tested positive for COVID-19.

Judge said that he is expecting Hernandez to play on Monday night and doesn’t believe that the game will be postponed.

INJURY/COVID UPDATE

Hernandez testing positive led to offensive tackle Andrew Thomas, offensive tackle Cam Fleming, center Nick Gates, offensive guard Shane Lemieux and center Spencer Pulley missing Thursday’s practice due to contact tracing. Running back Devonta Freeman missed Thursday’s practice with an ankle injury.

Wide receiver C.J. Board (concussion/non-contact), wide receiver Sterling Shepard (shoulder), safety Adrian Colbert (shoulder) and cornerback Darnay Holmes (neck) were limited on Thursday.

———

©2020 New York Daily News

Visit New York Daily News at www.nydailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.