EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The question was a simple one: “Have you done enough?”
David Douglas insists not yet, which is why he can’t wait to step inside MetLife Stadium for Thursday night’s preseason finale against the Patriots with one last chance to show the Giants he belongs on the team.
“I’m not sure you ever feel completely satisfied that you’ve done enough, but there has to be a level of confidence that you have,” Tracy said. “Out of the chances you receive, you better do everything you can to make the most of them.”
Douglas has been one of the brightest, albeit unexpected, preseason stars for the Giants, making plays and gaining plenty of attention while also garnering raves from teammates and the coaching staff, most notably coach Tom Coughlin.
But with teams needing to trim rosters from 75 players to a regular-season ready 53 by Friday night, there certainly remains a fine line between changing front-office opinions and reinforcing them as the Giants prepare for the final exhibition of the summer.
Douglas is among the group of wide receivers pushing to earn a spot behind mainstays Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, rookie Rueben Randle, veteran Domenik Hixon and Ramses Barden, whose performance against the Jets likely secured his place.
“When coaches give you an opportunity, you’ve got to go out and make plays if you want to make this team. That’s the bottom line,” Douglas said. “You have to do a lot of things to help yourself as far as being versatile to improve your chances of making the team.”
Douglas admittedly has an uphill battle to make the final roster. His biggest competitor is more than likely Jerrel Jernigan, last year’s third-round pick who started off very strong in camp before losing what was believed his stranglehold on the job of punt returner with ball-security issues.
An undrafted free agent out of Arizona, Douglas made an array of spectacular catches during camp and proved steady when given a chance to return punts against the Bears last Friday. At the very least, the Giants could be hoping Douglas clears waivers if released, which would allow them to bring him back to their practice squad.
There’s just one problem with that: Douglas might already have done too much, piquing the interest of the rest of the league in the process.
“You don’t even think about whether you’ve done enough,” Douglas said. “You just think about this game and go out and do everything you can to make plays. You’ve got to do everything you can to make the team and put it on them, take advantage of every chance you get to put on that helmet. I’m not going out there thinking about getting cut. You’ve just got to go out there and play, and whatever happens is going to happen.”
