Eric Gray, the New York Giants’ fifth-round selection in this year’s NFL draft, could be the future of the team’s rushing attack but for now, he’s strictly going be a returner and a depth player.
Gray was a star at Oklahoma and tumbled down the draft order to Day 3, where Giants’ general manager Joe Schoen adroitly snatched him up with the 172nd overall pick.
In Friday night’s preseason game against the Carolina Panthers, Gray displayed his tough inside running style by battering his way up the middle for a nine-year touchdown in the second quarter.
“I thought he ran with a good pad level,” head coach Brian Daboll told reporters on Saturday. “I thought it was well blocked upfront with the line and Belly (tight end Daniel Bellinger), there was some good finish in there and he had some good leg drive and finished it off there. That’s important, you have to get the ball downhill, mainly down there in the red zone and run with good pad level and leg drive, got to block it up well.
“The space is condensed, course patterns are a lot different. There is more guys in the box, there is usually an extra guy you are going to have to either run through or run around. It was good to see him be able to finish the play in the end zone.”
Gray was asked about the play and put it in simplistic terms.
“I saw the hole and said, ‘I gotta get in, I gotta get in’ and I hope they don’t yell at me for reaching the ball over the goal line but I gotta do it for the team,” he said with a laugh.
The play was reviewed and the touchdown was upheld. Gray wanted the actual football after the play to send to his mother, who wasn’t in attendance. That might be more challenging than the touchdown itself.
“They told me it was one of the 12 footballs in the bag,” Gray said.
