Giants safety Jason Pinnock, who was originally drafted by the Jets in 2021, covers some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: I sense a supreme confidence in you. Am I right?
A: (Laugh) Yeah, I’d definitely say that, needless to say. I’ve been on this league now three years, or occurring my third, and I’ve seen quote-unquote the most effective of the most effective or people who find themselves 10-plus mil guys, and it’s like, I do know what I’m, and I understand how I prepare.
Q: What are you?
A: I’m the most effective safeties on this league, and it’s just I haven’t been in a position to show that yet, and now it’s time, ?
Q: You may have a presence about you on the sphere.
A: No matter what number of compliments or whatever you get along the way in which, it’s gotta get done.
Q: Your father, Louis Pinnock Jr., told me that when your older brother Trey suffered his knee injury in highschool, you’ve been carrying the baton for him.
A: That was my idol, like, really, in every part. He’s got a 1-year-old, about to be 2, and just my idol as a father, after which specifically with my profession, yeah. I feel that every part that I’m doing, and I strive to be, is what I feel my brother might have been. So I feel like I owe it to him. He taught me every part, the ropes, from throwing the cones out, and doing my very own drills, and sort of separating myself from the group and dealing on my craft when it wasn’t popular. But yeah, his senior yr he tore his knee out, and just sort of seeing what he went through emotionally, how invested we were in the sport, so I just feel like I owe it to him.
Q: What did he undergo emotionally?
A: For athletes, after they lose that one thing that they were all-in, we all the time say, “Oh don’t put all of your eggs in a single basket,” and it’s like, on this occupation, you do, unfortunately. And I don’t even wish to say unfortunately. You get what you set in into this game. And just sort of finding his why, his biggest thing. And we got here from a football family, it was all football. So just sort of watching him undergo college, getting a 9-to-5, and sort of being in them offices, those meetings, and finding some identity inside that beyond football.
Q: He was a helluva player, too.
A: Yeah, yeah he was. He was.
Q: Your father also told me he thinks you’re also motivated because he never got to play in the professionals.
A: It’s funny, ’cause my girlfriend just got me an image, and it’s all three of us in a painting facing out right into a stadium. And it’s my dad in his [Indiana University] jersey, my brother in his highschool jersey, after which me in my Giants. It’s probably my favorite present ever. I feel like they’re living through me. And he says that loads. After I was younger, I couldn’t get my dad to go with me,. He coached me for 10 years, so it was tough getting a compliment from him.
Q: Have you ever ever watched tapes of him?
A: Yeah, I got ’em on my phone. I watch ’em before games. I got a pair of images of my brother in highschool. It’s in a certain album on my phone I all the time flip through.
Q: What did your father play?
A: He began as a real freshman fullback they usually had some injuries of their defensive end room and he converted, played that for 3 years … never made it to the large league, though.
Q: Did he seek advice from you about that?
A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was through my entire process. I could probably undergo a text now, like last 10 messages, it’s like he all the time tells me like, “I gotta pinch myself sometimes when people bring it up around me. It’s like, oh shoot, my son is within the NFL.” He’s real open about it now (smile). Like I joke with him now, I’m like, “Oh you’re a little bit softie now, huh?”
Q: Describe the night your friend and former Pitt teammate Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest.
A: For me, it sort of hit me more realization how much we put into this game, how grateful and just blessed we’re each play that we’re on the market, and we walk out on our two feet, and we go see our family. That hit for me. … That’s family to me. I’ll go to their house sometimes or eat or regardless of the case could also be — they treated me like family after they were nine hours away in Connecticut. It was scary, but like obviously at the purpose we’re at now with him back in pads, him back working, it’s like, wow, ?
Q: Whenever you spoke to him for the primary time after the incident, what do you remember him saying?
A: Just “Hey, I’m getting back, brother,” and like, “That is removed from the tip of me.”
Q: What did you do the morning the Jets released you before the team meetings on Aug. 30, 2022?
A: I just sat home, I called family, I allow them to know, and I remember I called my mom, and he or she thought I used to be joking. I used to be like, “I just got cut. I’m on the crib straight away,” and he or she’s like, “Ah boy, you’re so silly.” It was humbling, however it’s prefer it was a blessing in disguise for me. I all the time tell even the younger guys here, you gotta allow them to find out about your humbling experiences because that’s what this league is. You’ll get humbled. It’s about what you do after it, though.
Q: Then Giants general manager Joe Schoen called you.
A: I used to be right in Morristown [N.J.], drove right over. I used to be able to get to work.
Q: What time did you get to the Giants?
A: I used to be here no later than 3:30, 3:45 [p.m.].
Q: Whatever involves mind: Xavier McKinney?
A: Explosive … ballhawk … smart … communicator … leader.
Q: Adoree’ Jackson?
A: Funny … fast … technician … intelligent.
Q: Deonte Banks?
A: (Laugh) Funny as hell competitor … just a terrific dude.
Q: Jason Pinnock?
A: Confident … team player … explosive … funny.
Q: Trey Hawkins?
A: Serious … hard employee … blue collar … dog mentality.
Q: Dexter Lawrence?
A: (Smile) That’s probably my favorite player. He’s so funny, but he’s about his work. It’s a terrific balance. He’s an actual skilled, but he’s also very aware we’re playing a child’s game.
Q: Wink Martindale?
A: Charismatic … smart … accountable.
Q: Kayvon Thibodeaux?
A: Sarcastic (smile). . natural competitor … intelligent … athletic.
Q: Leonard Williams?
A: Only a beast down the center … smart … just an excellent person.
Q: How good can this defense be?
A: Elite. Elite. Elite. That’s all I’ll say.
Q: Describe the difference in Daniel Jones this yr.
A: That knowledge now, people could be sponges around him and absorb some information.
Q: Can he be a headache for defensive coordinators?
A: Obviously. And anybody who’s considering he’s not, I don’t understand why, but we’ll see.
Q: He’s a dual threat.
A: People forget, he can run. He can run.
Q: Brian Daboll?
A: Funny … accountable … leader needless to say.
Q: How would you rate your trash-talk game?
A: (Laugh) It is determined by what you’re grading it by. I believe mine is a solid 8 ¹/₂, 9, I’m just gonna inform you it’s gonna be a protracted day, ’cause football is thrashing the person across from you. My trash talk ain’t more so to place fear in your heart ‘cause it doesn’t really matter … such as you’re gonna must see me the entire game. I’m more passive with it … nothing crazy.
Q: When did Pinnock Island begin?
A: My sophomore yr [at Pitt]. I became a follow corner, whoever their best was, that was my responsibility for the week.
Q: What was it about Darrelle Revis that made him your idol?
A: You needed to game-plan around that. That was my favorite thing, I feel like as a defensive player, if offensive coordinators [don’t] know who you might be before the sport, you’re probably not an element. In the event that they don’t have a red jersey together with your number on it for that week in practice, then you definately’re probably not a man. And that’s what I need to be, I need to be any person who they gotta work around.
Q: LaDainian Tomlinson was your favorite back?
A: My uncle, Andrew Pinnock, he blocked for him over in San Diego for about six, seven years.
Q: What’s the largest adversity or obstacle you had to beat?
A: Probably my knee in 2018. I tore my lateral meniscus. That was my first time I had to observe the room grow, and me sort of just sit there and watch it. Nevertheless it was good for me to experience that early on in my profession.
Q: Tell me concerning the time you scored on a pick-six at the tip of a game with tears in your eyes since you thought you’ll lose.
A: Man, my daddy will need to have told you that one (laugh)! We were down like 4 or five, it was against sort of like our rival midget football team. I used to be 7 years old. It was the playoffs. It was over, mainly, it was like 13 seconds, it was third-and-7 or something, and clearly you’re not gonna throw the ball, they’re gonna run it. So I’m crying, I’m real emotional. Before the snap I’m tearing up. My mom all the time made fun of me, I got them crocodile tears so that they get thick, they usually were sort of blurry, after which I see him drop back, and I saw him come out, on like a little bit five-and-out, the tight end, and I’m like, “Oh he’s throwing this.” I don’t know, them tears dried up real fast, and I caught it and just ran. And my daddy, he ran with me the entire way, I saw him within the periph.
Q: What concerning the time you dropped a pass while wide open in midget football?
A: (Laugh) That right there, man, that’s my dad. That’s my dad for 10 years who coached me. I probably scored seven touchdowns that Jamboree, and we got in that automotive and that’s all he talked about — the one which I dropped. He hates when a receiver’s hands aren’t above their eyes when it’s a deep ball, ’cause he says they’d be attempting to be pretty, or catch it looking good, whatever the way in which he phrased it (smile). It was against our rival, that’s why he was mad.
Q: For those who could pick the brain of any safety in NFL history, who wouldn’t it be?
A: Ed Reed. He did loads of questionable things on film that it was like he had to know that was coming, ?
Q: For those who could cover any tight end or wide receiver in NFL history?
A: Randy Moss.
Q: Superstitions?
A: TV volume must be on a multiple of 5. Don’t ask me why.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Probability the Rapper, Ed Reed, Drake.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “The Hangover.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Lil Rel [Howery].
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Sandra Bullock.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: My lady makes steak suggestions, mashed potatoes and asparagus.
Q: Give me a scouting report on you as a security.
A: Versatile. After I’m within the box, but you don’t know if he’s blitzing in man or curl flat. I can get to the center of the sphere and canopy the deep a part of the sphere from the road of scrimmage. I can cover the center of the sphere. I’m a red-line-to-red-line guy. I can play man, corner is in my blood. I can jump. I believe I’m all of it, truthfully.
Q: How good of a blitzer are you?
A: An amazing blitzer. I believe that’s where I sort of got my identity on this defense was blitzing.
Q: Who’re quarterbacks you’re looking forward to intercepting?
A: My whole division.