New York Giants running back Devin Singletary was inactive from Week 3-5. In Weeks 1,2, and 6 — while the Giants were trying to figure out a workable backfield rotation — Singletary carried the ball only 13 times.
Yet, there he was on the final play of overtime in Week 7 against the Houston Texans, the last man standing from what had been a four-man competition. An unhappy Najee Harris had been cut days before. Tyrone Tracy suffered a hamstring injury in the first half that would land him on IR. One
play earlier, Cam Skattebo had injured his own hamstring on a career-best 42-yard run.
So, it was Singletary left to take the handoff from J.J. McCarthy at the Texans’ 30-yard line in a tie game. Suddenly, he was in the secondary. Then, after a couple of nifty cuts, he was in the end zone and the Giants had won a game.
In the post-game madness, a jubilant Singletary and head coach John Harbaugh landed in a heap on the ground.
Singletary said this week that “I still don’t know” if Harbaugh tackled him, or vice versa.
“I think we just tripped,” Singletary said. “As Coach would say, it’s football joy. You go through a lot to be able to get to football joy. We were just so happy, so excited. He was telling me how much he loved me. I was telling him how much I loved him.”
Singletary said there “was never no bad feelings” between himself and Harbaugh because of the eight-veteran’s lack of opportunities. Singletary, 29, understand that it was “business.”
Of course Singletary, who has more than 1,100 carries and 5,000 NFL rushing yards, didn’t like not playing. He did appreciate Harbaugh’s honesty.
“One thing I do respect about him, he kept it real with me. You don’t always see that in the league. That’s why I always got so much respect for him for that reason,” Singletary said. “It was just, this is what it is right now. I need you to stay patient and we’ll see how it plays out. Simple as that.
“I was like, I appreciate that. Some people won’t even tell you that. They’ll just leave you there with no answers, with nothing.”
It played out such that Singletary got to play the hero against the team he gained a career-high in rushing yards for in 2023.
“I wouldn’t say frustrating,” Singletary said in reference to his lack of playing time. “It’s like, yes, part of it is how the game goes. It’s a lot of competition. It’s a deep backfield. But as far as being a pro, that’s me. That’s how I was brought up.
“I’m going to always go about my business the right way. Stay ready, because when that opportunity comes, you want to be ready to seize the moment instead of being so mad or whatever it is, sad or whatever, and you can’t capture the moment when it’s here.”
After the Texans game, Harbaugh said Singletary’s lack of playing time was “on me.”
“We were looking for the formula, and Devin wasn’t — he was the odd man out for a number of weeks. Not because of anything he did or didn’t do, he just was the odd man out, and that’s exactly what I told him,” Harbaugh said. “He asked me, ‘what can I do?’ I said, ‘there’s nothing you can do, you’re doing everything you can do, and your time will come’. It was going to come. And look where it came, right there, and he came through.”
Offensive coordinator Matt spoke this week about how appreciative he is of Singletary’s professionalism.
“We went through the whole thing with the different running backs and four or five guys and he’s been here from day one, from OTA’s, and through training camp, through the season, wasn’t playing, wasn’t active. And he’d sit back in practice when he wasn’t playing and not say a word, but just be completely professional,” Nagy said. “And we talked, and we talked about great things happen to great people and I just think back to that Texans game, and when he scored that touchdown at the end, the discussions that we had in practice when he wasn’t playing, he never became negative, he never made it about him. He was as great of a professional player as there was, and look what happened.
“And I think it’s a story for young kids, it’s a story for vets to be patient, to understand things happen for a reason and when he scored that touchdown, I couldn’t think but anything of how he handled himself the entire last five weeks. And we talked about it in the locker room, and I think for him, what a credit and we’re lucky to have him.”
Baseball fans might recall the name Tommy Henrich, an outfielder/first baseman for the New York Yankees from 1937-1950. His nickname was ‘Old Reliable’. In a way, it is what Singletary has become for Harbaugh’s Giants.
Now, with Tracy on IR and Skattebo perhaps unable to play Sunday against the Eagles, Singletary is likely to be the lead back.
“I know what I can do. I want to be able to display that,” Singletary said. “We’ll see what this week brings, but yeah, I’m excited.”
