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 would definitely say that, for sure. I’ve been in this league now three years, or going on my third, and I’ve seen quote-unquote the best of the best or people who are 10-plus mil guys, and it’s like, I know what I am, and I know how I prepare.
Q: What are you?
A: I’m one of the best safeties in this league, and it’s just I haven’t been able to show that yet, and now it’s time, you know?
Q: You have a presence about you on the field.
A: Regardless of how many compliments or whatever you get along the way, it’s gotta get done.
Q: Your father, Louis Pinnock Jr., told me that when your older brother Trey suffered his knee injury in high school, you’ve been carrying the baton for him.
A: That was my idol, like, really, in everything. He’s got a 1-year-old, about to be 2, and just my idol as a father, and then specifically with my career, yeah. I feel that everything that I’m doing, and I strive to be, is what I feel my brother could have been. So I feel like I owe it to him. He taught me everything, the ropes, from throwing the cones out, and doing my own drills, and kind of separating myself from the crowd and working on my craft when it wasn’t popular. But yeah, his senior year he tore his knee out, and just kind of seeing what he went through emotionally, how invested we were in the game, so I just feel like I owe it to him.
Q: What did he go through emotionally?
A: For athletes, when they lose that one thing that they were all-in, we always say, “Oh don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” and it’s like, in this profession, you do, unfortunately. And I don’t even like to say unfortunately. You get what you put in into this game. And just kind of finding his why, his biggest thing. And we came from a football family, it was all football. So just kind of watching him go through college, getting a 9-to-5, and kind of being in them offices, those meetings, and finding some identity within 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 pros.
A: It’s funny, ’cause my girlfriend just got me a picture, and it’s all three of us in a painting facing out into a stadium. And it’s my dad in his [Indiana University] jersey, my brother in his high school jersey, and then me in my Giants. It’s probably my favorite present ever. I feel like they’re living through me. And he says that a lot. When I was younger, I couldn’t get my dad to compliment me,. He coached me for 10 years, so it was tough getting a compliment from him.
Q: Have you ever watched tapes of him?
A: Yeah, I got ’em on my phone. I watch ’em before games. I got a couple of pictures of my brother in high school. It’s in a certain album on my phone I always flip through.
Q: What did your father play?
A: He started as a true freshman fullback and they had some injuries in their defensive end room and he switched over, played that for three years … never made it to the big league, though.
Q: Did he talk to you about that?
A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was through my entire process. I could probably go through a text now, like last 10 messages, it’s like he always tells me like, “I gotta pinch myself sometimes when people bring it up around me. It’s like, oh shoot, my son is in the NFL.” He’s real open about it now (smile). Like I joke with him now, I’m like, “Oh you’re a little softie now, huh?”
Q: Describe the night your friend and former Pitt teammate Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest.
A: For me, it kind of hit me more realization how much we put into this game, how grateful and just blessed we are each play that we’re out there, and we walk out on our two feet, and we go see our family. That hit for me. … That’s family to me. I will go to their house sometimes or eat or whatever the case may be — they treated me like family when they were nine hours away in Connecticut. It was scary, but like obviously at the point we’re at now with him back in pads, him back working, it’s like, wow, you know?
Q: When you spoke to him for the first time after the incident, what do you remember him saying?
A: Just “Hey, I’m getting back, brother,” and like, “This is far from the end 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 let them know, and I remember I called my mom, and she thought I was joking. I was like, “I just got cut. I’m at the crib right now,” and she’s like, “Ah boy, you’re so stupid.” It was humbling, but it’s like it was a blessing in disguise for me. I always tell even the younger guys here, you gotta let them know about your humbling experiences because that’s what this league is. You will get humbled. It’s about what you do after it, though.
Q: Then Giants general manager Joe Schoen called you.
A: I was right in Morristown [N.J.], drove right over. I was ready to get to work.
Q: What time did you get to the Giants?
A: I was here no later than 3:30, 3:45 [p.m.].
Q: Whatever comes to 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 great dude.
Q: Jason Pinnock?
A: Confident … team player … explosive … funny.
Q: Trey Hawkins?
A: Serious … hard worker … 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 great balance. He’s a real professional, but he’s also very aware we’re playing a kid’s game.
Q: Wink Martindale?
A: Charismatic … smart … accountable.
Q: Kayvon Thibodeaux?
A: Sarcastic (smile). . natural competitor … intelligent … athletic.
Q: Leonard Williams?
A: Just a beast down the middle … smart … just a good 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 year.
A: That knowledge now, people can be sponges around him and soak up some information.
Q: Can he be a headache for defensive coordinators?
A: For sure. And anybody who’s thinking 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 for sure.
Q: How would you rate your trash-talk game?
A: (Laugh) It depends on what you’re grading it by. I think mine is a solid 8 ¹/₂, 9, I’m just gonna tell you it’s gonna be a long day, ’cause football is beating the man across from you. My trash talk ain’t more so to put fear in your heart ‘cause it doesn’t really matter … like you’re gonna have to see me the whole game. I’m more passive with it … nothing crazy.
Q: When did Pinnock Island begin?
A: My sophomore year [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 had 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 are before the game, you’re not really a factor. If they don’t have a red jersey with your number on it for that week in practice, then you’re not really a guy. And that’s what I want to be, I want to be somebody 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 is the biggest adversity or obstacle you had to overcome?
A: Probably my knee in 2018. I tore my lateral meniscus. That was my first time I had to watch the room grow, and me kind of just sit there and watch it. But it was good for me to experience that early on in my career.
Q: Tell me about the time you scored on a pick-six at the end of a game with tears in your eyes because you thought you would lose.
A: Man, my daddy must have told you that one (laugh)! We were down like four or five, it was against kind of like our rival midget football team. I was 7 years old. It was the playoffs. It was over, basically, it was like 13 seconds, it was third-and-7 or something, and obviously 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 always made fun of me, I got them crocodile tears so they get thick, and they were kind of blurry, and then I see him drop back, and I saw him come out, on like a little 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 whole way, I saw him in the periph.
Q: What about 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 car and that’s all he talked about — the one that 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 trying to be pretty, or catch it looking good, whatever the way he phrased it (smile). It was against our rival, that’s why he was mad.
Q: If you could pick the brain of any safety in NFL history, who would it be?
A: Ed Reed. He did a lot of questionable things on film that it was like he had to know that was coming, you know?
Q: If you could cover any tight end or wide receiver in NFL history?
A: Randy Moss.
Q: Superstitions?
A: TV volume has to be on a multiple of five. Don’t ask me why.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Chance 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 tips, mashed potatoes and asparagus.
Q: Give me a scouting report on you as a safety.
A: Versatile. When I’m in the box, but you don’t know if he’s blitzing in man or curl flat. I can get to the middle of the field and cover the deep part of the field from the line of scrimmage. I can cover the middle of the field. I’m a red-line-to-red-line guy. I can play man, corner is in my blood. I can jump. I think I’m all of it, honestly.
Q: How good of a blitzer are you?
A: A great blitzer. I think that’s where I kind of got my identity in this defense was blitzing.
Q: Who are quarterbacks you’re looking forward to intercepting?
A: My whole division.