The New York Giants are attempting to put out the flames resulting from a leaked video of quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley partying without masks Friday night. Jones and Barkley could be facing a violation of NFL or team rules as a result of the incident.
"We are aware of the video that was posted," the Giants said in a statement Saturday. "We are looking into the nature and context of what is on the video."
Jones and a few teammates had dinner in a private room in a restaurant in New York City, per NJ Advance Media. The group was invited to have a drink in a bar that was closed to the public, which is where the videos surfaced. The person who uploaded the video, who goes by the name DJ Lugghead, deleted the post after it went viral and said the photos from Jones and Barkley were from last year, per a phone interview with the New York Post.
Lugghead also posted a video of Jones -- not wearing a mask -- sipping a drink handed to him by an unidentified woman with no crowd around them. Another post had a man who looked like Barkley slowly riding a bicycle on the streets of New York, which is concerning for the Giants since Barkley is scheduled to have ACL surgery next week.
The NFL added new COVID-19 protocols earlier this month that places bans on gatherings outside team facilities. Whether the Giants violated protocol is yet to be determined.
Here was the memo commissioner Roger Goodell set to teams earlier this month (per The New York Times):
"Protocol violations that result in virus spread requiring adjustments to the schedule or otherwise impacting other teams will result in additional financial and competitive discipline including the adjustment or loss of draft choices or even the forfeit of a game."
The Giants played the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night, so their Week 7 is concluded. Their next game is against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football on November 2.
