Pinnock Inactive Again, Second Straight Week Without Explanation
The Giants explained why Najee Harris was inactive in Week 1. They have never explained why Jason Pinnock has sat out both games with a clean injury report.
Jason Pinnock was inactive for the Giants' Monday night game at the Rams, the second straight week the safety has been a healthy scratch with no injury designation and no explanation from the team.
Pinnock carried no injury tag on giants.com's inactive report, one of seven Giants out Monday. Cornerback Deonte Banks (calf) and linebacker Micah McFadden (neck) were also inactive, both with designations attached. Tight end Thomas Fidone II, offensive lineman J.C. Davis and defensive linemen Bobby Jamison-Travis and Darius Alexander rounded out the list. ESPN's injury tracker categorized Pinnock's absence as "Coach's Decision" — the same non-injury tag it used for Jamison-Travis.
It is the same situation the Giants never addressed in Week 1. Pinnock was also inactive Sept. 13 against the Cowboys, one of seven scratches that also included running back Najee Harris, also without an injury designation, per giants.com's report that week. Yahoo Sports wrote at the time that it wasn't clear why Harris was out and suggested Harbaugh might explain it after the game.
Harbaugh addressed Harris's inactive status in his Wednesday comments that week, GiantsGator reported Sept. 17. He did not address Pinnock's. Giants.com's own recap of that same press conference, which covers Harris, Malik Nabers, Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary, does not mention Pinnock at all.
Pinnock started 37 games for the Giants from 2022-24 before leaving in free agency. He re-signed with New York in March on a one-year deal that Yahoo Sports described at the time as competition and depth, not a guaranteed job, behind returning safeties Jevon Holland and Tyler Nubin. The team's current depth chart lists him as the backup strong safety. But Monday, the Giants dressed all four of their other rostered safeties — Nubin, Holland, Ar'Darius Washington and Elijah Campbell — and inactivated only Pinnock, a healthy player with no designation of any kind.
Two games into the season, that decision remains unaddressed by the team. No explanation has come from Harbaugh, from giants.com's own coverage or from anyone else on the beat, in either week.