Giants to appear on ‘Hard Knocks’ for 1st time

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants are finally going to be on the long-running HBO docuseries “Hard Knocks,” albeit with a little twist: It will be the first offseason version of the franchise.

“Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants” will premiere July 2 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, the network announced Wednesday. The five-part series, which comes as the Giants prepare for their 100th season, will be available to stream on Max.

The Giants being on “Hard Knocks” in any capacity is a concession given the franchise’s reluctance in the past. Co-owner John Mara made that clear to the New York Daily News back in 2010 that he had no interest in opening their doors for the cameras.

“That announcement will come,” Mara said at the time, “when I’m next to my father in the Gates of Heaven cemetery.”

Mara is still the president and CEO of the Giants. But this version of “Hard Knocks” they agreed to will be a little different — it’s the first time the show will focus on the offseason instead of training camp or the season itself.

NFL Films still plans to run its annual training camp version of the show as well, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

“We are beyond thrilled that the New York Giants have opened their doors to the Hard Knocks cameras for the first time ever,” HBO executives Nancy Abraham, Bentley Weiner and Lisa Heller said in a statement. “The NFL offseason is a fascinating period that we’ve always wanted to explore and we can’t wait to show football fans everywhere what NFL Films has been capturing behind the scenes at the team’s headquarters.”

A lot has happened with the Giants since the end of the season. The show could touch on subjects such as the overhaul of the coaching staff, trading for Pro Bowl edge rusher Brian Burns from the Carolina Panthers, allowing star running back Saquon Barkley and safety Xavier McKinney to leave via free agency, drafting wide receiver Malik Nabers at No. 6 overall and their reported pursuit of a quarterback at the top of the draft.

“As we enter our 100th season, we look forward to providing our fans with the opportunity to see what it takes to build an NFL roster,” Giants senior vice president, marketing and brand strategy Nilay Shah said. “Beginning the moment the previous season ended, we gave NFL Films unprecedented access to this critical time of the year. We know viewers will gain insight from moments that have never been captured before and are excited for them to learn more about our Giants history.”

Skydance Sports will be co-producing this new iteration with NFL Films.