Put in a claim for ex A&M/Giant OLB/DE Damontre Moore FFS!!

Q: Second-year defensive end Damontre Moore?

A: We have high hopes for him, too. I’ll tell you a funny story about him. I’ve had I don’t know how many conversations with him since he’s been here, and I was standing out on the field this past spring watching one of the OTAs, and he walks up next to me (chuckle) and he looks at me and he says, “Hi Boss, how you doing?” I said, “I’m good Damontre, how you doing?” And he looks at me and he says, “What’s your name again?” I asked him (smile) to repeat the question because I couldn’t believe he was asking me that. I said, “It’s John Mara,” and he said, “Oooohhhhh.”

Team officials repeatedly spoke to Moore about maturity issues on and off the field during his time with the Giants, but to no avail. ESPN reports the 23-year-old joked around at practice in front of teammates, coaches and even owner John Mara.

Sources say Moore routinely clowned around on the practice field in front of everyone from teammates to Giants owner John Mara and responded poorly to efforts by teammates and coaches to get him to take practice more seriously.

Sources also said Moore feuded openly with some team officials, including general manager Jerry Reese, when confronted about his behavior. Reese is fiercely loyal to his draft picks, so for him to cut a former third-rounder during the third year of his rookie deal would likely require extreme circumstances.

It will not happen, but boy, if it happened, every individual in the Giants locker room would stand up and take notice.



The Giants won’t send Damontre Moore packing, but a case can be made that banishment is warranted based on his self-admitted “poor football IQ’’ decision on a roughing-the-passer penalty on Sam Bradford in the first quarter of Monday night’s 27-7 loss to the Eagles. In a quote that was incredible to hear when he said it and still amazes days later, Moore said he was “not aware of the rules of dumping him, because I dumped him.’’ He added “I got to get my football IQ up and get a better understanding for the rules.’’



There’s so much there to pick over.



On third down, after Bradford tossed a dump-off pass to Darren Sproles, Moore picked up the Eagles quarterback and body-slammed him to the turf. This was not one of those soft “protect the quarterback’’ calls. Late in the second quarter, Cullen Jenkins was called for roughing the passer, but that penalty was more a case of wrong place, wrong time, as Jenkins applied pressure up the middle, tried to swat the pass away and instead made contact with Bradford’s helmet — a clear penalty, but one born out of aggressiveness.



What Moore did was mindless, selfish, clueless and, quite frankly, deserving of severe repercussions.



Moore is only 23 and yet this is his third season with the Giants. He has been around long enough to know better. Moore leads the team with three sacks. He got the lone sack against the Eagles and was also credited with one tackle for loss and two quarterback hits — all this while on the field for only 19 of the 78 defensive snaps. He makes things happen. As a third-round draft pick out of Texas A&M, the Giants expected big things out of Moore, perhaps as next-in-line as far as pass-rushing defensive ends after the storied history of Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul.



It is not going to happen. Moore has not gained the trust of the coaching staff because he does not play his assignments with enough consistency, is considered a liability against crafty running teams and, well, because of his “poor football IQ.’’ He does not get it, does not sense the urgency of the situation or the tenuous nature of these precious NFL jobs. As a high draft pick with a rare (although one-dimensional) skill set, Moore no doubt has protection from general manager Jerry Reese, but patience has to be wearing thin inside the coaching ranks.



Asked if he trusts Moore to refrain from such dumb penalties, coach Tom Coughlin did not measure his words.



“I can’t really honestly say that,’’ Coughlin said. “He’s obviously high energy, he does give outstanding effort but with regard to that, there’s absolutely no excuse for anyone for the unnecessary-roughness penalty he committed.



“You use the word trust, I don’t know. That’s a good word.’’



Coughlin needs to have a sit-down with Moore.



“We’ve done a lot of sitting down and talking,’’ Coughlin said. “I mean, I certainly will do more of it. He is very good about listening. But we’ve got to see whether it can hold true on the field.’’



In the locker room, Moore is bubbly, loud, spirited, a towel-throwing jokester. He always hustles on the field, goes full tilt. There’s a “that’s Damontre” feel around him, for better and, too often, for worse.



Figure Coughlin’s lack of trust will reveal itself in an old-fashioned benching. Robert Ayers should be back this week after missing four games with a strained hamstring. More than likely, when the list of inactive players for the Cowboys game comes out, Damontre Moore will be on it. Deservedly so.