Former Florida State University shot putter Austin Droogsma called New York Giants tryout “really surreal.”
In April of this year, the New York Giants called Austin Droogsma, a former Florida State University shot putter. Droogsma, who hadn’t played football since his days at Gulf Breeze High School in Florida in 2012, was asked if he would like to try out for Big Blue.
Yes, you read that right.
“I kind of thought it was some weird scam,” Droogsma told Jordan Raanan of ESPN. “That they were going to ask me for my credit card to pay for a $150 camp fee and ask for my credit card over the phone. In that case, it would have been no shot. And then, it didn’t really set in until they sent the flight information and hotel confirmation. Then it was legit. This is actually happening.”
Then, Droogsma participated in the Giants rookie minicamp in early May. After the three-day ordeal, the Giants liked Droogsma and his ability enough to offer him a contract. It was a standard, $1.7555 million rookie deal.
After participating in the rookie minicamp which ended up essentially changing his post-college plans, Droogsma viewed it as “surreal.”
“I thought I did a lot of things right. I thought I did a lot of things wrong,” Droogsma said. “I obviously showed them enough to give me a call back and give me a longer look. It was really surreal to get out there. You kind of have that nagging feeling in the back of your head, ‘Do I belong here?’ It’s like let’s show ’em I belong here. That is my mentality day in and day out. Prove that I belong here.”
Droogsma will compete and work in with the offensive guards, a position that includes Will Hernandez and newly-acquired Kevin Zeitler. The Giants offensive line is an aspect that definitely needs to improve from last season. Big Blue’s front five on offense were ranked 21st in the NFL in 2018 according to Pro Football Focus.
