Giants give Tyrone Tracy the nickname “Paul Pierce” after injury scare

Tyrone Tracy has a new nickname.

A week after leaving the practice field on a cart with an aircast on his lower leg and tears in his eyes, Tracy was back practicing for the Giants on Tuesday.

A few hours after his injury, a hospital stay ruled out the worst-case scenario and the rookie running back returned to team meetings to prepare for his next opportunity.

You could call it the most unlikely quick recovery since Celtics star Paul Pierce missed just a few minutes of Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals after leaving the court in a wheelchair.

“A lot of people in the building started calling me 'Paul Pierce,'” Tracy joked. “They said I pulled a 'Paul Pierce.' But it's all good. I know there's real love in the building, and I'm glad to be here.”

Tracy had never had any football-related surgery before and didn't know what to think when coaches rushed to his aid after the botched kickoff return on August 13.

“It was definitely something scary,” Tracy said. “The doctors were taking precautions, so I didn't know what was going on. They didn't know exactly what was going on. They just did what they thought was right at the time.”

Tracy was close to securing the second running back spot when he was knocked out.

“At this point, we're all just human,” Tracy said. “I'm trying to be faithful and positive right now, but … when something like this happens, thoughts creep in. You start to think, 'The season is over.' I have high hopes for my rookie season. At this moment, I think that all kind of went down the drain. I thank God I was able to come back and play again.”

Tracy believes he passed Monday's re-entry test and could soon be back in the 11-on-11 reps.

“I feel really good,” he said. “They wanted to see how well I was moving. And personally, I think I did pretty well.”

The timing of Sunday's restructuring of LT Andrew Thomas' contract — $4.175 million of his base salary was converted into a signing bonus to create $3.34 million in salary cap space — following QB Daniel Jones' poor preseason play, led to theories that the Giants may be looking for more competition.

So are you in the quarterback market?

“No,” said Deputy Director General Brandon Brown. “Why should we?”

The Giants are paying Drew Lock $5 million guaranteed and have Tommy DeVito (six starts as a rookie in 2023) behind Jones.

“The cap space is not just for the reduction [additions]but it's also an in-season expense,” Brown said. “When you have the opportunity to restructure guys who are quality players, who have durability and who are the character of what the organization wants to be, it's a win-win situation.”

The “weekly” injuries to Micah McFadden, Darius Muasau and Matt Adams have decimated the depth of the inside linebackers.

Carter Coughlin returned on Monday after a long absence, but is primarily a special teamer.

“We lost a few guys there,” said coach Brian Daboll. “We'll see what happens next.”

Daboll ruled out trading a versatile defender like Nick McCloud or Isaiah Simmons to adjust.

The Giants signed non-drafted rookie S. Clayton Isbell and waived injured Dennis Houston, who had a cast on his forearm.