Former New York Giants linebacker Jonathan Casillas recently joined the New York Post’s “Blue Rush Podcast” with Jake Brown and Brandon London. During his appearance, Casillas was asked about some of the Giants’ darker days, including the Ben McAdoo tenure.
Although he initially attempted to bite his tongue, Casillas ultimately went off on former teammate Eli Apple and McAdoo’s handling of the “little brat.”
Jonathan Casillas @jcasillas52 kept it real on Eli Apple on his rough Giants tenure with me & @BrandonLondonTV on a live Blue Rush podcast 👀🔥pic.twitter.com/fBpW7wu42n
— Jake Brown (@JakeBrownRadio) October 17, 2022
“He did some stuff that was very detrimental to the team,” Casillas said. “He should have been suspended earlier in the season because he was doing things over and over again in practice and in games that were like — bro what are you doing?”
Casillas noted that Apple would routinely quit on plays, both in practice and during live games. And while the veteran and other players would talk to Apple about his lack of effort, he noted that McAdoo waited entirely too long to address it.
“That was the issue with Ben McAdoo. Some things that happened early in the (2016) season he kind of let slide, and then the next year… it was too late to start disciplining people,” Casillas said.
“(Apple) was a little brat. And he was a young kid trying to play in a grown man’s league and he didn’t know what he was doing.”
Not only was Apple suspended in 2017 for conduct detrimental to the team, safety Landon Collins also publicly called him a “cancer.” That spat came on the heels of Apple refusing to work on the scout team and screaming in a coach’s face.
The Giants finally pulled the plug on Apple and his mother, Annie, who had publicly criticized John Mara and the organization, trading him to the New Orleans Saints in 2018.
Apple’s tenure in New Orleans went about as well as it had in New York. They let him walk after just one season.
Since then, Apple has spent time with the Carolina Panthers and Cincinnati Bengals, where he currently plays.
