Shot putter Austin Droogsma thought invitation to Giants camp was a scam

[Giant]

Getty Images

Giants offensive lineman Austin Droogsma may be the only player in any NFL training camp who accused the NFL executive who offered him a contract of trying to scam him.

Droogsma, a shot putter who did not play college football, told the New York Post that when he got a call inviting him to Giants camp, he figured somebody was pulling his leg.

“I didn’t really think it was real,’’ Droogsma said. “I thought somebody was messing with me. I thought it was some kind of scam.’’

But it was no joke. It was Giants football operations assistant Charles Tisch giving Droogsma a genuine invitation to a rookie minicamp. The Giants had seen Droogsma’s shot putting prowess at Florida State and thought the 6-foot-4, 345-pounder had the kind of size and explosive power to play in the NFL.

“My first response was like, ‘You know I didn’t play football in college, right?’” Droogsma said. “He said, ‘Oh yeah, we know.’ I was like, ‘OK, well now that we got that out of the way,’ that they didn’t think I was somebody else.’’

After accepting the invitation to the Giants’ rookie minicamp, Droogsma called a buddy who played college football to ask for help getting ready.

“I was like, ‘Dude, you’re not going to believe this, but I just got a call from the freaking New York Giants and they want me to come up to rookie minicamp,’ ’’ Droogsma said. “He was like, ‘What?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I know.’ I said, ‘Can you help me train?’”

Droogsma looked good enough at rookie minicamp that the Giants signed him for training camp, and he is now performing well enough that he has a chance of making the practice squad, if not the active roster. If he makes it, he’ll have one of the league’s most unique stories of how he got to the NFL.