Giants QB Smith's father received death threats

Dec 10, 2017 - 3:50 AM Geno Smith Jr., father of New York Giants quarterback Geno Smith, said he received a death threat last week before his son started in place of a benched Eli Manning.

Smith Jr. told NJ Advance Media that he received the call a little more than an hour after it was announced that his son would replace Manning for last Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders.

"I was just at work," Smith Jr. told NJ.com on Friday. "I answered, and he was like, 'Geno?' So I just listened, and he was like, 'Is this Geno?' I was like, 'Yeah.' He was like, 'Your son better not start or we're going to kill you.' I kind of just laughed and then he hung up."

The 43-year-old Smith Jr. told NJ Advance Media that he was sitting in his car monitoring workers removing debris as part of FEMA's disaster relief efforts in Miami and Broward County when he received the threatening call from a man he said sounded in his late 20s. He said the phone number had a Missouri area code.

"If someone was going to kill me, they ain't going to call me and tell me," Smith Jr. said when asked about his concerns.

The Giants fired second-year head coach Ben McAdoo in a housecleaning on Monday morning, less than a week after the benching of the two-time Super Bowl MVP created a backlash from fans.

"I guess it was an emotional time with Eli not starting," Smith Jr. said. "I don't know if it's that. I don't know if they just hate Geno that much. I just don't know. I couldn't tell you."

Smith Jr. told his son about the death threat shortly after receiving the call.

"I think my dad handled it well," the quarterback told NJ Advance Media. "He kind of just hung up the phone. It's just kind of shameful that would be happening because of someone doing their job. When he told me that, I was like, 'What?' But you kind of get a sense of comfortability from him. He was like, 'Man, it's nothing, don't worry about it. Just do your thing, play your game.' So that was why I was able to be easy with it."

The Smiths did not take the threat seriously and did not report the threat to the team, police or NFL security, according to the NJ Advance Media report.

Smith Jr. said the same person called him again on Monday, this time from an Ohio area code, after McAdoo was fired.

"It was crazy because right after McAdoo got fired and they said that Eli was going back in, the same person called back but I guess they know how to flip numbers," the father said. "He was like, 'I told you he better not start,' and then he hung up. I was thinking to myself: He did start. I still didn't say anything. I just listened and laughed because there's no sense in getting in an argument on the phone."

Smith started last Sunday's 24-17 road loss to the Raiders after Manning was benched by McAdoo, completing 21 of 34 passes for 212 yards with one touchdown and two fumbles.

Interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo on Wednesday reinstated Manning as the starter for Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys. Spagnuolo announced the decision after the Giants practiced for the first time since the firings of McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese by Giants owner John Mara.