What Giants, Jets really think about living and playing in New Jersey

Your phone rings, and it’s a general manager, welcoming you to your new team. You’re pumped. You’re going to New York, where, in the words of Alicia Keys, the streets will make you feel brand-new and big lights will inspire you.

Then your plane lands and you quickly discover that you’re going away from the legendary skyline, not toward it.

Welcome to Jersey, boys.

The New York Giants and New York Jets, who meet Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET in their annual preseason game at MetLife Stadium, have lived this for two decades: You expect Gotham, only to find yourself in suburbia. The teams’ year-round facilities are in East Rutherford and Florham Park, New Jersey — 8 and 31 miles away from midtown, respectively.

Many players, past and present, laugh about it. Most seem to appreciate the geographical setup, though former stars Tiki Barber and Brandon Marshall opted to live in Manhattan during their playing days. In fact, Marshall commuted by helicopter to New Jersey. NFL legend Brett Favre almost nixed a trade to the Jets because he assumed he’d be practicing amid skyscrapers and he wanted no part of that scene.

The lay of the local land is all a bit confusing for most of the newbies. Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart used to attend Yankees games regularly with his father as a kid, but he still didn’t know the New York teams played in New Jersey until he was in college. He now calls New Jersey home.

“The good thing is, when you’re playing in East Rutherford, you can see New York,” former Jets linebacker Bart Scott said. “So you’re right there and you just kind of buy into it. You understand you’re a New York team playing, technically, in New Jersey.”

Giants and Jets players across a generation, from Barber in the late 1990s to current rookies, share their thoughts on the New York/New Jersey dynamic.

Former Jets wide receiver, 2015-16; Giants wide receiver, 2017

Brandon Marshall experienced the best of both worlds during his three seasons in New York (2015-16 with the Jets, 2017 with the Giants). He lived in the city, enjoying its trappings, while working in the suburbs.

For the first year, he resided in Tribeca, a trendy neighborhood in lower Manhattan, and enjoyed a breezy commute to the Jets’ facility.

Via helicopter.

On practice days, Marshall rode a chopper from a helipad on the West Side of Manhattan to Morristown Airport, a few minutes from the Jets’ facility. A car would be waiting for him. At the end of the day, he’d do it in reverse, a brilliant, albeit expensive way to beat the notorious metropolitan traffic.

“Instead of my commute being an hour-and-a-half after practice, and 45 minutes to an hour in the morning, through the Lincoln Tunnel, it would be 15 minutes, literally,” said Marshall, who later moved to Brooklyn during his time with the Giants.. “That’s how I got around if I had to do business things or had to get to the Hamptons.”

Marshall wanted to play in New York, in part, for convenience. On Tuesdays during the season — the players’ day off — he worked as a studio analyst for “Inside the NFL,” which taped in Manhattan. His previous team, the Chicago Bears, told him to give up the gig, he said. That factored into his trade to the Jets in 2015.

“I was thinking post-career,” he said. “So when I got [to the Jets], I knew there was absolutely no chance of me living in New Jersey. I was going to be in the city for sure.”

Former Giants running back: 1997-2006

It’s believed that Barber was the last Giants player to live in New York City until Marshall in 2016. The star running back lived in Manhattan because his girlfriend at the time (who later became his first wife) graduated from college and got a job in New York for his second NFL season.

“I don’t think anyone knew, to be honest with you. It’s not like I was telling them I’m living in New York. It would be different if I was living in New York now with social media. Everybody would know. I just kind of moved into the city. Why does it matter where I live? I was always on time. Because living on the Upper East Side, I would get on the FDR [Drive] and over the bridge at 6:30 in the morning and be there in 15, 20 minutes. It was cake. The commute wasn’t bad. The commute was cake because you were going so early. I was going early and reverse commuting.”

Barber traveled in circles with CEOs, executives and high-net-worth individuals. This was admittedly beneficial for his post-playing career. Barber even went to events and hung out regularly with Giants owner Bob Tisch while living in Manhattan. A benefit of living in New York instead of New Jersey.

Former Jets quarterback: 2008

Before executing one of the biggest trades in franchise history, the Jets had to dispel … well, let’s call it an urban myth.

Favre, on the trading block in the summer of 2008, wanted no part of the big city. It took weeks for then-general manager Mike Tannenbaum to convince the legendary quarterback, a self-proclaimed country boy from Kiln, Mississippi, that he’d be 30 miles from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. The Jets’ Atlantic Health Training Center opened that September.

Making like a chamber of commerce rep, Tannenbaum went so far as to send Google satellite images to Favre of places in rural New Jersey where he could hunt and fish. That included team owner Woody Johnson’s sprawling farm in Bedminster. He also emailed links of quaint towns and properties near the facility.

“Brett was an avid outdoorsman, so it was very appealing to him once he got to know the options,” said Tannenbaum, now an ESPN analyst. “[Initially], he thought, ‘If I play for the Jets, I’ll be practicing in Times Square.’ That was his exact comment.”

Tannenbaum eventually wore him down and made the trade with the Green Bay Packers. Favre wound up living on a large parcel of land in Morristown, New Jersey. And, yes, the future Pro Football Hall of Famer did a lot of hunting and fishing.

Former Giants cornerback: 2011-15

Amukamara was expecting to be selected early in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft. He was surprised when the Giants selected him at No. 19.

“The draft is in Radio City Music Hall, so I’m in New York. No previous contact with the Giants. I didn’t even know who the head coach was, just because I wasn’t on their radar, they weren’t on my radar. I didn’t meet with them at the combine. I didn’t have any pre-[draft] visits with them. …

“So they pick me and then everything’s happening so fast and stuff like that. My agent tells me, have fun tonight, but tomorrow morning, get ready — you’re going to New Jersey. I said, ‘New Jersey?!’

“He said, ‘Yeah, that’s where the facility is, that’s where they play, that’s where everything is at.’ I was like, ‘Oh, wow!’ That was the big wow moment.

“Then I don’t even know how close it is. I’m thinking we’re driving all the way to New Jersey. And, you know, we just go through the Lincoln Tunnel and I was there. It shocks a lot of people.”

Current Giants wide receiver: 2026

Austin spent the first four years of his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and even played last season’s opener against the Jets at MetLife Stadium. (Austin suffered a “serious” injury to his right knee while running a route at Tuesday’s training camp practice, and will miss the 2026 season, a source told ESPN.)

Still, he was in for a bit of a surprise upon signing with the Giants as a free agent this offseason. Austin didn’t realize he would be moving, playing and living in New Jersey, despite being a veteran.

“I didn’t know. I thought it was going to be in New York City. But it’s funny, because the first game last year was against the Jets. And what else I didn’t know, I didn’t know the practice facility was right outside the stadium, even though I played there. When you’re playing, you’re so focused on playing. It’s kind of hidden … unless you’re really looking.”

The Giants’ facility, now called the Quest Diagnostics Training Center, opened in 2007. It’s tucked in the southwest corner of the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, less than 10 miles from Manhattan.

“It’s funny because anytime I talk to people back home or people back in Memphis, my friends, they ask about New York. I tell them actually everything is in New Jersey. It’s just a name.

“It’s really cool. [New Jersey] is a lot less on top of you than New York City. So it’s a vibe that you’re stealing. … The food is good in Jersey. And I think it’s just a cool place to basically allow you to get away from New York and just really focus on football.”

Rookie Giants cornerback: 2026

Hood was drafted in the second round of this past year’s NFL draft out of Tennessee. Hood, born and raised in the Conyers and McDonough area in Georgia, also didn’t know the Giants did everything in New Jersey. He had never been to New Jersey before being drafted.

“It’s a lot busier than where I’m from, the suburbs, South Georgia. It’s super-fast. Way busier. People are a bit ruder, I would say. (laugh) Other than that, it’s been good. I’ve enjoyed it.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise came when he went to pump gas. New Jersey is the only remaining state where it is illegal to pump your own gas. That’s generally an eye-opener for those who have never been to the Garden State.

“I was surprised. The dude came out and I don’t think he spoke English. He was just talking to me and I honestly couldn’t understand what he was saying. I’m just like, ‘Bro, I can pump my own gas. OK, bro!’ He was like, ‘No.’ I told him I can do it. I got it myself. And he kind of walked away.”

Current Jets defensive tackle: 2025-26

One minute you’re preparing for the season in Eagan, Minnesota. The next, you’re on your way to the Big Apple. That’s how it went down last Aug. 20 for defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, who was stunned by the Vikings’ decision to trade him to the Jets.

A vision popped into his head.

“I really thought I was going to Gotham City,” he said. “Everything you picture is like Batman — dark, rainy, inner city, kind of dirty. I was like, ‘All right, well this is going to be a little different than the suburbs of rural Minnesota that I was kind of living in.'”

Phillips was pleasantly surprised that the Jets’ facility is nestled in the suburbs, with quaint neighborhoods with churches, diners, bagel shops, parks galore and friendly neighbors. One of them hosts a Sunday night dinner for the neighborhood. Another makes his own wine and occasionally drops off a bottle at Phillips’ home.

For Phillips, who is married with a young son, it’s an ideal family setting.

“It’s drastically different than what I thought,” he said.