The first thing Jakob Johnson planned to do upon his return home was stop in an authentic German bakery.
Johnson, a Giants fullback who lived in Germany until he was 18 years old, lined up 52 tickets for friends and family to come to Sunday’s game against the Panthers at Allianz Arena — home of the Bayern Munich soccer team.
The Giants practiced late Thursday afternoon, held meetings in East Rutherford then departed for an overnight flight to Munich, landing at around 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. EST) with Friday’s practice to follow.
“This is just a merry coincidence,” Johnson said of signing a free-agent deal with the Giants in August of the year that they play in his homeland. “I didn’t even know they were scheduled to have the Germany game when I signed, and Week 10 was a long way away when we were in the preseason.”
The Giants have cut Johnson, 29, and re-signed him five times since then.
“In the NFL, nothing is taken for granted,” Johnson said of his cycle of cuts and re-signings. “The Giants do a great job communicating, ‘We’ll try to bring you back as quickly as we can.’ ”
A veteran of 70 NFL games with one career touchdown, Johnson would need to be one of the Giants’ maximum two game-day elevations from the practice squad to play in his native country for the first time since he was a member of the Stuttgart Scorpions — before getting an offer to play at the University of Tennessee.
Getting a win is No. 1 on the agenda, but some of Johnson’s teammates have scheduled a tour of BMW headquarters during their downtime. It is the third straight year with an NFL game in Germany.
“Germany waited years for this,” Johnson said. “When Germans get excited about something, they are excited for life. With the amount of kids starting to play football, the German Football League and the European League of Football coming together, I think football is a sport that’s going to stick around in Germany for the long run.”
Case in point on excitement: A couple of Germans got a tattoo of Johnson’s autograph signature on their bodies after attending his youth camp.
“I was one of those kids that can’t sit still, always getting in trouble in school,” Johnson said. “Football practice was the first time that afterward my mom picked me up and I was tired. It was the first space where I felt like I really fit in.”
The NFL’s international games on soccer fields in England and Germany have a history of slippery surfaces.
“Our equipment guys have done a good job of talking about the field conditions and things like that, so we’ll get out early and check the field,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “We have different sets of shoes we need to wear.”
Daboll is expecting a loud crowd.
LT Chris Hubbard (illness), WR Darius Slayton (concussion) and WR Bryce Ford-Wheaton (Achilles) did not practice.
Slayton is the only one of the three not expected to make the trip.
If Hubbard is not available, then the Giants will turn to either Josh Ezeudu (who was benched after one start earlier this season) or more likely ask RT Jermaine Eluemunor to change sides and insert Evan Neal in Eluemunor’s spot.
K Graham Gano (right hamstring) and P Jamie Gillan (left hamstring) were two of nine Giants limited in practice.
But Gano and Gillan are expected to kick in the game after missing the past seven and four, respectively.
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