“I Got Cut”: Giants Legend Recalls Bill Parcells Releasing Him Before Returning Weeks Later To Win Super Bowl XXI

Phil McConkey was cut by the New York Giants in 1986, suited up for the Green Bay Packers as a backup for about a month, and returned to the Big Apple the same year. McConkey famously said, “Anyone who thinks the grass is greener doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

The former return man lived up to that claim. He went from being an afterthought for then-head coach Bill Parcells to a Super Bowl Champion in the span of a few months. Here’s how it all came together.

“I got cut, and I wound up in Green Bay for four weeks,” McConkey said on  Papa’s Perspective. “… I get called on Monday morning after the LA, after the fourth game, into the head coach’s office. Forest Gregg, the coach, wants to see you bring your playbook, kind of thing. I’m figuring, all right, I’m getting cut again, second time in four weeks…”

McConkey recalled sitting down with Forest Gregg, expecting nothing good, only to be told the Giants had traded for him back. Having just been cut by them, he found the reversal almost impossible to process.

“And he says, ‘I’ve got to go to a meeting. That phone will ring in a little bit. It’ll be Bill Parcels’.” And Parcels, I pick up. I go, “Hey, coach.” He goes, ‘Yeah, McConkey, those Packers drive a hard bargain.’ I go, ‘What are you talking about?” He goes, ‘I had to throw in a couple clipboards with a blocking dummy to get you back.'”

Back in the 1986 season, the Giants got some bad news. Top wide receiver Lionel Manuel went down with a sprained left knee during a 20-17 win over the Saints, and he was going to be out for weeks. So the team scrambled for a fix, forcing Parcells to bring back McConkey, who was also a punt returner.

Only weeks ago, the team had cut him during training camp.

McConkey’s journey with the Giants started in 1983, when he had tried out for the team on the recommendation of Steve Belichick, Bill Belichick’s father, who was an assistant for McConkey’s alma mater, the Navy Midshipmen. Parcells was impressed, but McConkey had to go on military duty for a year, and returned to be the Giants’ lead kickoff and punt returner for the 1984 and 1985 seasons.

McConkey also shared a personal connection with Parcells, who coached at the Army and Air Force before he moved to the NFL. The 27-year-old McConkey’s fire was acknowledged by the former coach, who had to slow him down in the very first practice. He was that eager.

Perhaps it was this connection, and the two years he spent with the Giants, that pushed Parcells to trade for McConkey in exchange for a 12th-round pick. The former wideout said that learning the news was “one of the greatest feelings” of his life.

McConkey created ripples with this opportunity. Against the Denver Broncos in Week 12 (who he would eventually face in the Super Bowl later that season), he caught a 46-yard pass with only seconds remaining on the clock to set up the Giants for the game-winning field goal.

In Super Bowl XXI, McConkey hauled in two catches for 50 yards and a touchdown, plus a 25-yard punt return for good measure, as the Giants beat the Denver Broncos 39-20.

The Giants trailed 10-9 at halftime, then came out and took over, outscoring the Broncos 30-10 the rest of the way to win 39-20. McConkey’s plays were right at the heart of that turnaround, helping set up three straight scoring drives.

Bill Parcells has said Phil McConkey’s 44-yard flea-flicker catch in the Super Bowl was a turning point, admitting “it created a lot of offensive momentum.”

Years later, The Athletic’s Jason Jones, Matt Barrows and Vic Tafur ranked his Super Bowl touchdown celebration among the most memorable in NFL history.

“The look on McConkey’s face, joy, surprise, amazement, as he leaped into Bavaro’s arms captured the improbability of the moment and will forever be etched in Giants fans’ memories.”

McConkey, who became famous for waving his towel to rile up the cheers in the stadium, played two more seasons in New York before wrapping up his career in 1989 with brief stops at San Diego and Arizona. He finished with a Super Bowl ring, 67 catches for 1,113 yards, and well over 3,000 combined return yards across his six-year career.

Truly, it’s an unbelievable story, from a training camp cut to a Super Bowl hero in the span of one unforgettable season.

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