Giants Jakob Johnson couldnt be more excited for serendipitous Germany homecoming

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.” C...