The New York Giants held the first of 10 organized team activity practices at their headquarters in East Rutherford on Monday. It was the first time the 90-man roster — veterans, rookies, free agents et al — were out on the field in its entirety this year.
Several players — free agent safety Antoine Bethea and rookie defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence — were not in attendance. Defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson was also a no-show. Head coach Pat Shurmur attributed their absences to the severe weather around the country that has disrupted air travel.
Two other noticeable absences were the Giants two starting tackles — Nate Solder and the newly-signed Mike Remmers.
Both players are expected to be ready for training camp in July. Solder had a ‘clean-up’ procedure on his ankle recently and Remmers is coming off back surgery.
Shurmur shot down any suggestion that there is a quarterback competition for the starting job. He once again stated that Eli Manning is the starter and the other three (rookie Daniel Jones, Kyle Lauletta and Alex Tanney) are his backups.
Lauletta did not participate in drills as he is still rehabbing from minor knee surgery. Rookie defensive back Corey Ballentine was also on the side, still recuperating from a gunshot wound to the backside.
Shurmur did, however, say that Jones had the inside track on the top backup position.
One player the Giants are high on is safety Jabrill Peppers, one of the three players they got in return for Odell Beckham Jr. The team plans on placing Peppers in situations to take advantage of his enormous skill set. He played safety and returned kicks on Monday.
Other notes: Second-year cornerback Sam Beal started the day at left cornerback. Janoris Jenkins was on the right side. Michael Thomas started at free safety. Brian Mihalik got the reps at left tackle in place of Solder and Chad Wheeler resumed his role as the starter on the right side. Veteran free agent defensive end Olsen Pierre worked on side with trainers.
