New York Giants training camp arrived in a flash and somehow, we’re already through the first week and only 11 days from the team’s first preseason game against the New York Jets.
To say a lot of things occurred in a very short window would be a bit of an understatement as the Giants’ opening week was filled with injury, suspension, conflicting emotions and a whole lot of trash talk.
Here are nine things we learned over the first week of Giants camp:
A real problem at the WR position
When the Giants traded Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns in March, they did so with the belief that their wide receiver unit was strong enough to overcome the loss in production.
Whether or not that’s true, we may never know.
Within the first 48 hours of camp, the Giants lost Corey Coleman (ACL) for the season, Sterling Shepard (fractured thumb) for several weeks and Golden Tate to a four-game suspension (pending appeal) for alleged PED use, which he blames on fertility drugs.
Additionally, Darius Slayton (hamstring) and Brittan Golden (groin) are day-to-day. Alex Wesley remains on PUP.
The Giants did sign T.J. Jones and re-sign Amba Etta-Tawo to help fill out the depth, but there’s no denying the team has a serious problem at the position.
Eli Manning came to play
Knowing that 2019 could be his last year with the Giants — and possibly in the NFL — Manning arrived appearing relaxed and grateful. In fact, he said as much.
“I feel blessed, feel fortunate to still be doing this and playing football and coming to training camp, being around these teammates and these guys and the New York Giants. Excited, excited about the opportunities, excited about this team and getting to work,” Manning said as camp opened.
However, once the on-field work actually began, it was clear there was a new Eli in town.
Over the course of Week 1, Manning strung together some of his best practices in recent memory — possibly in his career — and was essentially flawless. He spread the ball around well, displayed improved arm strength (even breaking Sterling Shepard’s thumb) and just looked like an all-around elite player.
While it’s unlikely Manning can maintain this torrid pace, it’s clear he’s not going quietly into the night.
Lorenzo Carter could reach his ceiling
The overriding belief has always been that linebacker Lorenzo Carter could blossom into something special for the Giants. He does, after all, possess all the necessary skills.
His rookie campaign in 2018 was clearly just the appetizer as Carter showed up to camp with 20 pounds of additional muscle and no loss in speed to speak of. In fact, he’s even looked a step faster.
With a year of James Bettcher’s scheme under his belt, Carter is clearly playing with confidence and trusts in his own instincts, which has shown on the field. He’s made remarkable play after remarkable play, including a diving interception of an Eli Manning pass in the backfield, which was a play later singled out by head coach Pat Shurmur.
Perhaps no player on the field not named Manning has been more consistently dominant through one week of camp than Carter, which bodes well for the Giants moving forward.
Daniel Jones not as advertised
When the Giants selected Duke quarterback Daniel Jones with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, they were met with stiff criticism. Meanwhile, Jones was drug through the mud as a weak quarterback prospect lacking accuracy and working with a weak arm.
As President Donald Trump would say, that is fake news.
Even before the start of camp, Jones had proved his critics and detractors wrong, displaying an impressively accurate arm during OTAs and minicamp, which led to some wondering aloud how they could have gotten it so wrong.
Despite a rough start and shaky finish to Week 1 of practice, Jones was able to raise his game a bit in training camp, putting his accuracy back on display while uncorking some of the most impressive deep balls you’ve ever seen.
In fact, wide receiver Russell Shepard said exactly that, telling reporters Jones does throw the best deep ball he’s ever seen.
Nothing about what Jones has displayed on the field matches the early scouting reports. It’s almost as if everyone lazily bought into the same narrative and just kept it spinning. Now they all look foolish.
Dexter Lawrence is exactly as advertised
With everything else going on in camp, Lawrence has managed to fly under the radar despite putting on a consistently impressive show.
“He’s coming along very well. I knew Dex for a little bit, because we were recruiting him at North Carolina State. So he’s coming along, he’s going to be good for our defense and he’s going to help us win some games,” fellow defensive lineman B.J. Hill said.
Although it’s Lawrence’s size that really stands out, he let his play do quite a bit of talking as well. And just as general manager Dave Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur suggested, the rookie proved an ability to collapse the pocket and rush the quarterback.
“He’s a big man, obviously. He’s had an impact already. Watching the one-on-one pass rush, you can see that he’s a guy that’s going to be able to get some pressure. We feel good about him being able to play on all three downs. A lot like the rookies we’ve spoken about already, he hasn’t disappointed us in any way and he’s continuing to get better each day,” Shurmur said.
Janoris Jenkins has his hands full
When the Giants stuck with Jenkins despite a massive overhaul that saw many from the Jerry Reese era get sent packing, they did so with the belief that he’d take over as a mentor and leader.
To at least some degree, that’s proven to be true.
Although Jenkins isn’t a big talker off the field, he has taken all the young “puppies” — Sam Beal, Deandre Baker, Julian Love, Corey Ballentine and others — under his wing and embraced the role Shurmur envisioned for him.
“I let [the young cornerbacks] pick my brain when they want to, and if I see them messing up, I pick them up a little bit. Other than that, they seem like they’re ready to me, and I can just lead by example,” Jenkins said of The Jackrabbit class he’s running. “You have to assert yourself more. You never know what they’re thinking, these are young guys. So, the more you can talk with them and conversate with them, just about football, and not only football, life, on and off the field — just show them how to be a pro, and they’re going to be pretty good.”
One of Jenkins’ biggest challenges has been helping to keep Ballentine, who watched his best friend get shot and killed mere hours after the Giants drafted him, focused and motivated.
With the help of team psychologists and the ability to relate via his own unfortunate circumstances, Jenkins has played a major role for Ballentine early on.
Dave Gettleman wants fans to trust the process
Things got off to an ugly start for the Giants with a rash of injuries and Tate’s suspension, but despite that and other lingering concerns, Gettleman maintains that fans simply need to trust him, his staff and their respective resumes.
“It’s one of those situations where you just have to trust (us). Pat has been coaching a long time, I have been doing this a long time, (VP of Football Operations) Kevin Abrams, Mark Koncz, Ken Sternfeld, (and) Chris Pettit, we’ve all been doing this a long time,” Gettleman said. “We’re professionals and it’s one of those things that unfortunately, because of the volume that you are dealing with here, as they’ve said, football is the ultimate team game and dealing with 53 players on the roster, 10 on JV, you have 20 coaches, and all of these folks that you’re involved with.
“Unfortunately, you can’t turn this thing on a dime. It’s impossible. I appreciate their passion, and their concern. Listen, we want to win just as badly as they do. There is no doubt about it, because if we don’t win, we’re looking for a new address [laughter]. So, I would just say, trust that we are working our fannies off and we going to pull it until the end.”
Fans haven’t been so quick to follow suit.
Belief the defense can be great
Don’t tell the Giants you have no confidence in their defense because they refuse to hear that.
“I do believe this defense will be better, and we will be better,” linebacker Alec Ogletree said last week. “Our job is to go out there and make plays as a defense. Give our offense the ball back as soon as possible. Like I said, there’s no reason for us not to be a top-10 defense, top-five. We are going to be a great defense. We’ve got the right pieces here. We have to come out here and put in the work, do things better than we did last year.”
Ogletree, a defensive captain, wasn’t the only player sharing those sentiments. Veteran safety Antoine Bethea, who was signed this offseason and previously played under defensive coordinator James Bettcher, agreed.
“For the defense? I think we could be one of the tops in the league,” Bethea said. “Obviously, the guys that have been here have been in their second year under the defense. Myself, along with some other guys, being the first year coming in, plugging in, and making it happen.”
That’s quite a bit of optimism coming from the defenders, but now they’ve got to back up their talk with play on the field.
B.J. Hill vs. Saquon Barkley is wildly entertaining
In perhaps one of the most overlooked storylines of the entire week, second-year players Hill and Barkley have a nice little competition within the competition brewing.
While Barkley beats almost every defender on the field on a day-by-day and week-by-week basis, Hill has returned in 2019 drastically improved and ready to take on the game’s most elite player.
And so far, so good — believe it or not.
While everyone else on the field consistently appears to be chasing Barkley from behind, Hill has managed to get the better of his teammate on several occasions early in camp. And he’s let Barkley hear about it.
“Boy, you ain’t goin’ nowhere,” Hill snapped at Barkley following a run last week.
Barkley, not shy about trash-talking, himself, quickly fired right back and has kept it going, antagonizing several defenders like Hill, Beal and others.
It’s been a fun atmosphere and helps breed competition on the field, but it’s all respect away from it. However, what Giants fans should really take home from this is that Hill is not only talking trash, but backing it up each day against the league’s top running back.
