New York Giants players report for training camp on Tuesday, with practice starting on Wednesday. Here are some of the things I am thinking about as a new season of Giants football, the first with 18-year veteran head coach John Harbaugh at the wheel, dawns.
That Harbaugh speech
The John Harbaugh “This is the New York Giants” speech to his team on their first day together has drawn criticism. I think that criticism is stupid and misguided.
The Giants are one of the league’s iconic original franchises. They have won eight
championships — four Super Bowls and four titles in the pre-Super Bowl era.
Harbaugh was reminding players of what the franchise has been, of the legacy they should embrace and strive to emulate. He wasn’t simply blowing rah-rah smoke.
Players and assistant coaches have all lauded Harbaugh’s daily messages to the team. To take one small snippet, without hearing the rest of Harbaugh’s message, and twist it into something “cringey” or to be made fun of is nonsense.
Handling a Harbaugh camp
I am extremely curious to see how much of a shock Harbaugh’s training camp, which promises more physicality and less coddling than many NFL players have become accustomed to, is to the players. Media, too. It certainly promises to be interesting.
Tight end Isaiah Likely was with Harbaugh for the past four years with the Baltimore Ravens. He says he has been “institutionalized”.
“With Coach Harbs, this is all I ever know,” Likely said. “Whatever he’s doing at practice, I’ve been doing it for the last four years in a row. So, whatever you all see out there is what you’re going to get every time.”
We saw some indications of Harbaugh’s ways in the spring. Draft picks took snaps during rookie mini-camp, something Giants’ draft picks had not done in several years. Spring practices ran as long as the Collective Bargaining Agreement would allow. The Giants did 9-on-7 run drills without pads, an unusual sight. First- and second-team players took more reps than we have become accustomed to seeing.
The West Virginia schedule is an indication things will be different. The Giants will practice for four days, take Sunday off, then practice six consecutive days. I can’t remember the last time a Giants team did that. And I’m not Dan Duggan of The Athletic, who probably has that detail tucked away in a years-old notebook somewhere.
Position battles
We probably already know about 75% of the 53-man roster, maybe a little more than that. There are competitions for both roster spots and playing time that will be worth watching. Here are the five battles I think I am most interested:
- CB2 — Will the starting cornerback opposite Paulson Adebo be behind door Number 1 (Greg Newsome), Door No. 2 (Colton Hood), or Door No. 3 (Deonte Banks)?
- Defensive line — If you know who, out of Zacch Pickens, Sam Roberts, Josh Futou, Bobby Jamison-Travis, Leki Fotu, Ben Barten, and Anquin Barnes Jr. is going to make the roster, you are smarter than I am.
- Wide receiver — Can Odell Beckham make the roster? If he can’t, who does? Is this finally the end of the line for Jalin Hyatt?
- Offensive line — Who will the Giants keep as their backups? Would they dare try to pass J.C. Davis through waivers and get him to the practice squad? Can Evan Neal somehow earn a spot? Will Jon Runyan face real competition for the left guard job?
- Safety — This is not really about roster spots. I want to know if either Ar’Darius Washington or Jason Pinnock can take Tyler Nubin’s starting job.
Malik Nabers’ progress
Nabers, coming back from a pair of surgeries to fix a torn ACL, will avoid the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list at the beginning of camp. How much he does each day, and how he looks while doing it, is going to become a daily.
I would suspect a slow ramp-up for Nabers designed to, hopefully, get him to full speed for Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys. I would expect Nabers to do more than warm-up drills and perhaps some individual drills early in camp. Perhaps some 7-on-7 and 1-on-1 work as camp moves along, and some 11-on-11 action later in camp. I’d guess there is no chance Nabers plays in a preseason game.
A long way from home
Truthfully, as I have thought about this column over the past several days, and tried to chisel out time to write it, I have been distracted by my own thoughts about and preparations for spending the next two weeks in West Virginia.
I report to West Virginia for camp on Monday, and have been pre-occupied for days with thoughts of what I needed to do before leaving, and all of the things I needed to bring. I’ve resigned myself to having a couple of “oh, s—-, I didn’t bring such and such” with me moments.
It is a 586-mile drive from my home to my accommodations for 12 nights. I am grateful for the opportunity to cover this important stretch for the Giants in person — I have always believed seeing things with my own eyes is the only way to do this job corectly.
Still, this will be the longest stretch of time ever spent away from my bride of 41 years (as of Aug. 10). I might miss the birth of our fourth grandchild, unless the little man cooperates and waits for grandpa to get home.
I would, though, feel like I wasn’t doing my job properly if I wasn’t there. I hope you enjoy, and benfit from, the coverage here at Big Blue View of the West Virginia chapter of the upcoming season.
Let the adventure begin!
