WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — The New York Giants held their first padded practice of 2026 training camp on Monday, a sloppy, one-hour, 45-minute that began in a sprinkle, went for about an hour in a torrential downpour, and finished in heat and bright sunshine.
“(Former) college (football) coach Tom Reed used to always tell us every single day, rain, sleet, snow, hot, it’s a great day for football. Every day.,” said head coach John Harbaugh. “We’d look at each other, really not that great a day, but
he would say every day is a great day for football.
“And that was kind of a little bit of the theme out here. I mean, it’s raining pretty good. And the guys are out there dealing with the elements, obviously impactful, but we’ll have to play in that at some point in time. So, we got a good day in the rain, and that was positive.”
There were at least a dozen penalties, perhaps as many as 14, during the 11-on-11 portions of practice. Moat of those were false starts, though there were offside penalties, defensive pass interference, and offensive and defensive holding calls, as well.
Harbaugh was surprisingly non-plussed by the sloppiness.
“I think two things. I mean, I think you’ve got the elements a little bit and you’ve got the first day in pads,” Harbaugh said after practice, when it was sunny outside. “So, it’s not really unexpected, but we’ll be working on it.”
False start penalties have been prevalent through the first five practices. Harbaugh said that might be due to the “absolutely designed” cadences the Giants are working into their offense.
“Part of the offense has a lot of elements of cadence. I mean, that’s part of it. Cadence is something that we hope to use as a weapon, so to speak. It slows the defense down and keeps them honest a little bit, but you have to work at it. There’s got to be growing pains with that,” Harbaugh said. “If you don’t work through it, then you’re not going to get good at it. So yeah, it’s kind of tough on the offense, too. They have to get used to it in a lot of different circumstances. Play clock’s running down, we’ve got motions and shifts. They’ve got to remember a lot of things at the line of scrimmage in terms of calls and which linebacker we’re going to or whatever it might be. And then you’ve got play count or cadence, things that you have to execute. So, all that stuff going together is stuff that you’re working on.
“It’s, what, the fifth day in camp right now? We’ll just keep working on that stuff. The goal is to get really good at it, and that’s what we’ll have to do. So, it’s not unexpected this early for that to be the case.”
Winners
The defense overall — The defense has had the better of the offense throughout most of the early part of training camp. That was the case again Monday. The offense had moments, but on a play-to-play basis the defense was clearly better than the offense.
“I thought the defense probably got the better of the offense today up front,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll see it on tape, probably going to be the case. But we got a few plays out in the run game on offense, too, so I’m really looking forward to seeing it.
“Everybody always says the defense is ahead of the offense early in camp. Probably found that to be true over the years, so it seems to be the case.”
Arvell Reese — Somebody forgot to give the rookie linebacker the memo that there was no live tackling in practice. Reese dumped Cam Skattebo and Tyrone Tracy at the line of scrimmage. He had a sack of Jaxson Dart, where he fortunately remembered not to hit the red jersey. Impressively, that sack came on a blitz with Andrew Thomas the nearest offensive lineman. Reese also had a couple of nice plays in coverage.
Harbaugh said he was “very encouraged” by the play of the team’s No. 5 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
“I think he looked good today from what I could see.,” Harbaugh said. “I can’t wait to see the tape, but he’s playing really well. He’s been playing well the whole camp since he got here.
“You see the talent, obviously. I think he’s very sharp for a first-year guy. He gets things right pretty much all the time, makes very few mistakes. He’s a very serious-minded guy, and he’s very determined.”
Micah McFadden — After missing all but a dozen snaps last season due to a foot injury, McFadden is no longer a starter at inside linebacker. He reminded everyone on Monday, though, that he is a useful player. McFadden had an interception off a tipped ball, at least one tackle for loss, and a couple of other good plays in coverage.
Calvin Austin — The dimimutive slot receiver has made plays every day thus far in camp, with Monday being more of the same.
“Calvin’s had a heck of a camp,” Harbaugh said. “He runs the routes really well. He gets open. He makes catches. He deserves some attention, no doubt. He’s having a good camp so far.”
Dalen Cambre — The second-year wide receiver had the play of the day for the offense. In the driving rain, Cambre leaped to take a deep 50-50 ball away from cornerback Korie Black. When the ball popped into the air, a stumbling Cambre grabbed it for a long catch before falling out of bounds.
Losers
My notebook — There was no protecting my notebook from the pouring rain. It is now in tatters, with some pages having simply disingtegrated, others being completely illegible, and me now questioning whether this notebook will dry sufficiently for me to use it again this week. Oh, one other thing. I am big fan of nice pens, especially gel pens. I knew this already, but gel pens are disastrous in the rain. There will be a basic stick pen in my pocket the rest of the week.
Tae Banks’ hands — Toward the end of practice, as the sun had come out and things began to dry out a bit, a jotted a few potential winners and losers in my notebook. Banks was in the ‘winners’ column. He had a tipped ball that led to McFadden’s interception early in practice, then a nice play in run support that ened with a tackle for loss.
Then, Jameis Winston lofted a pass toward the left pylon. The ball was at least 5 yards off target and Banks, looking like a centerfielder waiting for a fly ball, was alone waiting for the catch. Only, he didn’t make the catch. The ball fell through his fingers to the grass. The amount of time the mortified Banks, who has struggled with ball skills throughout his career, took to get back to the huddle showed he knew how bad that drop was.
An important week
The Giants have five more practices before leaving West Virginia to return to East Rutherford, N.J. Harbaugh said the Giants will be in pads for “most of them.”
“This is a big week. The second week is the big week of camp. This is your opportunity to really grow as a football team,” Harbaugh said. “We always say the second everything. The second day, the second game, the second week of camp. You build your foundation in training camp for your team. The second week should be where you cover the most miles, gain the most ground. We want to put the most miles behind us as far as developing the foundation of our team this week.
“This is just a go-to-work week. Just get to work and get better. That’s really what we’re focusing on this week. Not too much evaluating, just more really trying to build this week. You really have to build this week, and that’s what this week is for.”
Remaining Greenbrier practice schedule
- Tuesday, August 4 — 1:30-3:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, August 5 — 1:30-4 p.m. (Open to the public)
- Thursday, August 6 — 1:30-4 p.m. (Open to the public)
- Friday, August 7 — 1:30-4 p.m. (Open to the public)
- Saturday, August 8 — 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
