For the Giants’ rookies, training camp is where the real competition starts. Pads are on, the contact ramps up, and the easy summer praise disappears fast. Now it’s about who can prove they belong when the team gets to West Virginia.
Three first-year players stand out as the ones with the clearest shot to turn a strong camp into real playing time: cornerback Colton Hood, offensive lineman J.C. Davis, and linebacker Jack Kelly.
Hood is the most obvious name of the group, and for good reason. The Giants used the 37th overall pick on the former Tennessee corner, which tells you they didn’t see him as a throwaway developmental piece. He enters camp with a chance to carve out a major role because the cornerback picture is wide open enough for someone to grab it.
Paulson Adebo was supposed to be the answer after signing a three-year, $54 million deal in free agency, but that didn’t work out. He still sits as the Giants’ CB1 entering 2026, which leaves a need on the other side. Deonte Banks is beginning to make strides, Greg Newsome is looking for a fresh start, and Art Green is a name worth watching, but Hood has a real opening if he can show he fits what new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson wants to do.
That fit matters. Hood plays an aggressive, physical press-man style, and that lines up cleanly with Wilson’s approach in the secondary. If Hood can hold up against NFL route combinations and the league’s size and speed, he could push himself into a starting job quickly.
Davis, taken 192nd overall out of Illinois, has a different kind of path. He may not have the same draft pedigree as Hood, but he lands in camp with a very real lane to snaps because of how the Giants’ tackle depth chart looks. Right now, he’s the team’s acting swing tackle, stepping into the spot James Hudson left behind earlier this offseason.
At 6-foot-4 and 320 pounds, Davis isn’t built like the biggest tackle in the league, but his long wingspan and heavy hands help him make up for that. He can latch onto defenders at the point of attack and keep the edge sealed with those long arms.
More importantly, the guys ahead of him come with questions. Jermaine Eluemunor is not known as injury-prone, but he’s getting older, and Andrew Thomas has had a hard time staying on the field even though he’s excellent when healthy.
If Davis can handle first-team pass rushers in camp, he gives the Giants something valuable: a dependable backup who can step in without the offense falling apart. That kind of reliability can carry a rookie a long way toward the 53-man roster.
Kelly’s route is the least direct, but he might be the most versatile of the bunch. The former BYU linebacker can do a little bit of everything: play off-ball, rush the passer, drop into coverage, and help on special teams. That all-around skill set is why the Giants used their final pick of the 2026 Draft on him.
The challenge is that the depth chart ahead of him is crowded. Tremaine Edmunds and fifth-overall pick Arvell Reese are locked into the starting lineup, Micah McFadden is back on a one-year deal, and Darius Muasau is fighting for his future with the team. That means Kelly’s best path is to stand out in the third phase first.
If he makes himself indispensable on special teams, he gives himself a real shot at a roster spot. And if his nickname, “Cannonball,” is any indication, he’s already got one thing going for him.
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Giants Rookie Jack Kelly May Be Pushing For More Than Expected
Jack Kelly arrived in East Rutherford with the usual late-round label, but the Giants have reasons to think there may be more here than a special teams body. The rookie linebacker, taken in the sixth round out of BYU, is expected to help in the kicking game first, yet his college tape showed enough versatility and pass-rushing ability to make him an intriguing fit for a defense that can use linebackers in a few different ways.
Training camp will be the real test, and Kellys value could rise quickly if he translates that edge to the pro level. The Giants are still sorting out how much of a defensive role he can claim, and his chance to become more than a depth piece will depend on how he stacks up against the other linebackers in camp. [Read more 🡒]
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Keenan Allen fits that kind of discussion because he is still coming off a productive season, and his track record gives a team something more concrete than a training-camp flyer. A third-party view even points to New York as a logical landing spot, which only adds to the sense that this is the sort of move the Giants should be weighing if they want a more reliable answer at receiver. [Read more 🡒]