The Giants are set for a busy stretch at training camp, with Friday marking their final public practice at The Greenbrier Sports Performance Center in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. After that, they’ll go back to work Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET before heading home to East Rutherford, N.J.
Sunday brings an off day, and the team will then resume practice Monday at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center. There won’t be any public practices in New Jersey.
New York’s first preseason game is coming up a week from Saturday, August 15, when the Vikings visit MetLife Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
Friday’s session should also answer a few camp questions. The Giants are returning to full pads after Thursday’s walk-through, so the tempo should tick back up.
The biggest thing to monitor is how much Malik Nabers, Brian Burns, and Malachi Fields actually do. All three took part in Thursday’s walk-through, and Nabers working in team periods there wasn’t treated as a major development.
The real checkpoint will come when he does more than individual work and routes on air in a live practice.
There’s also the question of how the team structures the reps. Will the Giants go “good on good” or rotate first-, second-, and third-team units against one another?
And then there’s the usual camp theater: which offensive lineman gets the rookie duty of taking a pre-practice lap and trying to fire up the fans along the field? Undrafted free Ryan Schernecke hasn’t been handed that job yet.
The weather could play a role, too. Monday’s practice was hit by a torrential downpour, and Friday’s forecast might bring another one.
In Other News...
Jevon Holland Is Giving Giants Fans A Tough New Debate
Jevon Hollands first season with the Giants did not match the kind of impact the team hoped for when it added him to the secondary, and Pro Football Focuss latest rankings reflected that disappointment. He was left off PFFs list of the leagues top 32 safeties after landing at No. 73 among qualified players last year, a blunt reminder that the move to New York has not yet produced the sort of weekly difference-maker the Giants envisioned.
Still, Holland is under contract through 2027, which keeps his name right in the middle of the Giants longer-term defensive conversation. With the roster already dealing with the fallout from recent trades and injuries, the safety spot is one more area where the team needs clarity, and Hollands next stretch could go a long way toward determining whether he is part of the fix or part of the debate. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Are Taking A Risk With Malik Nabers At The Worst Time
Malik Nabers has been easing back into Giants training camp as he recovers from a knee injury, and his availability has already become one of the early talking points around the team. He has been limited in practice, but New York has still had him working without the kind of obvious restrictions that usually signal a player is being handled with extra caution, even as the club has spent part of the summer trying to shore up a receiver room thinned by depth concerns.
That balancing act matters more with Week 1 against the Cowboys approaching, because the Giants are clearly counting on Nabers to be part of the plan right away. At the same time, every practice rep carries a little more weight when a key receiver is coming off an injury, and New York has to decide how much exposure is worth it before the season starts to count. [Read more 🡒]
Deonte Banks Finally Gave Giants Fans A Reason To Believe
Deonte Banks gave the Giants something they have been waiting to see more of during their final practice in West Virginia, when the second-year cornerback flashed the kind of playmaking that can change the mood around a defensive backfield. He picked off a ball in the end zone and later broke up a pass near the pylon, two moments that stood out because they came at the exact spots where corners are expected to hold up under pressure.
Banks still has work to do, and one strong practice does not wipe away the concerns that have followed him. But with the preseason opener against Minnesota approaching, the Giants need him building confidence and stacking days like this one, because progress at cornerback is less about one highlight and more about whether it starts to look repeatable. [Read more 🡒]