Here are a few stories from the first day of New York Giants' rookie mini-camp.
- Ralph Vacchiano says that Ramses Barden and Hakeem Nicks made a nice first impression on coach Tom Coughlin. Here is part of Vacchiano's report.
“They caught the ball,” Coughlin said. “This morning they caught the ball well.”
Consider that high praise from a coach who would rather not add to the hype of any of his rookies, particularly that of receivers Hakeem Nicks and Ramses Barden. The expectations of those two are already pretty huge, considering how thin the Giants are at their position. Both of them have a chance to contribute right away.
Can they? Well, if you’re crazy enough to judge anything from a few plays in the first practice of rookie mini-camp, Nicks certainly looks as polished as advertised. He had little trouble putting a move on CB Vince Anderson, an undrafted free agent out of Weber International, to get open near the sidelines. And he even showed some speed, flying by seventh-round CB Stoney Woodson (and several other defensive backs) on a deep route. ...
Nicks said he didn’t drop a single pass in practice, and I certainly didn’t see him drop any. I actually didn’t see Barden drop any either, but the 6-6 ex-Cal Poly star looked a little slow out of the blocks at first. By the time they got in 7 on 7 drills, though, he showed an unexpected second gear and at least once was able to get beyond the secondary to haul in a long pass from quarterback Rhett Bomar.
- Vacchiano' has the full list of participating rookies, as does Mike Garafolo.
- Garafolo has plenty of stuff for you. There is some video from one of the workouts. MG was impressed by Nicks in the morning session. He has notes on Clint Sintim, Barden, William Beatty, Andre Woodson and others in his afternoon practice report.
- N.C. State coach told the Giants running back Andre Brown is "your type of guy."
- Not mini-camp related but Ralph Vacchiano had a note on a statement by a very confident Brandon Jacobs.
“We are going to have a new identity, a new scheme,” Jacobs said. “Hopefully a piece of that puzzle doesn’t come missing in the middle of the season and we’ve got to make another adjustment. It’s just a fresh year. And I think that we’re going to have a great season and going on to win at least 13 games.
“I’m putting us in that big dance early and whoever’s listening to it, I really don’t care if they don’t like it or not.”
A few minutes later, Jacobs was asked if he thought the Giants still had a chance to land Edwards. “No,” he said. “I think that’s over.”
Then he made it clear that he’s glad it is.
“I love Braylon,” Jacobs said. “Braylon is a great guy and a great player. But I don’t think he’s New York. We don’t throw the ball enough for that.
“I don’t want him,” Jacobs added. “There’s great players in the league that I don’t want. I don’t know, I just think the chemistry between the teammates that I have now is great. We don’t need to add a new veteran to the whole group. I’m good with where we are. I’m glad that we didn’t go forward and get him or (Anquan) Boldin. And those guys are great guys (but) I’m not interested in that idea.”