Eli Manning glad to have Hakeem Nicks at mini-camp

The old saying is you can't have one without the other; in this case, Eli Manning is happy to have one.

With Hakeem Nicks making an appearance at New York Giants mini-camp on Tuesday, the New York Giants' quarterback finally had a chance to talk about progress being made on the field, not at the negotiating table.

"It should be good to have him here and see what he can do and go out there and have a good practice," Manning said. "I’m looking forward to having these last three practices and keep working on getting better, working on our offense, improving on things and see if we can. I thought we’ve made some progress these last few weeks of OTAs and hopefully we can finish on a strong note and take that into training camp down the road."

Nicks' absence at OTAs last month drew a lot of attention, as it was a question of whether it was due to contract demands or lingering foot and knee injuries. Last season, multiple injuries limited Nicks to 13 games, in which he secured career-low marks in receiving yards (692) and touchdowns (3).

Nicks' return doesn't mean a contract dispute is out of the question, nor does it mean the wide receiver is 100-percent healthy. But it does force us to shift our attention to the other wideout in need of a deal; he goes by the name of Victor Cruz.

Bombarded by questions about his top two wideouts, Manning, who prefers not to discuss contracts and holdouts with the media, admitted it isn't a big concern for him, personally, and would like to return the focus back to football and how the New York Giants can get better.

"I haven’t made it a big deal," he said. "I’m coming here to work and practice and just trying to make sure I’m having great reps in practice and doing my job and whoever is out there on the field, talking with them throughout the day, throughout the practice and make sure we’re all getting better."

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