New York Giants Training Camp Practice Report: Giants “Start Small”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants opened training camp on Friday with what amounted to a walk-thru, a practice where there was no offense vs. defense. There weren’t even any passes thrown, save for one little screen pass Eli Manning flipped about two yards to Paul Perkins.

I have to ask — did that little toss count against Manning’s pitch count?

Here are a few notes from practice.

Injury Report

• Damon Harrison was on a stationary bike at the beginning practice, then went inside. He did return and work in defensive drills later in practice. McAdoo said Harrison is “sore” in his lower body and that the Giants are “starting slow” with him.
• Tight end Rhett Ellison, who missed spring workouts with a calf injury, participated on Friday. He lined up as a lead blocker during running plays. I spoke briefly with Ellison and he said there are no lingering issues with his calf.

Ramping Up Slowly

Coach Ben McAdoo said the Giants will ramp up the intensity of practices slowly.

“We have not seen them for six weeks, so we are starting like we do really the off-season program, just a little quicker. We will put offense and defense together tonight in a jog through type environment without helmets just to get them used to putting their hands on each other a little bit, but nothing with any type of speed to it, just more teaching pace,” McAdoo said. “Tomorrow we will crank it up a little bit more and then we will do that one more time before giving them a day off and a chance to recover and come back and put some uppers on. We are gonna start small and build our way up. It’s not where you start in this business, it’s where you finish. And we don’t need to be ready to play a full game until we are ready to play a full game.”

That reads as though the Giants will not be in uppers (shoulder pads) until Tuesday, and won’t practice in full pads until Wednesday.

Practice Notes

With the nature of practice, not much to report here. Let’s start with a quick video of some defensive line work:

• There weren’t any noticeable lineup changes from spring practices. D.J. Fluker worked as the second-team right guard, with no changes to the offensive line.
• Odell Beckham Jr., Shane Vereen, Travis Rudolph, Dwayne Harris and Sterling Shepard fielded punts.
• Mike Francesa made his annual visit to training camp, hosting his WFAN show from the patio.

Saturday’s practice

Practice begins at 10:55 a.m. and is open to the public.

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