Landon Collins, Eli Apple bury the hatchet

Eli Apple has a clean slate with the New York Giants after a tumultuous 2017 season. Apple, though, has some work to do to repair relationships and regain trust with some of his teammates.

It appears that work has already been done to repair the relationship that seemed to suffer the most damage last season — the one with safety Landon Collins.

“Yeah, we talked. Definitely, we talked. We buried the hatchet a while ago,” Collins said on Monday. “That’s my guy, that’s my brother. I’m always going to have his back and we know what we have to do. We know what kind of caliber player he is, we know what caliber player I am and we’re just trying to get to work and make this season go.”

The two had a falling out last season after Apple refuted Collins’ assertion that he had tried to help Apple, whose struggles with some personal issues last season appeared to affect his ability to focus on his job with the Giants.

“I’m glad to see him back. He’s a great corner. He is very smart, I love that he comes up and lays the boom on guys and he’s a great coverage guy,” Collins said. “We need him and we’re glad to have him back.”

The Giants do need Apple. They let Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie go, replaced Ross Cockrell with William Gay, and signed a handful of veteran corners for depth. Still, they need Apple to play up to his status as the 10th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.

Collins’ arm “doing great”

The safety said his arm is fine after the season-ending fracture he suffered, and that “everything is back to 100 percent.”