Giants training camp, Day 7: Kenny Golladay up, Evan Neal down, Daniel Jones good again

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Wednesday was a good day for Kenny Golladay, a second straight really good day for Daniel Jones, and a rough day for rookie right tackle Evan Neal as the New York Giants continued to work their way through training camp.

Let’s get to some of Wednesday’s takeaways.

Contested catch Kenny!

Kenny Golladay had a miserable first season in New York, there is no way around that. No touchdowns, and only 37 receptions for 521 yards. Not the kind of production the Giants paid $72 million over four years during the 2021 offseason hoping to get.

Up until Wednesday, Golladay’s training camp had been uneven. A few plays made, but also a couple of awful dropped passes.

On Wednesday, though, Golladay finally resembled the player the previous Giants regime thought it was paying for a year ago.

Golladay made the play of the day, leaping for a deep sideline throw by Daniel Jones and outmuscling cornerback Adoree’ Jackson for the ball as both players tumbled to the ground. That was the kind of contested catch the Giants are depending on the 6-foot-4, 213-pound Golladay to make — the kind of play that earned him the big-money deal the Giants handed him.

A few plays later, Golladay made another contested catch. This time, he worked his way in front of Aaron Robinson to haul in a Jones pass on a comeback route.

Golladay said a few days ago that last season was “disappointing” and that there were “just a lot of different moving parts” that contributed to it.

One of those was injuries which limited Golladay’s practice time. He has been healthy thus far in camp, working every day. He also spent a lot of time in New Jersey this offseason catching passes from Jones.

“That’s just how much it means to me, to be honest. Just going in the training room doing little stuff, working out here as far as in the weight room and then just throwing with DJ,” Golladay said. “Of course, you take your time off during the week or during the weekend to go do your personal things as far as travel and everything, but I just made a point to myself that I wanted to be up here and just really focus on my body a little bit more.”

Evan Neal struggles again

Rookie right tackle Evan Neal had a rough day on Monday, losing a pair of 1-on-1 pass-blocking reps to edge defender Oshane Ximines.

Things did not get any better for the No. 7 overall pick on Wednesday.

During 1-on-1s, edge Quincy Roche left Neal on the ground as he blasted by on Neal’s first rep. On his second rep, Neal committed a holding penalty trying to deal with rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux. Here is the rep where Neal ended up on the ground:

During 11-on-11 work later in practice, Jihad Ward got around Neal for a pressure on Jones.

1-on-1 notes

I’m not sure what is going on with Giants’ rushers and offside penalties. There were several on Monday, including a pair by Ximines.

On Wednesday, Quincy Roche committed two and defensive lineman Jalyn Holmes one.

Leonard Williams beat guard Mark Glowinski both times they were matched up.

Andrew Thomas won both of his reps, stoning Thibodeaux and Ximines.

In a matchup of rookies, Darrian Beavers whipped Joshua Ezeudu.

9-on-7 work

The Giants did their first 9-on-7 run drill of camp during this practice. There were 12 plays in this period of really physical run work.

Running back Gary Brightwell did pop a run to the outside and rookie Jashaun Corbin had a run through the middle that appeared to pop open.

Thibodeaux drew a holding penalty on tight end Chris Myarick during this session.

Injury notes: Jon Feliciano returns

Starting center Jon Feliciano, who had missed four practices after suffering heat/hydration issues last Thursday, was back at practice. Feliciano had a limited workload, but was on the field for at least one 11-on-11 period.

Five players did not practice. They are:

Running back Antonio Williams, wide receiver Robert Foster, offensive tackle Matt Gono, tight end Ricky Seals-Jones, cornerback Rodarius Williams.

Quote of the day

Here is Giants coach Brian Daboll talking about his anticipation for Friday’s Fan Fest at MetLife Stadium.

Quarterback stats

Here are my completely unofficial quarterback stats for the day:

• Daniel Jones: 9 of 11
• Tyrod Taylor: 5 of 6
• Davis Webb: 7 of 10

Most importantly, there were no interceptions. Truthfully, none of the 27 passes came close to being intercepted. I’m not sure there was even a pass defensed.

That marks two good days in a row for Jones after a ragged start to training camp. Before Wednesday’s practice, head coach Brian Daboll assessed Jones’ work on Tuesday this way:

“I think he’s been doing good. Each day, he’s making progress. Made good decisions. Had a couple turnovers, which one was a little slip on the skill guy and a timing route. So, I thought the other one Adoree’ (Jackson) made a really good play. Attacked the ball well. We always try to limit those the best we can. But I think he’s making progress. Decision making. Trusting his reads. Still got a ways to go.”

Daboll said what he really wants to see is good decision-making.

“Really what I want Daniel to do is make the right play. Make the right decision. And there’s certain periods that we want to test the deep part of the field or see how the secondary covers, sure, but for the most part we want to make a good decision with the football and go onto the next play. If that’s a 60-yarder down the field, that’s a 60-yarder. If it’s a check to a run, check to a run. That’s really what we’re trying to get done with Daniel, with all our quarterbacks.”

Live ... and die ... by the blitz

Backup running back Matt Breida had a catch on a swing pass from Tyrod Taylor that turned into a touchdown of roughly 70 yards. This was a classic example of live by the blitz, die by the blitz. The Giants’ defense appeared to overload the left side of the offensive formation and send multiple blitzers from that direction.

When Taylor was able to get the ball out to Breida over the top of the blitzers there were few defenders with a chance to make a play. None did.

Special attention

Saquon Barkley has often been criticized for his pass blocking. During a special teams period on Wednesday, Barkley was off to the side working on that aspect of his game. He was going through technique work with director of coaching operations Laura Young functioning as the defender. At first, Young was wearing long pads on each arm. Young later switched to boxing gloves as Barkley focused on slapping her hands down as she rushed him.

Quick observations

• Undrafted free agent tight ends Jeremiah Hall and Andre Miller both got a couple of first-team reps on Wednesday. All of those came aligned in the backfield as a lead blocker — basically as a fullback.
• The revolving door at center for the Giants had a new entrant on Wednesday as Garrett McGhin, signed at the beginning of training camp, took some reps at the position.
• C.J. Board had the most obvious gaffe of the day. Board dropped a deep ball from Taylor that would have been an easy touchdown as the receiver had gotten a couple of steps beyond the defense. Board, though, did connect with Jones on a nice slant route.
• Giants’ punt gunners did a drill with a soccer ball, practicing batting the rolling or flying ball back before it could cross the goal line.
• Rookie Joshua Ezeudu worked some at right tackle. He has now played both tackles and left guard during training camp.

Fan Fest on Friday

The Giants are off on Thursday. Fan Fest will be held Friday evening at MetLife Stadium