Giants training camp week in review: Plays, quotes of the week

The New York Giants continue their march through training camp as they prepare for joint practices with the Detroit Lions ahead of their first preseason game on Friday. I’m looking forward to Kayvon Thibodeaux reuniting with his former Oregon teammate Penei Sewell, as well as, hopefully, healthy, beneficial competition for the Giants.

Young players like Jalin Hyatt, John Michael Schmitz, Deonte Banks, Tre Hawkins III, and others will now face non-teammates for the first time in their professional careers. Hyatt’s done nothing but impress at training camp, and his explosive playmaking ability allowed him to play among the stars:

Ol’ Blue Eyes didn’t perform the song for the 21-year-old, but Hyatt is certainly flying early in training camp. On a side note, Daniel Jones nearly overthrew him on the first clip; that was a missile, and an excellent job by Hyatt to track it into his hands. Here is another catch from earlier in camp that started the steady drumbeat that’s thundering through East Rutherford:

Nate Burleson would be proud of this toe drag swag from the rookie. Other wide receivers have made impressions at camp as well. Hyatt’s speed is still a topic at camp, and he has reportedly clocked 24 miles per hour several times:

Game situations are different than running around in a helmet and shoulder pads, but 24 MPH is nothing to scoff at. The Giants inability to create explosive plays through the passing game last season was their primary offensive issue. Not only does Hyatt have the ability to win deep to create explosive plays, but the quick accelearting stretch element to his game will open opportunities for his teammates to seize.

Hyatt isn’t the only wide receiver making plays in camp. Veteran Jamison Crowder has flashed route savvy and good hands operating out of the slot:

Sterling Shepard is another veteran who is now healthy and moving around well at camp. I loved seeing Shepard move with deceptive purpose while maintaining his explosive short area quickness:

David Sills created ample inside separation against starting CB Adoree’ Jackson with this diamond release:

Diamond releases are best against defensive backs with an inside shade and the receiver is attempting to run a slant. The receiver takes three hard steps on a 45-degree-angle, attacking outside to force the defensive back to open his face and provide an angle of entry to the inside. We see this above; Sills moved Jackson off his inside platform by selling the outside vertical release. By staying square and selling the fade, Sills read Jackson’s hips and waited for them to open before crossing the defensive backs face and winning the rep.

This is an impressive kick-step crossover release from Cole Beasley, who appears to still have ample explosiveness despite being 34:

Here’s a breakdown from the tweet:

Beasley used a kick-step crossover vs. Darnay Holmes

Beasley’s back foot came behind his front - a technique best used when the DB isn’t right in your face, but a few yards off

It’s a good way to load your hips, stay balanced, and keep your feet underneath you before entering the crossover - keep everything tight allows one to be more explosive

Beasley delayed and slid to the outside, similar, but more truncated, to a slide release...this gets Holmes influenced outside

What I’m most impressed by is the micro-movements of Cole Beasley on the release. His hips give nothing away - or, as Shakira said, they don’t lie - but his arms, hands, head, shoulders, and how he drops his weight at the break mask his intentions and are sudden

One more thing; he uses his hands excellently on the release. What a WR does with his feet sets up how effectively he can use his hands

Outside hand contacts the back of Holmes’ tricep, and the separation is immediately created

Very sudden, very quick for 34 years old

Teach tape technique from Beasley in, of course, a one-on-one situation.

I also want to include this route by Chris Myarick against rookie seventh-round pick Gervarrius Owens. The move at the top of the break by Myarick was impressive for a player fighting for a roster spot. Myarick was on the Giants under Joe Judge; he’s gritty, can block, and has 10 catches for 82 yards with two touchdowns as a Giant. Here’s the clip:

First-round rookie Deonte Banks hasn’t experienced the same success early in camp as Hyatt but did have this beautiful pass defended against Darius Slayton:

This is the technique that defensive backs’ coach Jerome Henderson teaches to properly knock passes out of the air while having control of a receiver if the defensive back misses the football. Henderson discussed this technique after a brutal Philadelphia loss in 2020 when safety Jabrill Peppers failed to execute against - of course - Boston Scott on a go-ahead touchdown with less than a minute left in the game. Just to rub salt in the wounds of all of us:

Henderson was critical but not mean of the mistake, and Peppers displayed compunction over the error. Henderson is also teaching young cornerback Tre Hawkins III this technique:

The young Old Dominion product is a bit grabby upon heavy micro-cut, albeit he doesn’t sustain the hold for very long. Still, we see the disruption and stickiness in coverage throughout this play, and many others.

The Giants are utlizing rep-management to ensure their aging, or more frequently injured, players are healthy. Leonard Williams is one of those players who have received consecutive practices off. If Williams can stay healthy under the tutelage of Andre Patterson, and the current version of Dexter Lawrence, with Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari developing, then their pass-rush may far exceed what we saw last season. Beautiful push-pull swim against Mark Glowinski above.

Ben Bredeson dictates the play by making initial contact against Rakeem Nunez-Roches. Love how Bredeson mirrors the defender in one-on-one trench drills that are advantageous to the defense.

Here are two tweets, X’s...I’m not certain what we’re calling them, but here’s two Elons that feature a pair of plays; the first are Adoree’ Jackson and Carter Coughlin knocking down two separate passes and the second are two plays of Kayvon Thibodeaux against Andrew Thomas in team period:

On the first play, Thibodeaux picks up his back foot and quickly plants it outside of Thomas’ frame to subtly sell outside, but Thiboeaux promptly exploded off his outside foot and shot through the inside shoulder of Thomas. The star left tackle’s foot was outside of his own frame, hindering the amount of explosion he could generate through the ground to close the inside. Thibodeaux landed an outside long-arm which also put Thomas more vertical than horizontal, which created a lane to the inside. Left guard Josh Ezeudu was occupied, so the path into the pocket was available.

However, and this is one of the many reasons to love Andrew Thomas, the tackle redirects his weight and sinks his backside, while taking two short steps with his outside foot to better oriente his hips to seal the inside. Thomas’ timing on contact was exceptional; once Thibodeaux removed his long arm and started charging forward toward Daniel Jones, Thomas sank his center of gravity, got both paws on Thibodeaux and exploded low-to-high through the outside shoulder of Thibodeaux.

Thomas positioned himself well to give Jones more time. The quarterback decided to run it and a defender from the other side would have sacked him, and Thibodeaux may have as well. The second year edge violently threw his outside arm upward to thwart Thomas’ attempted checkmate. In doing so, he created separation, turned his back to Thomas giving the tackle no meaningful surface area to contact, and Thibodeaux ultimately won the rep.

On the next play, Thomas anchored Thibodeaux’s bull rush and Jones quickly got the football out of his hand.

The Giants coaching staff showed their ideas on how to leverage an athletic tight end last season when they signed Lawrence Cager. Now, with the addition of Darren Waller, the idea of mismatching tight ends against safeties and linebackers becomes more appetizing. Above are several plays the Giants designed for Cager.

The Giants made a recent roster move; they waived WR Jeff Smith a signed 2022 UDFA IDL Donovan Jeter from Michigan. Here’s his one tackle from last season:

Interviews

Below are several interviews with Giants personnel. Some of the clips have highlights overlayed on them, but they’re all insightful.