Giants training camp: Landon Collins "ready to get back on the field"

Until Tuesday rookie safety Landon Collins had not played or practiced since leaving the New York Giants first preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals with a MCL sprain. The plan was to give him a week of rest, and now it appears that Collins is ready to resume his rookie year.

"I feel great. I’m ready to get back on the field. Just take it day by day. Hopefully get back to practicing today or tomorrow," Collins told reporters prior to practice on Tuesday.

Collins did not appear to practice on Monday, while safeties Nat Berhe and Cooper Taylor did return to the field.

However, just because Collins was injured doesn't mean he was on vacation. Collins was still working hard to learn the team's defense.

"Just stay in the coaching staff meetings, our meetings, and one-on-one’s with the coaches," Collins said. Definitely with my teammates and making sure we’re all on the same page. If I see something, I can tell them what to do, and if they still have questions—we still always ask each other questions about everything."

Attending the meetings and talking with the coaches will be especially important to Collins as the Giants expect him to be versatile. While the stigma for Collins during the draft is that he is strictly a strong safety, the Giants scheme will likely not differentiate the two safety positions. In fact, when asked about playing along with another strong safety in Brandon Meriweather, Collins was confident in his abilities.

"Yeah, we definitely can both play either one. He can play free, I can play free. He plays strong, I can play strong," Collins said. "Depending on what the team needs and what we need to be at, at the time, we definitely get that worked out."

The Giants obviously see a lot of potential in Collins as they even traded up in the draft to get him, a move they almost never do. As a projected starter, one might think that puts a lot of expectations for a rookie. Collins, however, seems cool under pressure.

"It’s no pressure at all. I mean, you take that as a challenge. Every day you try to get better. As much as you learn and get from the vets, the faster you get on the field, the faster you know, and the better you are," he said.