Albert Breer Empties His Giants Notebook From Training Camp

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — I hit three-quarters of the league with my 24th team visit on Tuesday, and we’ve got a lot more coming from the Giants on the podcast and our YouTube channel. But for now, here are five things I’m taking away from Exit 16W …

• Jaxson’s Dart’s benefitting from an experienced, battle-hardened staff with Matt Nagy as coordinator, and Greg Roman, Brian Callahan, Willie Taggart and Tim Kelly as top lieutenants. One big difference for Dart: He’s going from one-word calls to longer, more-traditional West Coast verbiage, which has been both a challenge and, as he sees it, a benefit as he settles in for his second year. As Dart puts it, he needs to know the jobs of all 11 guys anyway, so having to run through everyone’s responsibility should give him more command of the offense. And yes, he’s aware that he needs to hit the deck quicker than he did a year ago, and he’s worked through tape with the coaches to better understand when he needs to prioritize living to see another down. As for Nagy, what’s really interesting to me is this is the first time he’ll get to focus on just being a play-caller—all of his previous experience calling an offense came as a head coach.

• Malik Nabers has shed the red non-contact jersey, and is moving better than most expected him to at this juncture, given the setbacks he had in the offseason. His ability to hold up is going to be a very, very big key in how the skill group is able to support Dart. The staff loves how rookie Malachi Fields has grown in his four months with the team, and believes he’ll have an instant impact. And even with Calvin Austin III having suffered what looked like a serious injury in Tuesday’s practice, the team has veterans it can count on at receiver in Darius Slaton, Darnell Mooney and even Braxton Berrios, plus a reliable pass-catching tight end in Raven import Isaiah Likely. But that whole crew will look a lot different if Nabers is out there to dictate coverage, and open things up for everyone else.

• The defense looks imposing. It’s hard to fully explain what Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, Arvell Reese, Tremaine Edmunds and Kayvon Thibodeaux look like together between the white lines until you see it for yourself. Reese looks like he’ll be able to contribute on and off the line as a rookie, Edmunds looks like a great scheme fit playing inside, Carter has grown a lot and is showing leadership traits, and so there’s a high ceiling in general for the group. If it comes together like they hope, the size and length of the group should shrink the field and make it difficult to throw over the middle (Chauncey Golston is another under-the-radar factor there too). The bigger question will be right in front and between those guys, where defensive tackle is being stopgapped with veterans D.J. Reader and Shelby Harris in the Giants’ post-Dexter Lawrence world. I could definitely see the team adding there over the next week to further shore up the run defense.

• The surprise of camp has been corner Deonte Banks, who looks like a different player going into his fourth season. He and DC Dennard Wilson—a fellow Maryland native and Terrapin alum—have hit it off. And just as importantly, Banks is a better fit for Wilson’s scheme (which is similar to Wink Martindale’s) than he was for Shane Bowen’s the last two years. You’ll remember Banks was drafted in part because Martindale was so smitten with him, and Banks showed a ton of promise as a rookie playing in his man-heavy system. Going back to that style has served Banks well. And if Banks suddenly becomes what the Giants thought he’d be back in 2023, now the corner spot takes on a very different feel, with Paulson Adebo, Greg Newsome II and rookie Colton Hood also in that room.

• Finally, the offensive line has been a swing factor in Giants’ seasons for the balance of this decade and I think it’s fair to say that’s still the case. With that established, the new staff does feel really good about its starters. Andrew Thomas looks like himself at left tackle, guard Jon Runyan and Jermaine Eluemunor are established pros, and first-rounder Francis Mauigoa should be a tone-setter out of the box at right guard. And John Michael Schmitz Jr. is making progress at center. The issue here would be, like it is for a lot of teams on the offensive line, depth. It almost goes without saying that it’d be huge if that starting five could stay healthy and intact.

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