Giants Rookie Minicamp Day 1 Takeaways: Teaching, Quads, and More
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants opened their annual rookie minicamp with a light on-field workout that was mostly focused on seeing how well the camp attendees—the seven-member draft class, the seven or so undrafted free agents, the five or so practice squad players from last year, and a handful of tryouts—retained the information taught to them in the classroom.
“We'll have two days here of work--I wouldn't say extensive work, just kind of get their feet wet,” said head coach Brian Daboll. “It was good to get the players in here yesterday and meet a bunch of new guys. You never know what you will find out here.
"It's good to kind of get to know these guys and for them to get to know us. The physical stuff will come here in the next few weeks.”
The light 75-minute workout only included one seven-on-seven drill but mostly focused on technique work since contact is prohibited. With the technique work, though, can come mistakes, something that Daboll admitted he has to remind himself to have patience with at this stage of the game.
“Sometimes I pop off, sometimes I teach,” Daboll said. “You're a teacher at heart. Again, there are a bunch of things that come into this first camp. You want to set a precedent of how your organization wants to be run and what your expectations are in the classroom and on the field.
“But I understand that these guys just came from -- some from far, a lot of trips, some didn't have much of an opportunity in terms of getting looked at in the draft and are here for tryouts, so there's probably a lot of anxiety, a lot of nervousness that is running through these guys' minds right now. I appreciate that about these young players.”
From an on-field perspective, there wasn’t much to talk about, but here are a few takeaways…
The Quads Squad
Get a load of fifth-round draft pick Eric Gray’s quads, ladies and gentlemen. If you thought Saquon Barkley had tree trunks for legs, then Gray is determined to give the veteran a run for his money in that department.
But all kidding aside, Gray has a nice little burst to him, and his powerful legs will serve him well when he has to power through traffic. While he didn't have to face any 11-on-11 on the first day, one just gets the feeling he will be a nice little power package.
Center of Attention
John Michael Schmitz, the team's second-round draft pick, did most of the snapping in this first practice, including some with the quarterback (Tommy DeVito mainly) under center and some from the shotgun.
I'll say this about what I saw from Schimitz's snapping. Very smooth and fluid and very quick. This is why I've been screaming for a pure center for the longest time. Snapping direct to the quarterback and from the shotgun poses a certain set of challenges.
Again, Schitz didn't have someone lined up across from him, but I did think he fired out of his stance quickly and would have exploded into a defender. I look forward to seeing that when the pads go on in the summer.
The Other Quarterback
Every year there seems to be an undrafted free agent that comes in with a lot of buzz for one reason or another. This year, one can make a case that the Giants have two such players, receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton, from whom we'll hear tomorrow, and quarterback (and Cedar Grove, New Jersey native) Tommy DeVito out of Illinois.
DeVito, to my eyes, doesn't quite look like the 6-foot-2 height he's listed at, and I'm going by those times when he was standing next to the other quarterback in the camp (tryout candidates Hunter Johnson, 6-foot-2, from Clemson and Bryce Perkins, 6-foo-3, from Virginia).
But of the three quarterbacks in this camp, DeVito certainly looked the most polished, hitting several receivers in the flats. Again, there wasn't much in the way of seven-on-seven drills, but I thought DeVito threw a nice ball.
Here's what Coach Gene Clemons wrote about DeVito for our undrafted free-agent report:
Very good throwing mechanics and arm strength. It shows that he can consistently drive the ball to the opposite hash. They will be able to make those throws in the pros. Good on timing routes, as the ball comes out quickly, and the placement is generally good. This isn't a negative when I say this, but DeVito is a solid game manager who protects the ball, the drive, and the series and keeps the offense on pace.
The Giants haven't shied away from the fact that they'd like to develop a young quarterback, especially after losing Davis Webb to retirement. And Devito was someone they had their local pro day last month, a guy whom Daboll said also impressed them in the meetings.
Daboll told reporters that they will take things slowly at first with DeVito to allow him to come up to speed.
"You don't install very many plays because for some of these tryout guys, too, you want to be able to evaluate what they can do physically relative to running around, cutting, things like that, and sometimes you give them too much, they're thinking, and you don't see the true talent of the player," Daboll said in explaining how he was approaching evaluating the quarterbacks in this camp.
"I'd say we'll take it slow. We don't have, again, very many plays in for those guys to go out there and be able to try to execute, which, again, they've never thrown with the players they're throwing with. There's a lot that goes into it. That's why we're going to ease into these next two days here."
A Cute Moment
Okay, maybe "cute" isn't the right word to use, not when talking about football, but that's what I thought when first-round pick Deonte Banks--a man of very few words, by the way--came to the podium for his post-practice media session.
Banks, who is listed as 6-foot-2, kept bending down at the waist to answer the questions, obviously thinking that the microphones before him would amplify his voice rather than simply pick up his audio for the camera.
It was a very considerate move by Banks, who saw that the Giants podium couldn't be raised to accommodate taller people.
As for whether the constant bending at the waist was behind the clipped responses he gave, well, stay tuned on that, as I'm sure Banks will be requested by the media again before the spring ends.
That said, Banks, out of Maryland, expressed gratitude to his former college teammates for helping him to sharpen his iron.
"It prepared me because we had Dontay Demus, Rakim Jarrett, (Jacob) Copeland, all of those guys--they compete a lot, so it just makes it competitive."
Role Model
I asked sixth-round draft pick Tre Hawkins II if there was a cornerback, either still active or inactive, whose game he admired and aspired to incorporate into his own game.
"I model my game after a little bit of everybody," he said. "I've been told -- kind of making a comparison, Jalen Ramsey, Patrick Surtain, Jimmy Smith, people who kind of got my size and my traits."
So what was it about those players Hawkins liked so much?
"They all come down inside with their own thing. None of them are scared neither," he said with a smile.
Quote to Note
"I know he's a local legend around here, but he's got a long way to go, a lot to learn, but good young man to work with." -- Head Coach Brian Daboll on UDFA quarterback and New Jersey native Tommy DeVito
Transactions
The Giants waived guard Solomon Kidley and also waived/injured defensive back Terrell Burgess.
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