New York Giants Rookie Minicamp Preview: Rookies Need to Be Themselves

Expectations for the 2024 Giants rookies will be high. But it's important to let them be themselves instead of comparing them to past Giants.

New York Giants helmet / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

When getting a first look at the New York Giants draft class members, it’s sometimes easy to forget that these young men are individuals and not clones of past Giants players who are no longer on the team.

It’s easy, for example, to want to see first-round pick Malik Nabers burn whatever defensive backs draw him in coverage, for running back Tyrone Tracy to show a Saquon Barkley-like prowess, or for safety Tyler Nubin to make people forget all about Xavier McKinney.

It's also unfair to the rookies, who, beginning the first of a two-and-a-half-day rookie minicamp on Friday, are here for one purpose: to get acclimated to the Giants' way of practicing, meetings, media engagements, and everything else in between.

These practices will have no contact, as pads are not allowed until training camp. That means those assembled won’t be able to watch how Nabers handles a jam or how the offensive linemen fare against their defensive counterparts.

Instead, the coaching staff will teach the rookies a lot as they help them acclimate to life in the NFL.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be “wow” moments created by the rookies, especially by Nabers, whom several post-draft analyses have already (and unfairly) christened as the man who can save incumbent quarterback Daniel Jones’s career.

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Some fondly remember how another LSU receiver, Odell Beckham Jr., dazzled in every way from the moment he first set foot on the Giants’ property for a practice. And hey, since Nabers also comes from LSU, why not expect the same?

Simple. While both Beckham and Nabers are gifted receivers, they are two very different people operating in different circumstances and for different head coaches. To expect Nabers to be Beckham 2.0 is not fair to either of them.

To his credit, Nabers understands that, having gotten the sage advice from those closest to him to simply be himself.

“Those guys are just telling me to be the same person that I’ve been the whole time,” Nabers said after he was drafted. “You’re in the league, but don’t be too scared.

“You’re still playing football. You’re still that little kid that was playing football at the end of the day. Have fun with it. It’s a fun thing to do. You’re playing for the NFL, the dream that you always wanted to do. So just keep that.’’

• RELATED: PFF Predicts Giants Rookie Class Will Be Among Most Productive
  

The same can probably be said of expectations for other rookies like safety Tyler Nubin, tight end Theo Johnson, and running back Tyrone Tracy, Jr.

Nubin, a safety out of Minnesota, is an early favorite to land the starting job left vacant when McKinney signed with the Green Bay Packers in free agency. Nubin was a bit more of a ballhawk in college, but to say his skillset is a replica of McKinney’s wouldn’t be accurate, just like it’s not fair to expect Tracy to be Saquon Barkley 2.0 or Johnson to conjure up memories of a healthy Darren Waller.

 So, as reports detail what happens on the field, it’s important to remember that there will be nerves, and with the nerves will come mistakes made by these young men who are starting all over again at the highest possible level.

We need to exercise a little patience when reports of dropped passes or bad angles are made, as the true story of how well these rookies—and this extends to the undrafted premium free agents as well as the tryout players invited to show off their talents—won’t be told for several more weeks.

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