New York Giants Training Camp Week 2: Risers and Fallers
Week 2 of Giants training camp is in the books, and what a wild week it was.
Tucked among the player retirements and the headline-making dustup was quite a bit of football in which several players helped their causes while others, not so much so.
Here is our recap of whose stock is rising and whose is going in the opposite direction.
Risers
WR C.J. Board
Board's quietly been having a good camp as both a receiver and as a potential gunner where it eh latter role he impressed last year and continues to impress.
"Speed," said special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey when asked what he's seen from Board so far this year. "C.J. is getting better and I’m excited for him and the opportunity that he has out in front of him to compete every day and get out here with these guys. He’s done a real good job, so I look forward to watching him in the preseason and see how he progresses."
Last year, the Giants' gunner play was far from solid, but Board, when put into that role, did bring a little stability to the picture. He only recorded two tackles on special teams, but Board also showed an ability to break free from jams at the line and be among the first down the field.
WR David Sills V
Yet another receiver who is pushing hard for a roster spot, David Sills V has been Mr. Clutch in the passing game as he picks up where he left off last summer following a broken leg.
Sills is a tallish possession receiver who has been able to capitalize on the absences of No. 1 receiver Kenny Golladay and first round pick Kadarius Toney. Still, before writing his name in ink for a spot on the 53-man roster, there's a matter of special teams, which will be the deciding factor between the 53-man roster and a spot on the practice squad.
WR Sterling Shepard
For those who might have thought Toney might cut into veteran Sterling Shepard's snaps, such a notion may have been premature.
Never mind the fact that Toney's camp started slowly due to an unplanned trip to the COVID-19 list. Shepard, perhaps one of the most underrated players on the Giants roster period, has been running around out there with fresh legs and a seemingly renewed sense of purpose.
Shepard, who revealed he spent the off-season focused on improving his conditioning to hopefully eliminate some of the injury-related stretches that have cost him ten games over the last two seasons, has looked like he's in mid-season form through two weeks of the camp against both man and zone coverages.
While it's still too early to know if Shepard is going to see more snaps in the slot--in the last two seasons, he's seen less than half of his overall offensive snaps in the slot versus his first three seasons, where he was averaging close to 80% of his snaps inside--Shepard is practicing with a renewed sense of purpose that has made him a guy one shouldn't sleep on.
TE Evan Engram
Last year's Pro Bowl berth aside, tight end Evan Engram didn't have a strong season. That said, he did as he said he was going to do earlier in the spring. He buried the past but not after taking the lessons from a season that saw him tie for the league lead in dropped passes among tight ends, and he went to work.
With Kyle Rudolph on the side as he continues his recovery from off-season foot surgery, Engram has stepped up. The dropped passes have been minimal, and he has looked faster and more sure of himself, especially on routes away from the ball. Engram still isn't an ideal blocker out there, but he can certainly do enough to get in a defender's way and slow him down.
Edge Azeez Ojulari
Injuries have caused the Giants edge-rushing group to be thin. But even if that weren't the case, something tells me that second-round draft pick Azeez Ojulari would still be seeing a lot of snaps with the first and second-team defenses.
The rookie out of Georgia has been superb at times, beating the tackles with a quick inside move and an explosive first step. He's still a bit rough around the edges against the run in which he moves with some hesitation, but the more reps he gets, the better he's looked.
And, no, it wouldn't be a stretch to pencil Ojulari in as the starter opposite of projected starter Lorenzo Carter.
CB Rodarius Williams
At the start of camp, it was fair to wonder if Williams, the last of the Giants draft picks this year, might get swept up in the numbers when it came time to make the roster.
The logic was undoubtedly there as James Bradberry, Adoree' Jackson, Darnay Holmes, and Aaron Robinson seemed to be locks, with Madre Harper, a potential fifth corner given his work on special teams.
But the feisty Williams has made a solid push to change the narrative. He's sought to make the most of his opportunities with the first-team defense and has done just that.
Williams, who might have very well moved ahead of veterans Isaac Yiadom and Sam Beal for the final spot among the cornerbacks, finished the week with multiple interceptions and pass breakups, including one PBU that ended up as a pick for safety Jabrill Peppers.
Fallers
The Backup Offensive Line
After looking to have turned the corner with a solid practice Wednesday, the backup offensive line finished the week with a big-time whimper that included two straight days with multiple false start penalties and mistakes.
The coaches probably hope that the last couple of days were just a hiccup rather than a sign of what's to come. Sure, the line is a little thin on depth following the retirements of Joe Looney and Zach Fulton, but still, this was not a positive development for a position group on which much is riding this season.
WR Dante Pettis
One of the biggest appeals of Pettis last year was his history as a college return specialist, where he recorded nine punt returns for a touchdown while at Washington and earned top honors in the Pac-12 for his career 1,274 punt return yards.
Unfortunately, Pettis's time with the Giants has been anything but smooth. Last year after coming over via waivers from the 49ers, Pettis, a second-round draft pick in 2018, tested positive for COVID-19 and never really got untracked, partially due to the lingering effects of the virus.
Pettis is again off to a slow start, having been sidelined for several practices with an undisclosed ailment. Meanwhile, John Ross, who recorded four career punt returns for touchdowns at Washington, has gotten an increasing opportunity as a returner and has put his speed on display for the Giants on offense.
SCB Darnay Holmes
When the Giants traded up to draft Aaron Robinson in the third round, it didn't take a detective to figure out the team was looking to add some additional firepower to the slot cornerback spot that Holmes primarily manned for the team last year.
Robinson, who played most of his college snaps as the slot cornerback, is recovering from a core muscle injury. Meanwhile, Holmes has had some struggles against Sterling Shepard, plus the coaches have had Julian Love see a little more work in the slot, apparently the backup plan to split some of the duties this year at that critical position.
To be clear, Holmes, who ended the week with a diving interception off a Mike Glennon pass intended for receiver Andy Jones, probably isn't in danger of losing his roster spot. Still, early signs indicate his role in the 2021 team could be altered if just in terms of slot snap counts.
OLB Elerson Smith
To be clear, anyone unable to practice right now is a faller, but I'm going to give you a couple of guys whose absences are particularly worrisome.
We'll start with Elerson Smith. The Giants' fourth-round draft pick was brought on board to help as a situational pass rusher. However, he's been dealing with an issue dating back to the spring that has vastly cut into his on-field reps, and that's never a good sign for a rookie coming from a small program and who typically has a longer learning curve.
Smith was likely going to be one of those guys who saw a snap here and there in certain situations, but the more time he misses, the more that possibility fades, at least for the start of the season.
OLB Oshane Ximines
Ximines is another young player who has the ability to help the pass rush but whose availability has not been very good due to injuries. Last year he missed most of the season with a shoulder ailment that required surgery.
This summer, he landed on the PUP list with a hamstring strain and had yet to pass his physical at the end of the second week of practice.
With Ojulari's stock continuing to rise and with expectations for Carter to pick up where he left off before his season-ending Achilles injury last year, it's certainly fair to wonder about just how secure Ximines's roster spot is.
- Sign up for our FREE digest newsletter
- Follow and like us on Facebook
- Submit your questions for our mailbag
- Listen and subscribe to the daily LockedOn Giants podcast.
