Things We Learned from Friday's New York Giants OTA Practice

The Giants receivers-defensive backs competition will have to wait; why Kadarius Toney likely sat out practice, and an interesting discovery about the Giants offensive line.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Jun 4, 2021 4:59 PM EDT

The much-anticipated competition between the revamped New York Giants receivers group and the expanded defensive backs will have to wait.

Although the Giants had several more players attend the second of the two OTAs open to the media—among the new faces was receiver Kenny Golladay—New York’s first-round pick Kadarius Toney wasn’t a participant at Friday’s practice, and the majority of the team’s defensive backs remain off-site where they’re likely going through their own workouts.

Speaking of Golladay, head coach Joe Judge was asked what he envisions the team’s top free-agent acquisition adding to the offense.

Judge predictably didn’t go into specifics, but he did say, “When you add new players to the roster through free agency or the draft, you're going to try to build in different things that fit their strengths.

“Obviously there's going to be an element of what he did so well in Detroit that we'll try to incorporate and let him play to his strengths, and then we'll try to find things that fit us that he hasn't done in the past and make sure we fit them in as we go.”

In a film review of Golladay’s game while in Detroit, among the items Nick Falato identified as what Golladay showed while with the Lions was unique vertical ability, excellent body control/adjustment, strong hands, good route running, and being a big red-zone target with an exceptional catch radius.

“Everyone saw on tape this guy has been a physical player for years,” Judge said, “He's made a lot of tough catches, a lot of big plays with the ball in his hand running. He brings a physical toughness; that's something we saw on tape, and we plan on building into his strengths whatever we can do with our offense.”

Thoughts on Kadarius Toney's Contract Odyssey

As for Toney, whose on-field absence came as a bit of a surprise after he the Giants' first-round draft pick, agreed to terms on his new rookie deal, outside of there being an injury issue (not believed to be the case), the only other logical explanation is a matter of semantics concerning his contract.

People often confuse a player signing a contract versus agreeing to terms as being the same thing. And they’re not the same thing as a contract isn’t a contract until it’s signed.

Toney wasn't announced as having signed his contract by the Giants before the start of Friday’s OTA--the team announced the signing after the OTA concluded.

So call this an educated guess, but his agent probably recommended Toney not take the field until the pen was put to the paper, which again took place after the OTA wrapped.

An Interesting Takeaway About the Projected O-Line Configurations

Things are always subject to change, but I think the Giants have done a nice job with how they have set up their offensive line configuration.

As was expected to be the case, the first-team unit consisted of Andrew Thomas at left tackle, Shane Lemieux at left guard, Nick Gates at center, Will Hernandez at right guard, and Matt Peart at right tackle.

The average age of those five guys: 23.6 years. Average NFL experience: 2.6 years.

The second-string offensive line is a bit older in terms of age and experience and consists of Chad Slade at left tackle, Kenny Wiggins at left guard, Jonotthan Harrison at center, Zach Fulton at right guard, and Nate Solder at right tackle.

The average age of those five guys: 30 years. Average NFL experience: 7.2 years.

The Giants are obviously looking to roll with the youth movement with the hope that the younger group can continue to grow together and become one of the more solid offensive lines in the NFL.

But if something unexpected should happen, how reassuring is it to know that the Giants have set up a veteran and experienced safety net just in case?

MORE COVERAGE FROM FRIDAY’S OTA