Giants Camp Live: Pads, Offensive Improvement, and Receiver Rotation Headline Team's Seventh Practice

John Harbaugh's demanding camp continues at The Greenbrier, with the offense and, in particular, the receivers among the topics of interest.

The New York Giants continue their training camp at The Greenbrier Resort Sports Performance Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The New York Giants are back at it today at The Greenbrier in what’s expected to be the third straight practice in pads.

So far, head coach John Harbaugh’s reputation for running a challenging training camp has come to fruition, from his taking full advantage of every minute the CBA allows for practice time each day to the number of padded practices the team can hold.

With today being the third such padded practice in a row, the next time the Giants can go on a string of three straight days with pads is in three calendar days, or next Monday when they return to East Rutherford for a 2.5-hour practice, the maximum allowed by the CBA.

While the practices have been somewhat sloppy in terms of penalties the last two days, it’s hard to buy the excuse of the pads being the culprit. Yes, the pads and extra equipment each player wears add additional weight to tote around for the duration of the practice, but these are athletes who are supposed to be in optimal physical condition.

Furthermore, the pre-snap penalties tend to be more of a mental focus than anything.

Turning to today’s practice, of particular interest will be the receiver reps. During Tuesday’s practice, Odell Beckham Jr., who has been able to get open a lot dating back to the spring, got bumped up from the second-team offense to the first-team.

While part of that may have been a result of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Darius Slayton, Malachi Fields, and Malik Nabers all not taking part in team drills, it was still an encouraging sign for Beckham, who is trying to earn a roster spot in what is likely his last chance with the team that first drafted him.

The other storyline will be the offense, which has been shaky thus far. This has been largely due to quarterback Jaxson Dart’s ongoing transition to a new offense that has asked him to do things he didn’t really do much of in college or last year. But there is optimism that the more Dart and his supporting cast reps the offense, the sooner he’ll find a comfort level needed to function at a strong enough level.

All in all, the Giants, who have made progress in their preparation for the start of the regular season, still have a lot more to get done. Fortunately, they also have a lot more training camp to go at this juncture to continue ironing out any recurring issues.

As always, follow along with our live blog from training camp as the fans return for the first of the final three days of practices open to the public.

The practice is set to run from 1:30 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. At approximately 4:15, media sessions will begin, first with head coach John Harbaugh and then with select players.

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