Nabers' Next Step, a New Depth Chart and More: What to Watch at Giants Camp This Week

Technically, the New York Giants, who are back at their East Rutherford, New Jersey practice facility, are still in training camp mode for the time being.

But with their preseason opener fast approaching, head coach John Harbaugh could be looking to shift gears a bit in terms of getting the players more acclimated to what a regular workweek might look like while still holding competitions.

To be clear, no, the Giants aren’t necessarily going to “game plan” for any of their three preseason opponents, the first of which, the Minnesota Vikings, comes to town this Saturday. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that Harbaugh doesn’t have specific things and/or players that he wants to see.

There are still questions about the receivers, the cornerbacks, and depth on the offensive line that all need to be sorted out. The readiness of the team will also undoubtedly be a focal point as they prepare to start hitting guys in different colored jerseys.

Here’s a look at some other emerging storylines for the week ahead.

Injury Updates

For the most part, the Giants came through the first two weeks of training camp relatively clean as far as major injuries are concerned.

But there are still some guys who were banged up last week, including slot cornerback Dru Phillips (knee) and center John Michael Schmitz (head injury). Phillips, per Harbaugh, is probably going to be “a little bit.” But it’s probably too soon to say if he’s in danger of missing Week 1.

Schmitz is dealing with a second head injury in as many years. He dealt with one in Week 7 of last year, missing that game. So the Giants will likely be cautious with him since this is his second one in less than a year.

Schmitz’s projected backup, Lucas Patrick, is also reportedly dealing with a knee ailment, which led to the team signing Brenden Jaimes. And outside linebacker Brian Burns has been nursing an ankle injury, though that hasn’t necessarily kept him off the field all that much.

Malik Nabers Workload

Receiver Malik Nabers’ comeback trail has been nothing short of impressive, with the receiver not only doing a little bit more every day with no notable setbacks, but he also got involved with some team drills during a walkthrough practice last week.

That raises the question of whether he’ll start being worked into team drills at a faster pace as soon as this week, to take things a step further in his rehab.

If that occurs, that would be the next big milestone in Nabers’ return from a torn ACL, and a huge boost to the team’s offense.

Depth Chart Movement

The Giants will be releasing their first depth chart of 2026, and although it’s not official, it should provide a good look as to where things stand at positions such as cornerback and receiver.

Deonte Banks has been making a strong case for a starting cornerback role, so it is of interest to see where he ends up being listed. And how does the receiver unit stack up?

Again, the depth chart that is coming out isn’t necessarily reflective of how the coaches see things. Still, it’s a decent enough starting point, along with observations from camp, to confirm theories about how certain position units are taking shape.

Offense Catching Up to Defense?

Historically speaking, a team’s defense is always going to jump out ahead of the offense for the simple reason that they have the advantage early on in practice in that they can’t be properly blocked.

This was the case for the Giants, but once the players became acclimated to working in pads, the offense started to slowly catch up, stringing together two solid days of work toward the end of the team’s stay at The Greenbrier. Will the offense continue to take steps forward, or were those two impressive days an outlier?

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