New York Giants Weekly Reader Mailbag

#askPtrain Have you had a chance to talk to the rookies yet? Of so, what are your thoughts on them so far?
— Rueben Martinez💛 (@EMPIREPRMAN) June 25, 2020

What’s up, Rueben? I haven’t had a chance to speak one-on-one with any of the rookies yet, but they were all made available via conference calls by the Giants. They all seem like hungry young men with good characters on a first glance, so I hope that translates over to the playing field.

#askPtrain If Baker hasnot cleared his “situation” by opening day, who do you anticipate starting at cb on the outside opposite Bradberry? Would the slot cb change then?
— Adam Zenzer (@Zenzer76) June 25, 2020

Hey Adam, thanks for the question. (And thank you, Oscar, who asked a similar question). If DeAndre Baker is not available to play this year, the starting cornerback job will boil down to either Sam Beal or Corey Ballentine.

I see Julian Love as being more of a versatile chess piece that is going to be moved around in the defense. And considering Ballentine wasn’t a fit for the slot last year, I think it only makes sense to let Ballentine compete for a perimeter role if the coaches are sincere about putting players in the best position for success.

As for Beal, he has the talent, but he needs to be able to stay on the field, which has been an issue for him in his first two seasons. Hopefully, he’s kicked all his injury-related issues and will be able to come back stronger and healthier than ever.

Biggest challenge Joe Judge has when training camp starts ? #askPtrain
— General Keyz (@gkeyz718) June 26, 2020

What’s up, GK? Great question. I think the most significant thing will be to cram the lost off-season workouts into however many training camp weeks they get. Usually, in the spring, that’s when installs occur, and that’s when you see players cross-training for additional roles on the team.

All of that was wiped out so now for a new head coach who’s trying to implement new systems, you’re starting from square one, and you’re hoping that the players absorbed enough information to hit the ground running so that whenever the regular-season does begin, you have the best possible chance of being able to play quality football.

@Patricia_Traina The NFL uses a lot of fuzzy math when it comes to contracts. Players signed to multi-year deals they’ll never see the end of, restructuring, etc. How are agents paid for such contacts? The “advertised” value? What the player actually earned? #askPTrain
— SkiFam (@SkiFamVT) June 26, 2020

Great question. I believe the max an NFL agent can receive in commission is 3% of the contract's total value. But with that said, I think some agencies only collect for as long as the contract is in effect, meaning if a guy is cut before his deal ends, the agent won’t collect on the unpaid years.

Then there are other arrangements, in which the agency will collect annually during the life of the contract based on the actual cash payout, etc.

Some agents will even take less than the max of 3%. So it really depends on the agent in question and the deal he or she has worked out with their clients.

From Scott M.

How much help do you think that it is having Coach Garrett, Coach Kitchens, Coach Graham, etc. on the staff will help? Between knowing other NFL teams and having experience game-planning against the Giants, how will that help the Giants "self-scout" and understand what their weaknesses are and what other organizations saw and exploited that the Giants didn't even realize? I imagine that if John Runyan knew what Strahan knew about him and his stance, it would have given him an edge.

This is a fascinating question, Scott, but I also think it’s much ado about nothing. Every week coaches add little wrinkles that didn’t previously exist, whether that's tweaks to the verbiage used during games, a different snap count, or a difference in how they plan to attack the opponent. It’s also based on personnel.

For example, how might teams game-plan against Andrew Thomas versus Nate Solder? This is determined through film study. I’ve had players in the past tell me that the more intense and detailed your film study is, the better you’re going to be prepared.

Look at how Antonio Pierce used to be able to figure things out before they happened. Pierce was a master when it came to dissecting film as that gave him all the inside information he needed.

Another guy who was a master at film study was Plaxico Burress, who used to take meticulous and detailed notes that would rival anything a coach might put together. That kind of behind-the-scenes prep helped make them extremely good at what they did.

Now granted, there might be wrinkles thrown into the mix, but again, those with high football IQs and those players who rank on the good to very good to elite scale in mental processing can usually figure those things out fairly quickly and adjust.

Last point, In your letter, you wrote, “If I were the Giants coaching staff, I'd do a mental experiment and pretend that I was coaching [Team X]. How would I attack the Giants given our personnel and how they match up with the Giants?”

I’m sure that’s done to a degree, but at the same time, that can't be the only way to coach. You want to identify where you might have to address weaknesses on your team, but a good part of your game planning has to be on how you can find success against the opponent’s weaknesses.

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