Reader Mailbag: First Week Impressions

This week's mailbag is mostly about impressions from the first full week of padded practices.

From Bruce F.

Do you see more opportunities for Dexter Lawrence as a pass rusher in Patrick Graham's variable defense? And will Lorenzo Carter finally breakout and fulfill the promise that prompted the Giants to draft him.

Hi Bruce, regarding your second question, I don’t know. I don’t have enough to say that that will be the case, but I hope it will. As for the first question, I can’t say for sure about that, mainly because we’re not supposed to disclose personnel alignments. But what I can say is that I think the pass rush as a whole will be better than it was last year.

From Jon G.

Are we going to see the no-name jerseys on game days like the Yankees, or is it only for practices? Do the players seem on board with Judge’s rules? If coach Judge dislikes a reporter's question, do you think he might ask that reporter to run a lap along with the players and position coaches?

Hi Jon. No, the league mandates player names on the back of jerseys for game day, so it looks like it’s only for practices, at least for now. As for Judge, so far, we haven’t had that problem.

On a serious note, I’ve been impressed with how he’s dealt with the media so far. He uses people’s names, and he looks you right in the eye when answering. That says a lot about the man’s character. I’ve seen far too many times when a question is asked, and someone looks everywhere but at whoever asked the question.

Will Saquon finally be used as the weapon we know he can be ie not just in backfield
— mike (@mediumbanger) August 17, 2020

Hi Michael. The Magic 8 ball says, “Looks good.” Seriously, though, Judge has instructed his staff to identify what everyone does well and deploy them accordingly.

To my eyes, Barkley has been underutilized as a receiver (other than for dump-offs which if you’re not getting the second-level or downfield blocking are useless) and overused in pass pro, the latter not one of his strengths. I suspect Jason Garrett will correct this oversight this year.

Do you think the Giants take a chance on former Baylor Edge defender Jaylon Jenks? The Cowboys released him to make room for Griffen and Garrett would have info about his capabilities. #askptrain
— Joey NYer back home (@JoeyNyerinFL) August 17, 2020

Hi Joey. No, I don’t see that happening right now. I think the Giants want to see how the pass rushers they have on the roster get through the rest of the summer.

What’s up, Elroy? This is a tough one, but I’m going to go with Oshane Ximines and Julian Love. I liked what I saw from Ximines last year as a pass rusher, and if he shows he’s become a little stouter against the run, I think the Giants have something there.

Love is an underrated pick, but he does so many things on defense, and while a jack-of-all-trades would typically make me nervous, Love seems to do a lot of things well.

Who is the Giant that has come into training camp and surprises you with the way they look, physically, bad or good? #askPtrain
— Bull Bitler (@Bull41461712) August 17, 2020

Quite a few. Dexter Lawrence told reporters the other day on a conference call that he slimmed down, and you can see it in his frame in person. Evan Engram is a rock of granite, and Oshane Ximines looks a lot more muscular.

You can also see the difference in Daniel Jones in the upper body. And Lorenzo Carter looks more chiseled than I remember him being last year.

Who you think the lack of fans in the stands will benefit more, offense or defense? #askptrain
— Keystone (@Misterkito5) August 17, 2020

I would say it's the offense for both the home and road teams, as they generally like it as quiet as possible to operate so that everyone can hear the cadence. I would think we’ll see a reduction of false starts this year because of that.

How is the Giants Receiving core looking so far?
— Boomer's Hoodie (@zuckerbergHoodi) August 19, 2020

I’ll tell you what. They’re not going to make it easy for the coaches to decide which among them stays. You have a nice variety of receivers with different skillsets, and I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen from the group. I'm still kind of figuring out how Jason Garrett is deploying different assets, but this is a talented group of receivers.

#askPtrain this is a little old but I’m wondering... do you think the giants said they’d be at 90 players just to see who other teams that had declared they were going to 80 would cut? Then move to 80 after scouring the waiver wire? Not sure if that was simply an about face...
— Mike Veneziano (@MikeVeneziano) August 20, 2020

The benefit of moving to 80 men was that teams could work together as one. If they stayed at 90, they had to be in two groups. Judge did an about-face.

I think he initially didn’t want to cut guys without giving them a fair shake. Still, when he realized that the mandatory division would interfere with the building of camaraderie and team unity, he called the audible.

What do you think of Christian Angulo? #askPtrain
— Peyton (@Peyton101399) August 19, 2020

Peyton, Christian Angulo has height and a long wingspan to go with it. He was a guy that we did a feature story on, as you probably know (and if you don’t, now you do). With that said, having seen the scrimmage, the cornerback spot is a lot more stacked than I thought and not that my opinion means anything to the coaches, but I didn't see Angulo jump out during the scrimmage.

How does Peart look? Any chance he makes a significant contribution this year? #askptrain
— Old School Giants (@giants_old) August 19, 2020

Matt Peart is one of those guys who surprised me in that he looks leaner from the pictures I saw of him from his senior year. I initially thought he’d be a year-long project, but he put in some serious time in the off-season, and Marc Colombo has been coaching this kid up.

I thought Peart held his own in the scrimmage much better than I thought he would. And while I can't go into specifics of where personnel lined up, I would not be surprised if Peart gets on the field a lot sooner than any of us first thought.

What is the benefit of having Evan Engram as a TE instead of a WR given he has pretty much the same physical tools as Mike Evans, has been injured (WR would reduce wear and tear) and the Giants are deep at TE but have no tall receivers? #askPtrain
— Chris Rightmire (@cmeright) August 20, 2020

Thanks for the question, Chris. I would say it comes down to matchups. You’re not going to have a receive matchup against safeties and linebackers, whereas a tight end will. And Engram has the size to win those matchups against those guys whereas a receiver who weighs maybe 190-200 pounds might not.

I think converting him full time to receiver where he’d match up against smaller cornerbacks is not the best move for him. What the Giants need to do with Engram is to have him do a little less inline blocking of guys who outweigh him by 30+ pounds and maybe change up some of the routes they ask him to run.

Who do you see as the biggest sleeper making the 53 after seeing some live scrimmage? #askptrain
— Eddie Flores (@eflores0820) August 21, 2020

Edson, you must have read my mind. I have an article dropping later today about this very topic. I have a few sleepers I've identified who have a legitimate chance of making this team. So stay tuned for that article. Some names you might recognize and some you might not. Be sure to check the article out!

Is anybody wearing the protective mouth guards against the virus that supposedly were an option?
— Texas Wine Lover (@TXWineLover) August 21, 2020

I don't know. To be frank, that wasn't something I went in looking for nor did it pop out at me. The next time I go to practice, I'll try to see if anyone is wearing it.

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