Thoughts on the Giants' roster as training camp comes to a close

Whether official or not, the slogan “All ball!” has become the 2019 Giants’ official battle cry.

With very few exceptions, head coach Pat Shurmur and his players have held to that mantra this off-season and summer.

There were no significant distractions—no controversial quotes, no contract disputes or holdouts. Even the competition that some desperately wanted to see develop between incumbent Eli Manning and rookie Daniel Jones never materialized.

In fact, most of the Giants “controversies” this summer came from outside sources—the on-going media criticism of general manager Dave Gettleman for some of his personnel decisions; the arrows slung by former receiver Odell Beckham Jr about how “disrespected” he felt over his exit from the team; and more recently, Baker Mayfield quotes about the Giants decision to draft Jones.

There were also a few football-related “controversies” that no one realty saw coming such as the influx of injuries to the receivers and the Golden Tate suspension, but overall, this Giants team has come out of its 31-day training camp period focused and determined to keep the needle pointing in the right direction.

This doesn’t mean that it’s been perfect, nor has every question asked about this team been answered yet. So let’s look at some of the biggest takeaways to come from the 2019 Giants training camp and how they might impact the upcoming season.

All Balls – Part I

If there is one major theme that jumps out about how the Giants have gone about shaping their 2019 roster, it’s that they haven’t been afraid to make unpopular decisions.

Trading Beckham and edge rusher Olivier Vernon to the Browns took a lot of guts, mainly because those two players were widely regarded as the “best” at their respective positions on the team.

But Gettleman, who saw that the team wasn’t getting the desired results with both players in the lineup, divested the team of those two monstrous contracts and replaced them with different talent that better aligned with what the coaching staff was looking to do.

In Beckham’s case, the Giants offense began to revolve around the receiver, which made it predictable. But as we’ve seen in the preseason, the Giants have spread out the ball more to multiple targets, which has kept opponents guessing.

The result, albeit a small sample size, has been points scored on two of the team’s first three opening drives as led by starting quarterback Eli Manning. And each drive featured a variety of receivers rather than the forcing of the ball to one guy.

Despite missing five games last year, Vernon was widely regarded as the team’s best pure pass rusher. But like Beckham, he couldn’t carry things by his lonesome.

So not only did the Giants get themselves a quality starting guard in that trade but now their pass rush has opened up a bit to where it doesn’t necessarily have to flow through one player.

Through three games this preseason, eight different defenders have recorded the Giants 10 sacks through three preseason games, one more than last year’s 4-game preseason total of 9.

And half of the 2019 sacks—three by rookie Oshane Ximines and one each by Markus Golden and Olsen Pierre—have come from players who should be on the 53-man roster this fall.

All Balls – Part II

Although it’s preseason, Shurmur, as the offense’s play-caller, has been a little more willing to throw caution to the wind in certain situations.

“I think it’s important as a coach to present an aggressive mindset, and we as a staff think that way," Shurmur said.

"I think it’s more of just the mindset of being aggressive and less about just flat-out trying to take chances.”

Last season, the Giants went for it on fourth down 37 times, converting 12 times for a 60% conversion rate, tying them for 11th in the league in that category, heir highest ranking since 2015 when they finished eighth with a 56% conversion rate.

Whereas being aggressive blends with taking chances, Shurmur has, for the most part, picked his spots wisely this summer. While not every risk is going to pay off, the key has been not having those failed chances come back to haunt the team, something that hasn’t happened as much since Shurmur took over the head coaching and play-calling duties.

Balancing Act

A big reason why the 2017 Minnesota Vikings offense did so well was its balance of run and pass—501 rushing attempts and 527 passing attempts.

Shurmur, the coordinator of that Vikings offense, has brought that philosophy to New York, mixing run and pass to help make the Giants offense a little less predictable.

Based on the opening drives in the three preseason games played, the Giants have run the ball 15 times and passed it 13 times, scoring 10 points.

As for the passing game, Manning and the starting offense have done an excellent job of spreading the ball around.

After going three-and-out in the preseason opener against the Jets, Manning targeted four different receivers on the team’s opening scoring drive against the Bears.

The following week against the Bengals, Manning targeted five different receivers.

This kind of balance is potentially going to rejuvenate the offense and give it back an advantage that was lost a long time ago in terms of keeping defenses on its toes.

A New and (Hopefully) Improved Passing Offense

If you’ve missed seeing running back Saquon Barkley and tight end Evan Engram in the offense this summer, you’re going to see those two players plenty involved in the offense this fall.

Both of those players are projected to have a significant impact on the offense this season, so much so that Shurmur has kept both under wraps this summer since three out of the four opponents the Giants faced are on their 2019 regular-season schedule.

Let’s start with Barkley. Giants fans know all about his running prowess, how last year he was second in the league in total rushing yards (1,307) behind Ezekiel Elliott of the Cowboys (1,434 yards).

But Barkley was head-and-shoulders above his fellow running backs when it came to broken tackles, finishing with 43 (Derrick Henry of the Titans was the next closest player in that category with 37).

Given Barkley’s ability to break tackles and his natural receiving skills, expect to see more plays in which Barkley runs more intermediate and deeper routes (e.g., the wheel).

The Giants provided some hints of this last year when they had Barkley running wheel routes, plays on which he torched linebackers and defensive backs trying to cover him.

Engram is another player whose role is expected to expand this year. In his handful of preseason action last week, Engram was part of a double screen, catching one pass for nine yards.

According to Pro Football Focus, last year Engram lined up six times in the backfield, 243 times inline, 169 times in the slot and 57 times split wide.

Per NFL NextGen Stats, Engram’s passing patterns mostly consisted of flats, comebacks, curls, and outs—all of which were short- to intermediate-range routes.

This year don’t be surprised to see Engram lining up more in the slot and split wide as well as being asked to run more plays down the seam as the Giants look to absorb the production Beckham generated through other receiving options.

Resiliency Defined

An underrated but significant development this team has shown has been its response to unexpected adverse situations.

The best example of this was the rash of events that quickly thinned out the depth at receiver. Right off the bat, the Giants saw Brittan Golden, Darius Slayton, Corey Coleman, and Sterling Shepard all miss practice time with injuries, while Golden Tate must serve a four-game suspension (and lost some practice time with a late-summer concussion).

Since then, Shepard (broken thumb) has made progress to where he’s expected to be ready for the start of the season.

However, Golden (groin) is on the bubble, Slayton (hamstring) is clinging by his fingernails to a roster spot, and Coleman (torn ACL) is done for the year.

Given all that adversity, you’d think the Giants passing game would be in deep trouble, right?

Wrong. Through three preseason games, the Giants’ passing game is ranked No. 1, averaging 297.0 yards per game, and is tied for the lead with the Bucs for deep passes of 20+ yards (15).

While a big part of that has been the play of the quarterbacks (more on that in a moment), throwing the ball is only half the equation.

While some will argue that it’s preseason and teams aren’t scheming against each there (which is true), when it comes to receivers vs. defensive backs, that’s usually a man vs. man battle in which two guys are trying to impress their respective coaches by making a play on a ball.

The final makeup of the Giants receiving corps this year is still a little too close to call, particularly at the bottom of the roster, but how the group handled the adversity and in which they have performed deserves a lot of credit as well.

Danny Dimes

So, how do you like the decision to draft quarterback Daniel Jones No. 6 overall?

That’s a question Shurmur and Gettleman probably wouldn't mind asking the critics who slammed the Giants for their “risky move” in picking the former Duke quarterback ahead of Kentucky edge rusher Josh Allen.

Of course, Gettleman and Shurmur won’t do that—time doesn’t allow for it nor do they probably care what people outside the building think. But it would not be surprising if they sit in their respective offices watching the film of the young quarterback and smile over the crow that many of his detractors must be eating right now.

Jones has been marvelous this preseason completing 25 of 30 pass attempts for 369 yards in three games against mostly vanilla defenses which have made it much easier for him to gain some needed confidence while the Giants defense, with its exotic looks, have tested the rookie in a controlled environment.

And yes, he shrugged off criticism from one of his NFL brethren, Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, who later claimed that his comment appearing in the September issue of GQ magazine reflecting his disbelief that the Giants drafted Jones, was taken out of context.

With all that said, Jones has checked numerous boxes that the coaches needed to see and which have them feeling even better about the pick.

Jones, who this summer got the moniker “Danny Dimes” given his precise ball placement on downfield passes, has mostly made the right decisions when facing multiple reads on a drop back attempt.

There have been some plays in which he looked off a safety which allowed a receiver to gain more separation down the field, thus making the throw and catch look ridiculously easy.

Jones has also remained steady in the face of adversity. When he had two turnovers against the Bears, he, no doubt, earned honorary membership in the defensive backs room where the mantra is to forget about a bad play and move on.

Not only did Jones shake off his bad plays, his confidence and command of the huddle never waned. And while he’s done a nice job of controlling himself, he’s shown some instances in which he’s shown some fire.

The first came earlier in training camp when he threw an interception on a red zone play and could be seen beating himself up for his mistake.

Then last week when two Bengals defenders smashed into him, Jones popped right back up and continued to lead his team down the field and to the end zone as though nothing happened.

More recently, Jones was picked off in practice by cornerback Ronald Zamort, who was on his way toward the end zone. Except Jones wasn’t having it.

He got on his proverbial horse and not only caught up to Zamort, but he also slapped the ball out of ’Zamort’s hands in what was the very definition of an effort play.

All of these instances and then some have the Giants feeling good about life after incumbent Eli Manning, who will retain the offense’s reins for as long as the team is in the postseason hunt.

Given how well Jones has done his part—and let’s not forget about Shurmur’s plan to bring the rookie along in stages, which so far has been brilliant—maybe Gettleman did have a plan for the franchise’s future.

Cornering the Market

It’s no secret that the Giants pass rush was a problem last year. But while many looked at the guys up front, the back end of the defense was just as much of a problem.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Giants managed just 29 pass breakups last year or one every 19.31 pass attempts.

Want some more reasons why the back end of the defense had to be fixed?

How about the 61 big-play passes of 20+ yards (second-most in the league) the Giants gave up last year, or the 252.8 average yards per game, opposing passing games recorded against Big Blue (ninth-most in the league)?

This year, the Giants added some firepower to the cornerback position in the forms of DeAndre Baker, Julian Love, and Corey Ballentine. Although Baker (knee) hasn’t played this preseason, he projects to be the starter opposite of Janoris Jenkins.

As for Love and Ballentine, both have had an active summer. Per Pro Football Focus, Ballentine leads the Giants corners with a 44.6 NFL rating (the lower, the better for a defender), having allowed six of 10 pass targets against him to be completed for 7 yards (21 after the catch) with zero touchdowns and one interception.

Love, who has also played some safety, has allowed three of six pass targets caught for 23 yards, 7 yards after the catch with one touchdown for a 99.3 NFL rating.

The best thing to come from the young corners is how they haven’t been fooled too often on plays and how they’ve done an excellent job cleaning up some of the pre-camp penalties.

A general manager can't fix everything that's wrong with a football team in one off-season, but there's no question that the Giants turned what was a shaky cornerbacks unit last year into a team strength for this season.

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