EAST RUTHERFORD — The Giants are unique in how they approach training camp from a media perspective: You can record everything with your phone.
There are rules: Keep the shots tight, no posting game-plan related content or trick plays, but other than that, you’re free to capture and share all highlights. It’s a blessing and a curse. The good: You can record some really awesome highlights. The bad: Picking which player to focus your phone on.
Actually, that’s a lie. The latter part isn’t much of a decision at all. You locate Malik Nabers and you do not take your focus off him until the pay is over. It’s like the scene from The Incredibles where the kid sits on his bike outside their house. Eventually, something ridiculous is going to happen. You don’t want to miss it.
Like this. Or this. Or this.
The Giants' offense is not without its flaws. The offensive line is far from perfect. The quarterback play is slightly above-average on its best days. There’s inconsistencies in the backfield. An alarming number of penalties and mental errors thwart drives. Nabers, though, is the undeniable bright spot. He is ridiculous.
You’d think most would have a grasp of Nabers’ skill set after a rookie season where he caught 109 passes for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns despite anemic quarterback play, not the case.
This summer, he looks more comfortable, more explosive and more dynamic than that rookie season — Friday’s practice encapsulated things perfectly.
His first touchdown: He burst off the line and past Paulson Adebo, gained a step, leapt high for the ball, absorbed the contact from a closing Adebo, then toe-tapped the sideline. His second touchdown: He again beat Adebo off the line, but stumbled out of his break. It didn’t matter. He located the ball and caught it as he fell to the ground.
Nabers routinely makes the spectacular look ordinary. Those would be camp highlights for any other player. Nabers will likely do it all over again when the Giants return to the field Saturday.
It’s rare that a team drafts a generational player like Odell Beckham Jr., then a few short years later grabs another in Nabers. That’s truly what New York has on their hands. The guy is a bonafide game changer. It’s legitimately fun watching him play.
Here are a few more thoughts from a week at Giants camp …
On the defensive side…
I’ve been fortunate enough to cover a number of impressive rookies early in their careers. This includes guys with the Jets like Leonard Williams (defensive end), Jamal Adams (safety), Quinnen Williams (defensive end), Sauce Gardner (cornerback), Garrett Wilson (receiver) and Will McDonald (defensive end), and Nabers in his first year with the Giants.
This isn’t typed lightly: Never have I seen a rookie make such a seamless transition to the NFL like Abdul Carter.
This isn’t the cliche “he looks like he belongs,” either. Carter is out there dominating. His burst off the line is ridiculous, but he’s not just speed. He has incredible power, too. He’s also not just fast off the edge. He has an entire rotation of moves he can throw at a tackle.
The Giants don’t call sacks in practice. Brian Burns literally tapped Russell Wilson on the hip on one rush and Brian Daboll let the play continue. You have to use your own judgment to realize when a play is dead in a game. Carter is in the backfield ruining offensive drives two or three times each day.
Carter is a must-watch in 1-on-1 drills, too. There, he rotates between power and speed to work his way around tackles. You know the guy is a freak when his teammates are hooting and hollering after each of his reps.
“I mean, this is a watered-down statement, but he’s a dog,” Burns said. “I really don’t have to talk too much on him. Y'all have seen it.”
The pass rush
The conversation after the Giants drafted Carter was how they’d use him, Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux. You’re getting a glimpse of it this summer. There will be plenty of times when there’s a rotation featuring a mix of the two at traditional end spots. When Shane Bowen wants all on the field together, though, it’s Thibodeaux and Burns at end, with Carter harassing the line from the middle.
The interior of the Giants' line is not the strongest. John Michael Schmitz has struggled this summer. No one in the competition at right guard (Evan Neal, Greg Van Roten, Jake Kubas) has separated themself. There is a good chance this is more of an indictment on them, but the Giants haven’t even slightly slowed Carter down when he rushes from the inside. His best traits are amplified in the middle.
Concerns with the corners
Paulson Adebo was a priority signing for the Giants in free agency. He’s their No. 1 corner. There’s some concern with him from those watching highlights from practice. Many of Nabers' catches are with Adebo as the closest defender. Dampen those worries some. Nabers beats everyone. You don’t hear much from Jalin Hyatt or Darius Slayton when they’re over there.
The Giants have a wide-open competition for the spot opposite Adebo, though. Cor’Dale Flott and Deonte Banks are battling it out. Banks seems to have the edge at the moment, but it’s not like he’s running away with the spot. Both he and Flott have struggled this summer. That’s something to monitor moving forward.
The Evan Neal experiment
Neal, the failed tackle who’s now competing for a starting guard spot, met the media this week. He sounded like a completely different player. Newfound confidence, joy, he’s in shape and healthy. All really positive things. In practice, there are positive things, too.
The issue with Neal is that he seems to guess what a defender is doing when he’s out there. When he guesses right and gets his hands on guys, he bullies them. When he guesses wrong, and this happened a lot in his extended work with the starting offense, he’s thrown around. Those balance issues that plagued him at tackle didn’t suddenly disappear now that he’s inside.
It’s admittedly hard to get a concrete evaluation of Neal based on training camp. The media don’t have the luxury of instant replay or all-22 film. If you’re not watching him every play, you won’t get a complete grasp of how he’s doing. There’s a mix of good. There’s a mix of bad.
The preseason will provide a true opportunity to evaluate Neal with extended reps. There’s reason to be encouraged, but fans shouldn’t go as far as to think Neal is readying for a Mekhi Becton-like transition inside.
The QB report
Russell Wilson is the Giants' starter. That remains unchanged, with no real push from anyone to unseat him. He’s not there just on merit alone, though. Wilson is, undeniably, the best quarterback at camp. He’s not the Wilson of old physically, but his mental acumen is far and away better than Jaxson Dart, Jameis Winston and Tommy DeVito. He also still throws a really pretty deep ball and has no issue taking shots. The Giants welcome that after the last two years.
Dart is progressing. This was a solid week from the rookie. You can tell he’s getting more comfortable within Daboll’s offense. Some of his worst moments, or thwarted drives, came as a result of pre-snap penalties or drops from his receivers. There are still issues with Dart — he’s a rookie developing — but you can see what the coaching staff likes.
On Friday, Dart checked out of a play at the line. He adjusted teammates after reading the coverage and delivered a nice pass 15, 20 yards down the seam to Lil’Jordan Humphrey. Humphrey mistimed his route and couldn’t bring in the ball. Daboll looked thrilled behind the line after the play. Nabers makes that catch. Wan’Dale Robinson and Slayton, likely, too. Plays like that show things are starting to click for Dart. It’s going to be fun watching him in the preseason.
Winston works behind Dart, then DeVito after him. Winston is … something. It puzzled me why the Browns stuck with Deshaun Watson for so long last season when it was clear he had the yips. Winston was their backup at the time. Surely he’d have the offense operating at a higher level. After OTAs, minicamp and these first couple weeks of training camp … I understand why Kevin Stefanski didn’t make the change until Watson went down.
DeVito’s reps make little sense to me. Daboll stresses he has a plan for his quarterbacks and to trust the plan. That’s fine. But there is no reason why DeVito should be throwing 10 or more passes in team drills each day.
The Giants do not have a normal quarterback room. DeVito isn’t the camp arm sitting behind an established starter and backup, making sure they don’t out-throw themselves. Dart is a rookie you’re trying to develop to be your franchise quarterback. He’ll be getting very little work come the regular season because the Giants will prepare Wilson for games. Those 10 throws should be Dart’s. He’ll learn much more from them than watching DeVito struggle with the scrubs.
Again: Daboll insists he has a plan. It would be nice if he explained it a little more than just reiterating its existence, though.
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