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EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — The New York Giants held their sixth OTA Thursday, the second open to the media.
Red jerseys
Like a week ago, the Giants had a significant number of players working out in red non-contact jerseys signifying rehab from some type of injury. Overall No. 5 Kayvon Thibodeaux, who left an OTA media early last week, was among them on Thursday.
Players spotted in red jerseys were:
Thibodeaux, Sterling Shepard, Kadarius Toney, Dexter Lawrence, Blake Martinez, Nick Gates, Matt Peart, TJ Brunson, Collin Johnson, Cam Brown, Jamil Douglas, Richie James, Rodarius Williams, Darren Evans.
One player who did NOT wear a red jersey was wide receiver Kenny Golladay, who wore a red jersey during the OTA Open to Media a week ago. However, Golladay did not participate in any of the 11-on-11 work.
game of the day
That, no doubt, went to rookie wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson. The 5-foot-8 second-round pick, which matched 1-on-1 with cornerback Aaron Robinson, came up for a 50-50 deep ball from Daniel Jones and made a twisting grab in the back of the end zone for the touchdown.
Other notable pieces
There was a healthy amount of 11v11 action on Thursday. Here are a few more notable games.
- Daniel Jones was intercepted twice, but neither was his fault. Wide receiver Richie James seemed to slide down a sideline, and Adoree’ Jackson got away with the ball. Safety Xavier McKinney got away with a pick after wide receiver David Sills jacked a pass that should have been a touchdown and punched it in the air for McKinney to grab.
- Saquon Barkley appeared to fumble after catching a pass down the middle, with Edge Elerson Smith getting out of field with the ball.
- Nose tackle Justin Ellis destroyed a screen pass for Ricky Seals-Jones in the backfield.
- Seals-Jones dropped a seam route where the defense appeared to be blowing cover, leaving him within 10 yards without a defender.
- Backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor dropped a few dimes on deep outs, one to CJ Board and one to Alex Bachman.
- Cornerback Maurice Canady had a nice pass separation on a fade from Davis Webb to wide receiver Robert Foster.
- Jones hit Darius Slayton with a deep ball. Slayton badly hit Adoree’ Jackson in the play.
Daniel Jones and aggression
For the second week in a row, Daboll was asked about his desire to see quarterback Daniel Jones take some risks with his shots during practice.
I think these are all good lessons to learn. If you can fit it in that window, he can move the fuse with his eyes, he can anticipate where a receiver will be based on the choices the receiver has. That’s going to carry through the rest of these OTAs and through the training camp,” Daboll said.
“I think that’s why you’re training especially for a quarterback, it’s okay to make a mistake in practice. They touch the ball every single play. Let’s go ahead and figure out what we need to work on and stay as aggressive as possible.”
shift roster
The Giants did without rookie defenseman Jordan Mosley. Mosley was signed as an undrafted free agent after rookie minicamp but was quickly placed on IR.
“Not a cookie cutter coach”
Andre Patterson is an experienced defensive line coach with a reputation for teaching defensive line play in a way others don’t. He hugs that.
“I have to know my boys better than they know themselves because I’m not a cookie cutter coach,” Patterson said Thursday. “I don’t want them all to do the same thing because they all have different gifts.”
I asked Patterson to explain what he meant.
“If you go to a store and buy a box of cookies, they’re all perfectly shaped, right? Everything perfectly round,” said Patterson. “By that I mean you don’t teach everyone to play the same way because my skills are different than other players.
“If I let them all play the same thing, there might be three guys in the room that would fit this technique. The other guys in the room don’t like it. So the impression is that they aren’t good enough to play here, but if you play around with their skill scheme, their ability to be a great player comes to the fore.
“Is it harder to teach as a coach? Yes. But my job is to bring out the best in everyone who wears blue helmets.”
It’s a business
Giants’ cornerback Adoree’ Jackson didn’t hide his feelings about James Bradberry being released by the team.
“It hurts. That’s a guy that we exchanged ideas with when I came in, different techniques, how he plays,” Jackson said.
But at the end of the day, I gained a brother when I met him. At the end of the day, it’s like your brother going to college. He’s my brother, he goes somewhere else but at the same time he’s still in touch with him and happy for him at the end of the day.”
Jackson echoed many Giants fans’ feelings about Bradberry’s signing with the Philadelphia Eagles.
“That sucks.”
Remarkable
Steve Smith Sr. appeared in Giants practice today. Smith was in New Jersey with a film crew. He posted a bad joke that wasn’t true.
