The New York Giants were back at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center on Tuesday to begin Phase One of their 2017 Offseason Workout Program.
For the first time since their disappointing Wild Card loss to the Green Bay Packers in January, the New York Giants assembled as a team on Tuesday to begin their offseason workouts.
According to reports, everyone who was expected to show was in attendance, including two defensive ends whose presence this week in East Rutherford was questionable coming into Tuesday. Owa Odighizuwa, who sent out mixed messages about his football future on social media last week, was in the house as was Kerry Wynn, a restricted free agent who was being wooed by the New England Patriots.
Wynn signed his tender this week (one-year at $1.797 million) and Odighizuwa appears to be back in line and ready to work. That’s all good news for the Giants, who were hoping to fall back into business with DT Johnathan Hankins, who signed with Indianapolis this week. Wynn can play all along the line while the former third-round pick Odighizuwa is still very much in the team’s plans at DE.
Head coach Ben McAdoo is using the Wild Card loss to Green Bay as a motivational tool for this season. He wants his team to channel the sting of that defeat into positive energy this season.
“He definitely still wants that to be an image in our head, showing us that,” wide receiver Sterling Shepard said on Tuesday night at an event in NYC as per Tom Rock of Newsday. “We’ve got to kind of put that in the rear view and move on from it too. It’s a balance. You kind of want to keep it in your head but keep it in the back, too.”
“We definitely have that bad taste in our mouth from the last game,” defensive end Romeo Okwara said at the same event. “Had a lot of time to think about it. It’s nice to get back with the team and get back to work.”
Phase One of the Offseason Workout Program consists of the first two weeks of the program with activities limited to strength and conditioning and physical rehabilitation only.
Phase Two consists of the next three weeks of the program. On-field workouts may include individual player instruction and drills as well as team practice conducted on a “separates” basis. No live contact or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted.
Phase Three consists of the next four weeks of the program. Teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity, or “OTAs”. No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.
All sessions are “voluntary” but most players under contract attend as it is for their own benefit under the CBA of 2011. The Giants will conduct their mandatory minicamp from June 15-17.
Rookie camp will likely be held the weekend following the NFL Draft, which begins next Thursday.
The NFL has announced they will release the full 2017 Regular Season schedule this Thursday night at 8 PM ET on the NFL Network and NFL.com.