The three New York Giants first-round draft picks were one of the many topics that stood at Tuesday’s minicamp practice.
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY—The New York Giants were back on the practice field Tuesday for their first of three days this week at minicamp.
Obviously, it’s difficult to get a true assessment of the team during minicamp. Limited non-contact scenarios won’t do much for a true September outlook.
However, there were several takeaways from Tuesday’s practice.
The three first-round picks made an impact
All of the Giants first-round picks (Daniel Jones, Dexter Lawrence and Deandre Baker) stood out during practice.
Lawrence batted down an Eli Manning pass early in practice during first-team offense vs. first-team defense drills. Jones completed several deep passes, including one to Reggie White Jr. down the right sideline. He also showed his mobility when executing a zone read for a big play.
Go D-J, that's my D-J#GiantsPride pic.twitter.com/U4rC8fX9sv
— New York Giants (@Giants) June 4, 2019
But it was Baker who arguably enjoyed the best day at practice. Baker started at left corner with the first-team defense. He knocked several passes throughout practice and was always engaged in tight coverage.
He was also involved in the most memorable play when he deflected a Manning pass that was then caught by Golden Tate who ran it for a touchdown.
Following practice, head coach Pat Shurmur spoke of Baker’s performance.
“It was fast out there, so it was hard to see who was making the plays sometimes, but he has been doing that on a pretty steady basis. I think he has made a play or two at each practice. Again, just learning how to compete at this level. Unfortunately, you can’t do a whole bunch of bump and run and press coverage, so the corners are at a little bit of a disadvantage. However, you need to learn to play off and for him to be able to make plays in those situations is good.”
We got a look at what the starting receiving corps will look like in the post-OBJ era
Much of the talk this offseason have centered around how the Giants receiving core will look like without Odell Beckham Jr. We got a glimpse of this Tuesday; when the first team offense was in their three wide receiver sets, it consisted of Sterling Shepard, Tate and Corey Coleman.
Eli warming up with his receivers. @EliteSportsNY #NYG #GiantsPride pic.twitter.com/snxwf72Mem
— Jason Leach (@JasonKLeach) June 4, 2019
Shepard and Tate rotated in the slot while Coleman remained on the outside. Cody Latimer, who appeared in six games last season, played with the second-team offense. Latimer beat cornerback Sam Beal deep down the right sideline on a pass thrown by Alex Tanney, and later in practice, caught a touchdown thrown by Jones.
Other news and notes
- Outside linebacker Markus Golden did not practice with the first-team defense. Kareem Martin took his place and started at left outside linebacker.
- Grant Haley played nickel corner with the first-team defense and rookie Julian Love played nickel corner with the second-team defense.
- With Nate Solder recovering from ankle surgery, Brian Mihalik took snaps with the first-team offense at left tackle.
- Corey Coleman, Cody Latimer, Jabrill Peppers and rookie Darius Slayton took reps fielding kickoffs.
