The New York Giants held their first padded practice of the 2019 season today and it was nice to see more physicality three days into training camp.
Players who stood out:
Julian Love had a very active practice, he deflected a pass from Daniel Jones and forced a fumble not long after. His speed has looked like less of an issue than it did in the spring.
Jabrill Peppers lined up in the box a lot today and was very active near the line of scrimmage with a few tackles in the backfield and a sack.
Cody Latimer stepped up in this time of need and caught multiple passes from Eli Manning. He is the primary outside receiver for maybe the rest of the season.
Grant Haley timed a blitz perfectly to stop a running play in the backfield and deflected one of Eli’s passes later on. His coverage has looked solid more often than not.
The outside corners names aren’t mentioned a lot with the first team, which is a good thing. Janoris Jenkins and Deandre Baker cover well and don’t get a ton of opportunities to make plays on the ball. Baker has struggled with Tate’s shiftiness at times but he hasn’t challenged Baker deep down the field.
Corey Ballentine has looked sharp with the third-team, he had a pick-six today and has been a very challenging matchup for third-team receivers.
Overall the defensive line neutralized the offensive line in the first padded practice. Some of the more notable passing plays happened a second after the defense could’ve sacked the quarterback. They also couldn’t create much space for the running backs. BJ hill lined up as the 5-technique defensive end, Dalvin was the nose-tackle and Dexter Lawrence was the 3-technique defensive end.
Antoine Bethea hasn’t stuck out much but he’s played very sound football so far and broke up an Eli Manning pass in the red zone today.
Eli Manning and Daniel Jones both had solid practices, Eli was at a bit of a disadvantage having backup caliber receivers lined up against first-team defensive backs. Daniel seemed to have a better practice but had a more level playing-field than Eli, to be fair.
Camp Battles:
Spencer Pulley was worked into the first-team offense today after Jon Halapio botched a snap. Neither was much of a spark for some push up the middle.
George Asafo-Adjei was worked into the first-team offense at right tackle. There is now a three-way competition for the right tackle spot between Mike Remmers, Chad Wheeler, and Big George.
Grant Haley hasn’t given the Giants a reason to take him off the field but Julian Love is also playing so well he deserves some looks with the first-team. Both have covered well and have shown proficiency in blitz packages, nickel corner will be a strength on the 2019 roster.
BJ Goodson and Tae Davis are continuing to battle it out for the second linebacker spot. Ryan Connelly could enter that competition soon as well.
Alonzo Russell has mostly worked with the second-team offense but he could be commanding first-team reps sooner than later. He’s connected with Daniel Jones on multiple passes in each of the three practices.
Bumps and Bruises:
Sterling Shepard seems like he’s in minimal pain and caught some passes from Eli today in individual drills.
Grant Haley never sustained anything more than some bumps and bruises as he practiced without any issues today.
Sam Beal was on the side with a groin injury.
Brittan Golden was also sidelined with a groin injury.
Mark McLaurin limped off the field today favoring his lower leg.
Final Thoughts:
In the first padded practice, it was hard to tell if the offensive line remains an issue at the moment or if this defensive line will be a league-wide problem for teams to deal with. We will see if the offense can win themselves a practice tomorrow. They will be back on the practice field on Sunday at 2:45 pm.