Giants Rookie Minicamp Day 2 Notebook
It looked like football. It smelled like football. Heck, it even sounded like football.
But the main takeaway from the Giants rookie minicamp, which still has one more day to go – the players will be in meetings with the coaches on Sunday, and then those under contract are expected to roll right into the OTAs, which begin on Monday –is that it wasn’t so much about football as it was for both the players and coaches to get to know one another.
You know, like a family.
That’s why head coach Brian Daboll, conducting his first rookie minicamp as an NFL head coach, opted to scale back on the team drills – both practice days had zero 11-on-11 drills – and instead allow the players to settle in.
“I think each year you try to evolve and do what you think the best thing is to do. I think the more stuff you have in your head, the slower you play,” Daboll said Saturday.
“These guys are pretty anxious as it is coming in new, learning the new building, learning new people, learning how we do things as a program. Just thought that was the best thing for those guys. They did a good job of it out there. “
Rookies, especially those who are undrafted or on a tryout basis, are anxious to impress the head coach and general manager, sometimes to a fault. That anxiousness can lead to tightness and mistakes, which hurts their chances of getting a training camp invitation.
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Daboll realized this when putting the plan together for both practices, and the plan seemed to play out well.
“And they even practiced the right way, you know, not dragging people down and things like that, “he said.” Again, this is more of a teaching camp. “We are going to see them in individual drills and skillsets that they have, and when we go competitive periods, just making sure we are taking care of one another.”
For some, though, taking it slow and competing in what’s otherwise a fast-paced game can be challenging. To help control that, Daboll said it came down to the instruction provided by the assistant coaching staff, which over the coming weeks is going to increase in tempo.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s such a long way away right now. We have so far to go, “he said.” So again, these guys, to get from the locker room to there or from the locker room to the cafeteria, you’ve got to take all that stuff into account, how to log into their iPad and get into movie.
“There are so many things for these players. They are moving from different spots. It’s the first time for some of them just on your own. Sometimes there are a lot of family members that help out in college. We are taking it slow, and we are going to try to help them grow off the field as well as on the field. “
Here are some more takeaways from Day 2 of the Giants rookie minicamp.
Giants Rookie Minicamp: Day 2
Bellinger Impresses
John Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Evan Neal and the Laws of Physics
John Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Kafka, Daboll Clicking
Danielle Parhizkaran / NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK
Corbin Impresses
John Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Other Notes
Patricia Traina, Giants Country
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