Storylines to watch at Giants Training Camp
Is it over for Deandre Baker’s career in New York?
Baker’s rookie season as a Giant was as rough as it gets. He could not understand the playbook, and it showed on Sundays. The standout Georgia corner was often lost in coverage, and seemed to be distant from the team this offseason even before his incident with Dunbar. New reports have said that Baker and Dunbar paid off the victims of their recent break-in and robbery incident, causing many to have doubts he will be playing in New York next season. The Giants just moved on from K Aldrick Rosas, who also had trouble with the law, and from the looks of it, Baker is next. This means that coach Joe Judge and defensive coordinator Pat Graham are going to need to find another option to pair James Bradberry with at corner, but the positives here are that the Giants have drafted multiple corners over the last few seasons. Sam Beal, Corey Ballentine, Julian Love, and Darnay Holmes should be the first names to get a chance at playing the second corner role. Beal was taken in the first round of the supplemental draft despite an injury derailing his draft stock. This will be his second season as a Giant, and many hope he can make a jump to playing at a faster and more confident level in his second year in the league.
Ballentine was a draft flyer, he has unbelievable raw athleticism with an edge to play special teams. He had a few chances to play corner last season, however, and looked overmatched at times. If he can get bigger and is put into better opportunities to succeed than last year, we may see Ballentine make some more plays.
Fans and analysts were confused why the Giants didn’t play Love till halfway through last season, as he made an impact right away and even played out of position. The Giants used him as a free safety, but his experience may make him the frontrunner to take Baker’s snaps.
Holmes, however, is raved about by many NFL greats, including Rod Woodson, Deion Sanders, and Carnell Lake. After the draft, Woodson said “I know he was taken in the fourth round. But I like his mindset. No coach can measure one's heart and one's mind until you start playing. I think when I've seen him playing and talked to Carnell and his son, just the way he moves and how fluid he is and has that recall during the games when people are doing stuff to him that makes you kind of excited to watch a player like that." Many fans have already bought into Holmes' potential, and even Joe Judge seems excited to have Holmes on his roster. Love and Holmes are the main candidates to benefit the most assuming Baker isn’t a Giant this season.
Who will be the Giants top wideout?
Many thought before Daniel Jones’ rookie season began that the Giants would be low on weapons, but the emergence of WR Darius Slayton shut that door quickly. Slayton and Jones’ chemistry surprised the league, and if Slayton isn’t number one on the depth chart, he should be number two. Presumed top receiver Sterling Shepard has trouble staying healthy, and didn’t get exposure to playing with Daniel Jones that much last season. He had his worst statistical season, only reaching the end zone 3 times and barely breaking 500 yards receiving. It seems as if Shepard is one head injury from ending his career. If he can find a way to stay healthy all 16 games, no one should be surprised if he’s the Giants leading receiver. But that looks like a long shot for the Oklahoma product, whose only downfall has been the injury bug in his 4 years as a Giant. WR Golden Tate will turn 32 before the Giants season kicks off. Tate looked solid last year as he was just one touchdown shy of his career-high while missing the first four games. The combination of Shepard and Tate on the field at the same time may force one or the other to play out of position. Tate has a disadvantage, here as the Giants will be pushier to play the young wideouts more so they can grow with Jones. Tate still remains a solid pass-catching option for New York in 2020 but don’t expect him to be featured in front of Slayton or Shepard.
Will Jason Garrett mesh with Daniel Jones?
Many forget that the Cowboys had the number one offense in football last season. This offseason, Jones had the chance to talk to a few of new offensive coordinator and ex-Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett’s former players. "I actually met Dak -- well, I've seen him on the field -- met him for the first time down here and talked to him a little bit," Jones said. "Everyone who has worked with Coach Garrett speaks very highly of him and I think Dak was certainly the same way. Guys respect him, and it seems like he's done a lot for a lot of peoples' careers, so I'm excited to work with him." Dak looked like a borderline-elite Quarterback under Garrett with the help of his standout back Ezekiel Elliot. Daniel Jones is in a very similar position now, with a back who may be even more explosive than the one in Dallas. Garrett should open up the playbook for RB Saquon Barkley and Jones’ strengths. Jones has also had conversations with Tony Romo about the offense in Dallas. Jones looks eager to learn more about the offense and have that same success that prior quarterbacks like Prescott and Romo had under Garrett. The offense should improve tremendously from last year, and it starts with this connection between Quarterback and Offensive Coordinator.
Can Judge win over the team in less than 2 months?
The NFC East has the most new coaches in the league while COVID-19 has already changed the offseason for NFL players. In a usual offseason, guys like Barkley, Jones, and Peppers would be training in front of Joe Judge and Dave Gettleman every day. This was supposed to be Judge’s time to win over those players with his strict offseason training sessions brought from New England. Instead, a first-year head coach had to trust his players with virtual meetings online. This takes away a room-filling presence that Judge showed in his interviews, as well as the strength that he’s a normal guy who can relate to any player on the team. But his experience at the college level should help him here, being that the Giants are one of the youngest teams in football. They will have rookies all over the field, most importantly tackle Andrew Thomas and Matt Peart after Nate Solder opted out of the season. The development and success of the youngest players on this football team are going to determine their season. Judge has to find a way to quickly prepare this team to play teams full of veterans immediately.
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