Greg Dulcich, Nic Jones making early splashes
Forget ‘Winners and Losers’ or ‘Stock up, Stock Down.’ Let’s summarize some of the good and bad of the first few days of New York Giants training camp in our own unique way — with a ‘Kudos and Wet Willies.’
Kudos to …
Malik Nabers — After missing spring practices with a toe injury, Nabers has looked just fine during the first three days of camp.
Abdul Carter — The display of pass-rushing prowess Carter put on Thursday tells you everything you need to know about why the Giants are excited to have him.
Taking care of Dexter Lawrence — The Giants adding $3 million in incentives to Lawrence’s contract for 2025 was a nice way to acknowledge Lawrence, whose contract is falling behind his talent level.
Nic Jones — When you are a bottom of the depth chart player fighting to earn a spot, you need to make some splash plays to get noticed. Jones, cornerback, made those plays on each of the first three days. Wednesday, he had a pick six of Jaxson Dart. Thursday and Friday, he had sacks of Dart on blitzes.
Greg Dulcich — If I were to go through every play from the first three days of training camp — I am not going to torture myself that way — I know I would find that Dulcich, a tight end drafted in Round 3 by the Denver Broncos in 2022, has the most catches of any receiver thus far in camp. Dulcich has an uphill battle to make the roster in a deep tight end room, but he is showing ability as a receiver.
Wet Willies to …
Jalin Hyatt — Hyatt missed practice on Friday after head coach Brian Daboll said he “cramped up” on Thursday. Hyatt also had a hamstring issue during mandatory minicamp, making this the second leg issue he has had since saying he added 25 pounds. Hopefully, this doesn’t become a trend.
John Michael Schmitz — The Giants starting center got knocked into a different zip code by Abdul Carter on a pass rush during Thursday’s practice. On Friday, he failed to connect with Russell Wilson on three shotgun snaps — one wide, one high and one early that smacked Wilson in the face mask. C’mon, man!
Arguing over pre-snap penalties — There have been a handful of pre-snap false start/offsides penalties during the first few practices. Each time, it seems like players on both sides have pointed and begged to get the call from the officials. Why? It’s training camp and it doesn’t matter a bit if the ball gets moved one way or the other.
Fact is, nobody wins if the team is committing preventable pre-snap infractions. How about instead of the silly arguing to get a meaningless call, somebody actually gets ticked off and demands more discipline from the team as a whole?
Kwillies to …
Jaxson Dart — The rookie quarterback has made some ill-advised throws the first couple of days, and at times he holds the ball too long, but it is a process and Dart has certainly also had good moments.