Everybody knew the Giants’ offense would be a work in progress this summer — and perhaps for the early part of the regular season — even though they seemingly upgraded with a new top offensive strategist, rookie head coach Brian Daboll.
And the Giants’ offensive issues were on full display early in Thursday’s second training camp practice — drops, errant passes, a little bit of everything. Though the offense rebounded later in practice, it wasn’t not a particularly sharp day overall for this unit.
The bottom line in today’s NFL is that you can’t completely scheme around lackluster talent, no matter how sharp your offensive coordinator or offensive-minded head coach is. To say the least, this Giants offense has looked lackluster in recent seasons. And that’s putting it kindly.
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So we’ll see what this group is able to accomplish in 2022, even with a new leader, Daboll, running the show. Because at some point, you just need to have a legit set of offensive players to transform you from rebuilding team into true contender.
But remember, it’s still just Day 2 of camp. Long way to go. Let’s wait and see before delivering a final verdict, even though we’re not sold on this offense right now.
The Giants will hold two more no-pads, no-contact practices, Friday and Saturday, before the pads go on Monday, coming out of an off day.
For now, here are our observations from Thursday’s practice, with an emphasis on this still-developing offense.
(Click here for our Day 1 observations.)
• How did Daniel Jones look? Let’s start with the quarterback, because Jones’ progress this season — or lack of progress — will go a long way toward determining a whole lot for this team. We’ll get to the drops in a bit. But first, a breakdown of Jones’ Day 2.
Jones completed 10 of 18 passes during 21 reps, as the Giants focused on third-down passing situations. (Jones was “sacked” once, by Jihad Ward, and there were two running plays.) He started 2 of 7 and closed 8 of 11. So he rallied, as did his wide receivers.
The highlights: Under pressure, Jones hit Kenny Golladay on the run — a good display of composure. Jones also stepped up under pressure and found Saquon Barkley over the middle. Later in practice, again facing pressure, Jones rolled right, kept his eyes downfield, and hit Wan’Dale Robinson along the sideline. (Robinson nicely kept his feet inbounds, while taking a hard hit from behind.) On the next play, Jones found Golladay on the run again.
Perhaps Jones’ best play of practice came on his final rep, in the red zone. With pressure in his face, he kept his eyes up once again and hit Richie James for a 15-yard touchdown. Maybe it would’ve been a “sack.” Maybe not. Hard to tell. But Daboll loved this play so much that he rushed over to Jones and gave him an enthusiastic low five. A strong example of focus from Jones.
OK, so what didn’t go well? A bunch, especially early on.
Jones threw an incomplete pass for Robinson, but it appeared Robinson might’ve run the wrong route — a rookie mistake, on an otherwise good day for the second-round pick. (No drops for him.)
Then Jones was low on a pass to Kadarius Toney, who had a strong Day 1. (Toney later had a drop Wednesday, as did Golladay.) Jones was high on a sideline pass to Robinson, too. And he forced a ball to Golladay while under pressure. Not an ideal day, but the drops didn’t help, of course.
Oh, and no interceptions for Jones on Thursday, after he threw one on Day 1.
• And what about those drops? Yikes.
Golladay had a drop Wednesday, when Toney excelled and made a highlight-reel touchdown catch. Then, early in Thursday’s practice, Golladay had yet another drop. A perfectly thrown Jones ball would’ve resulted in a 30-yard gain, but even though the pass hit Golladay in the hands, he couldn’t hang on, as Julian Love came in to knock it away. Unacceptable from Golladay, who is off to a slow start in this camp, though he did make a couple solid catches later Thursday.
As for Toney, not every day is going to look like Wednesday. He’s still a fairly inexperienced player. And he did make a really nice touchdown catch on a red-zone fade route Thursday during a one-on-one period. (So did Golladay, Robinson, and Darius Slayton.) Toney’s drop in team periods came on an easy, short pass over the middle. The ball just went off Toney’s hands. Lack of focus maybe.
Slayton, who still isn’t working with the starters and could definitely be traded or cut, had an absolutely horrific drop down the field Thursday, on a Tyrod Taylor pass that went right through his hands. At this point, James is working with the starters ahead of Slayton. Not good for him. Slayton needs to show some more value, especially since he doesn’t play special teams.
• Blake Martinez progressing. The middle linebacker is returning from a torn ACL. He got a very small amount of team periods work Wednesday. He got more Thursday. Probably about half. During the other periods, Darrian Beavers and Carter Coughlin played next to Tae Crowder. But Martinez certainly appears to be progressing nicely. He almost certainly will be ready for Week 1.
• Who will call plays? Daboll hasn’t decided yet whether he or offensive coordinator Mike Kafka will do it. Kafka has never done it during a game. But as the head coach, Daboll — the Bills’ former offensive coordinator — has a lot of game-day duties that don’t involve calling plays.
Daboll said Kafka will continue to call plays into Jones’ helmet during training camp, as he did during spring practices.
It’s certainly possible — and Daboll didn’t rule this out — that Daboll could take over play-calling duties come Week 1 (or perhaps thereafter). But it appears the Giants are trending toward having Kafka call the plays on game day, though Daboll obviously will be heavily involved in strategy throughout the week and during games.
“Mike has done a really good job in the spring,” Daboll said before Thursday’s practice. “He’s been on the headset with Daniel. And he’ll be doing that through camp. And as we get closer to it, we’ll sit down and discuss it. But I’ve been really happy with Mike. Not just his communication with the quarterback, but how he’s handled the offensive staff, how he’s handled the players.”
But let’s say Daboll takes over play-calling duties after camp, leading into Week 1. Might that be a jarring change for Jones, after dealing exclusively with Kafka through the spring and summer? Daboll brushed off that notion.
“I talk to Daniel between every play,” Daboll said. “I meet with Daniel a lot. We have a good relationship, a working relationship. But it’s good right now for Mike to be able to do those things with Daniel, with the offense.”
• Tight end rotation. Daboll seemingly is still trying to figure out who will start at tight end. Rookie Daniel Bellinger came out of the spring as the apparent No. 1 option. But during Thursday’s practice, Jordan Akins and Chris Myarick both got work with the first-string offense, in addition to Bellinger. This might be Bellinger’s job to lose, but he clearly must earn it.
• Backup offensive line personnel. As for the starters, Shane Lemieux appears to have locked up the left guard job. On Thursday, here’s how the second-string line looked, from left to right: Devery Hamilton, Joshua Ezeudu, Jamil Douglas, Marcus McKethan, and Matt Gono. (Same as Wednesday for that group.) And here’s how the third-string line looked: Roy Mbaeteka, Josh Rivas, Ben Bredeson, Max Garcia, and Garrett McGhin.
Interesting to see a couple veterans — Bredeson and Garcia — so far down the depth chart. But it’s early. Bottom line: Depth will be an issue for this team, at pretty much every position.
Could Ezeudu eventually become the swing backup tackle? The rookie third-round pick played some left tackle at North Carolina. And in the spring, when Andrew Thomas was out, Ezeudu worked with the starters at left tackle. Something to keep in mind.
• Punt returners. These were the most notable players returning punts early in Thursday’s practice: James, Slayton, Darnay Holmes, Adoree’ Jackson, C.J. Board, Jarren Williams, Austin Proehl, and Robinson. Obviously, the Giants are taking a look at a lot of guys through drills like this, as they narrow down the list of candidates.
Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com.
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