May 3, 2019 New York Giants Rookie Mini-Camp Report

Daniel Jones – © USA TODAY Sports

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MAY 3, 2019 NEW YORK GIANTS ROOKIE MINI-CAMP REPORT…
The first day of the New York Giants rookie mini-camp was held on Friday at Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Seventy-five (75) players – draft picks, signed rookie free agents, first-year players who have not completed a season of credited service, and street and rookie free agent tryout players – were in attendance.

“Alright, first day of the mini-camp, it was actually really good,” said Head Coach Pat Shurmur after practice. “We have 23 of our guys that we either drafted or brought in as free agents. The rest of those guys are tryout guys. It was a pretty competitive day. We saw a lot of good things from a lot of the guys that we drafted. They competed well. This is the first day for some of them of hopefully a long career. There were certainly mistakes, but you clean those up as you go. It is fun to be back out on the field, I think I can speak for all the coaches, it is good to get the young players going. As you know, we will work them through this weekend, they will go away and come back and join the team (on May 13). I think the advantage of them doing it this weekend is that they’ll have another week to learn the stuff before they get back here with the vets.”

PARTICIPANTS…

2019 NFL Draft Picks (9):

• QB Daniel Jones, Duke
• NT Dexter Lawrence, Clemson
• CB Deandre Baker, Georgia
• LB Oshane Ximines, Old Dominion
• CB Julian Love, Notre Dame
• LB Ryan Connelly, Wisconsin
• WR Darius Slayton, Auburn
• OT George Asafo-Adjei, Kentucky
• DL Chris Slayton, Syracuse

Cornerback Corey Ballentine, the team’s 6th-round draft pick, has an excused absence as he is physically and emotionally recovering from an April 28th shooting incident where he was wounded in the butt and a former teammate and friend was killed.

When asked if Ballentine is expected to fully recover, Shurmur responded, “Yes, that is what they are saying, but it might take a little bit of time… We are hopeful (that he will be here on May 13 with the rest of the rookies). Again, this is a unique situation. We want him to get full closure on his end. We are sensitive to that. This is a real life situation. We want to make sure he gets full closure. It is May. We play in September. We want to make sure he gets done on that end what he needs to and gets the help that he needs.”

2019 Signed Rookie Free Agents (13):

• QB/TE Eric Dungey, Syracuse
• RB Jonathan Hilliman, Rutgers
• WR Reggie White, Jr., Monmouth
• WR Alex Wesley, Northern Colorado
• TE C.J. Conrad, Kentucky
• OC James O’Hagan, Buffalo
• OT Paul Adams, Missouri
• LB Nate Harvey, East Carolina
• LB Jeremiah Harris, Eastern Michigan
• LB Josiah Tauaefa, Texas-San Antonio
• S Jake Carlock, Long Island-Post
• S Jacob Thieneman, Purdue
• S Mark McLaurin, Mississippi State

Contrary to earlier media reports, the Giants did not sign DE/LB Breckyn Hager, but he is in camp as a tryout player. In addition, the team has officially signed two other free agents not previously reported: QB/TE Eric Dungey and LB Nate Harvey. Scouting reports on the 13 undrafted rookie free agents are available in our 2019 NFL Draft review.

New York Giants First-Year Players (4):

• WR Alonzo Russell
• OL Victor Salako
• DE Jake Ceresna
• CB Henre’ Tolliver

There were also 49 rookie and veteran tryout players in attendance.

PRACTICE NOTES…
Some snippets from various media sources:

• Jake Carlock, who played both defensive back and linebacker in college, participated in some individual drills with the linebackers.
• In 1-on-1 drills, CB Deandre Baker jumped a route and broke up a pass.
• QB Daniel Jones completed a pass against CB Julian Love. He then threw a perfect deep pass to WR Darius Slayton, who dropped the ball. Jones demonstrated good arm strength throughout practice.
• In team drills, Dexter Lawrence lined up both at right defensive end and nose tackle. Deandre Baker played left corner and Julian Love played at slot corner. Love also saw time at safety.
• In 11-on-11 drills, QB Daniel Jones completed his first pass on a quick out to TE C.J. Conrad that picked up good yardage. A deep pass over the middle was then off the mark.
• WR Darius Slayton dropped at least four passes during practice. But he later redeemed himself with three catches in a row, including a nice reception on an in-cut from QB Daniel Jones.
• WR Alex Wesley made a nice diving catch along the sideline.
• Paul Dottino tweeted that QB Daniel Jones was 8-of-14 with three drops in 11-on-11 drills.

GIANTS SIGN THREE OF THEIR DRAFT PICKS…
The New York Giants have announced they have signed the following three of their 2019 NFL Draft class:

• CB Julian Love (4th round)
• OT George Asafo-Adjei (7th round)
• DL Chris Slayton (7th round)

NEW YORK GIANTS CUT JAWILL DAVIS AND JYLAN WARE…
The New York Giants have waived wide receiver Jawill Davis and offensive tackle Jylan Ware.

The Giants signed Jawill Davis as an undrafted rookie free agent after the 2018 NFL Draft. He was signed to the Practice Squad after the final preseason cutdown and then signed to the 53-man roster in September. Davis injured his knee during the last practice of the year and was placed on Injured Reserve before the last game. He played in seven games for the Giants, catching four passes for 40 yards. He also returned 12 punts (7.4 yards per return) and seven kickoffs (24.4 yards per return).

The Giants signed Ware to the Practice Squad in October 2018. The 6’7”, 317-pound Ware was originally drafted in the 7th round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders waived him before the 2018 regular season started.

NEW YORK GIANTS SCOUTING CHANGES…
ESPN is reporting two changes to scouting staff of the New York Giants. Scout Mike Murphy has apparently been let go while scout Steve Devine is retiring.

HEAD COACH PAT SHURMUR…
The transcript of Pat Shurmur’s press conference on Friday is available in The Corner Forum.

THE PLAYERS SPEAK…
Transcripts and video clips of the media sessions with the following players are available in The Corner Forum and at Giants.com:

• QB Daniel Jones (Video)
• NT Dexter Lawrence (Video)
• CB Deandre Baker (Video)
• LB Oshane Ximines (Video)