New York Giants Rookie Mini-Camp Begins

Kadarius Toney – © USA TODAY Sports

MAY 14, 2021 NEW YORK GIANTS ROOKIE MINI-CAMP REPORT…
The first day of the New York Giants three-day rookie mini-camp was held on Friday at Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. With COVID protocols remaining in place, only 22 players are in attendance. (At the 2019 rookie mini-camp, 75 players participated).

The on-field work emphasized individual drills.

“Really this is an orientation weekend,” said Head Coach Joe Judge. “This isn’t a competition weekend. This isn’t a situation where we are cutting down the team this weekend. This is just get the guys out there moving on the grass, take a look at them and get a better idea where they are physically. These are guys that have not been with a team now for at least five months. So being out there for the first time in team activities, drills and the pace and practice, as opposed to individual workouts with a trainer are much, much different. So you know, all these guys got to get in football shape which is just part of the process of being out here in spring and working them forward.

“Right now, we’re just trying to get them out there and get them moving. This is all very new for these guys in terms of walking around the building. These guys have as much on their plate in terms of finding out where their locker is, where to eat in the cafeteria, where they shower as much as getting out there, where they stretch where an individual is and when we blow the horn for group and special teams, where they run to. So it’s a learning experience for these guys. They try to get on the field and just move as fast as they can. Like I said we’ve got to get these guys in football shape and it’s just part of the process.

“None of their fundamentals will be good enough and none of their conditioning will be good enough. That’s our job to get them going. That’s why we have to be out there and we have to train them and practice and catch up where the vets are at, so when they get to training camp they can compete on equal ground.

“It truly is just orientation. At this point obviously we can identify things they have to work on. We can identify where they are currently. However I’d say every rookie you get right now, just from the nature of not being on a team for the duration that they have been training for the Draft and all that kind of stuff, they are all far behind. You know, they really are. Most of these guys are all further behind now than they were when they finished their college seasons. So we have to get them back going, get them caught up, get them in our systems and in our schemes, and they have got a long way to go, and that’s true of any rookie class.

“I’ve been part of rookie mini-camps before where you put them out there and it’s full competition, you are doing hard one-on-ones and seven-on-seven and team as much as you can. To be honest with you, if we had 70 guys out there, we wouldn’t have done anything different today. The focus was on fundamentals and getting acclimated to our system and how they practice so when we get out there through the duration of spring and training camp, they have to jump and get going and compete against the vets.”

PARTICIPANTS…

2021 NFL Draft Picks (6):

• WR Kadarius Toney
• OLB Azeez Ojulari
• CB Aaron Robinson
• OLB Elerson Smith
• RB Gary Brightwell
• CB Rodarius Williams

2021 Signed Undrafted Rookie Free Agents (3):

• OC/OG Brett Heggie
• OT/OG Jake Burton
• DE/LB Raymond Johnson

New York Giants First-Year Players (8):

• QB Clayton Thorson
• RB Jordan Chunn
• RB Sandro Platzgummer
• WR Derrick Dillon
• TE Nakia Griffin-Stewart
• TE Nate Wieting
• DL David Moa
• LB Cale Garrett

Undrafted rookie and veteran tryout players (5):

• QB Nathan Rourke (rookie)
• RB Corey Clement (4-year veteran)
• RB Ito Smith (3-year veteran)
• FB Frank Feaster (rookie)
• TE Kelvin Benjamin (former 4-year veteran WR working at TE)

CAM FLEMING SIGNS WITH DENVER BRONCOS…
New York Giants unrestricted free agent offensive tackle Cam Fleming has signed a 1-year contract with the Denver Broncos. The Giants signed Fleming as an unrestricted free agent from the Dallas Cowboys in March 2020. He ended up starting all 16 games at right tackle, by far the most in his career in a single season. But Fleming was arguably the weak link up front, regularly missing blocks. Fleming was also credited with four false starts and two holding penalties. The 6’5”, 320-pound Fleming was originally drafted in the 4th round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. After four years in New England, he played two seasons with the Cowboys. In seven NFL seasons, Fleming has played in 91 regular-season games with 42 starts.

HEAD COACH JOE JUDGE…
The  transcript and video of Joe Judge’s press conference on Friday are available in The Corner Forum and at Giants.com:

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:

• WR Kadarius Toney (Video)
• CB Aaron Robinson (Video)
• RB Gary Brightwell (Video)

ARTICLES…

• Giants rookie Gary Brightwell overcame family tragedies to achieve NFL dream by Ryan Dunleavy of The New York Post