June 1, 2015 New York Giants OTA Practice Report

 Posted by
Jun 012015
 


[contentblock id=1 img=html.png]

JUNE 1, 2015 NEW YORK GIANTS OTA PRACTICE REPORT…

The New York Giants completed their fourth of ten Organized Team Activity (OTA) practices at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center on Monday.

Phase Three (Weeks 6-9) of the New York Giants voluntary nine-week offseason program started last week. During Phase Three of offseason programs, NFL teams may conduct a total of 10 days of OTAs. No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.

The final six OTA practices will be held June 2, June 4, June 8-9, and June 11-12. The Giants will hold a mandatory, full-team mini-camp on June 16-18.

INJURY REPORT AND ABSENTEES…

Tight end Larry Donnell (Achilles tendinitis), DE Robert Ayers (sprained ankle), and safety Nat Berhe (calf) did not practice.

Wide receiver Victor Cruz (knee) did not practice but worked on the side.

Wide receiver Odell Beckham (sore hamstring, not the same one as last year) was limited.

“It’s always frustrating when you have to miss what you love doing,” Beckham said. “Just not practicing today was enough for me. But it’s part of the game. The good thing is that it’s just precautionary.”

Linebacker Devon Kennard (ankle) returned to practice.

Linebacker Jon Beason missed the voluntary practice due to a cancelled flight.

Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, who has yet to sign his Franchise tender, has not been participating in the voluntary OTA workouts.

PRACTICE NOTES…
Some snippets from various media sources:

  • The starting offensive line currently remains LT Ereck Flowers, LG Justin Pugh, OC Weston Richburg, RG Geoff Schwartz, and RT Marshall Newhouse.
  • George Selvie, Kerry Wynn, and Cullen Jenkins rotated at defensive end on the first-team unit.
  • Jameel McClain practiced with the first team at middle linebacker with J.T. Thomas and Jonathan Casillas playing outside. Devon Kennard also saw first-team reps in lieu of Casillas.
  • Jerome Cunningham and Adrien Robinson saw first-team reps at tight end. Cunningham looked sharp catching the football. (Giants.com video)
  • WR Rueben Randle caught two touchdown passes from QB Eli Manning.
  • Others who flashed catching the ball were WR Corey Washington, TE Will Tye, and RB Orleans Darkwa (Giants.com)
  • With Odell Beckham out of team drills, wideouts Preston Parker, Washington, Marcus Harris, and Dwayne Harris saw extra work in his spot.
  • P Steve Weatherford practiced despite being in an early-morning car accident.

HEAD COACH TOM COUGHLIN…
Tom Coughlin addressed the media after the morning practice (video is available at Giants.com):

Q: Re: Larry Donnell?

A: He has tendinitis, so they put him in a boot.

Q: Is this something that happened last week?

A: It is ongoing. He had a little bit of that in college.

Q: Where is the tendinitis?

A: It is his Achilles.

Q: Re: Odell Beckham Jr.?

A: Odell is sore. Precautionary.

Q: Hamstring?

A: Yeah, not the same side.

Q: Re: Jon Beason’s absence?

A: His flight was cancelled this morning from Charlotte. He will be here this afternoon.

Q: You brought in an offensive lineman (Jake Long) last week… What was the thinking behind that?

A: Just a visit. It was a good visit. He ate well. He had a nice time visiting with us.

Q: Re: Joint practices with the Cincinnati Bengals?

A: At one time, we did it a lot. I just think going out and having a couple practices against somebody else, [there will be] a little more intensity, especially going into that first game. Maybe have your ones take a few more reps than they normally would because of the way the game will be played. It will really benefit our team.

Q: Jerome Cunningham looked like he took advantage of his playing time today?

A: Yeah, he made a couple plays today. He has gotten plenty of playing time. Hopefully he will continue to benefit from it.

Q: How is the offensive line looking as you configure it?

A: It is obvious you throw an awful lot at them – the young guys are doing okay. Progress is being made and this is what [OTA’s] are all about. Throwing them in there and letting them go. See how they do.

Q: Can you gauge where this offense is a year later?

A: We are way ahead in terms of that. The familiarity as the different installations go and the familiarity by the players, at least the guys that have been here, so what we are talking about here is obvious. There is an awful lot of information being thrown at them. They seem to being handling it well. Some of the new guys have done well with it. I haven’t seen a lot of issues with that. It is natural. They have heard it. They have played it. They have been involved with adjustments. As we do more and more adjusting, they are picking that up as well.

Q: What do you like about adding Shane Vereen on the field and in the running backs room?

A: He is a solid, solid young man. A very positive young man who’s happy to be here and looks forward to contributing. When we brought him in we thought here is a guy that catches the ball out of the backfield and would be another obvious weapon that would have to be defended as well as some of the other people we have here.

Q: What were your immediate thoughts when you heard of Steve Weatheford’s accident?

A: Thank goodness that he is okay. That was a scary, scary thing.

Q: Did you say anything to the players about that?

A: No, I didn’t. As a matter of fact, we were well into meetings when I found out about it. I am sure they all know about it by now.

Q: Does that put life into perspective? He goes from the birth of his baby girl to possibly losing his life?

A: Difficult thing to talk about. That is the first thing that popped into my mind as well. He rushed to get back here. Obviously the weather caused a different set of plans. Then there was another set of plans when he was in Washington. He is close to finally arriving here and he runs into the water.

Q: He could have stayed home for a few days after his wife just had the baby?

A: He has been home quite a while. They anticipated, so he was anxious. We shared the fact that it was a difficult thing under those circumstances to leave your wife and newborn, but he wanted to get back here and he wanted to get back on the field with his teammates. He was saying all along when the baby was born he would be on a plane the next day.

Q: How is Robert Ayers Jr. doing?

A: His ankle is swollen. He is still limping a little bit. Sprained ankle. Lateral ankle sprain. Quite a bit of swelling.

Q: Is Cooper Taylor getting an extensive look at safety because Nat Berhe isn’t available or do you see something?

A: Those that are here are going to get a good look. There are not that many guys working right now and they all are getting a lot of reps. We are looking for Nat to get back in there and help balance it out.

Q: Re: Cooper Taylor?

A: He flashed a few times today and I was glad to see that. Big, strong man. If we can keep him healthy and he can stay out there.

Q: Has Damontre Moore caught up?

A: I don’t think he is all the way caught up, but I was impressed. I was in the training room watching them exercise that shoulder and he has done well with that. I think he is starting to grasp – going back over, he has individual meeting times. He is catching up.

Q: Is Cullen Jenkins playing defensive end something you guys would do or are you doing that because you are short?

A: He is flopping around largely because of the [number of ends], but it is something that could happen.

Q: Are you alright with the offensive line you have now or are you going to add something?

A: We’ll see what happens. We’ll see how we finish the spring here and so on and so forth.

THE PLAYERS SPEAK…
The following video clips of player media Q&As are available at Giants.com:

RELATED ARTICLES…

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Eric Kennedy

Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.