Giants coach Brian Daboll couldn’t guarantee on Thursday that injured No. 5 overall pick Kayvon Thibodeaux will be ready for the start of training camp in late July.
“I’m not going to promise anything,” Daboll said. “He may or may not.”
Daboll said “hopefully he’ll be good to go.” Sources have previously indicated that Thibodeaux’s undisclosed injury isn’t considered serious. And the rookie edge rusher did some light running on the side of Thursday’s ninth OTA practice.
But Thibodeaux has been in a red jersey now for two weeks since tweaking something in his lower body during a May 19 OTA practice. It seems there are a bunch of players who could remain sidelined for next week’s mandatory minicamp before an extended summer break.
Projected starting left guard Shane Lemieux, Thibodeaux’s former Oregon teammate, was the latest to rave about the rookie pass rusher’s intangibles.
“He was phenomenal [at Oregon], and I know in practice he was going all-out every single play. He was a good dude, a good locker room guy. We had a lot of battles his [freshman] year,” Lemieux said. “Obviously, the [Giants] asked me because I’m from Oregon what I thought about him, and I told them straight up he is the guy, he is a real dude, a real good player. Effort is nothing I would ever question for him.”
If there are any primary takeaways from the Giants’ spring program to date, one is that Saquon Barkley will be used heavily as a pass catcher in Daboll’s offense. The other, however, is that this team has a ton of injuries to monitor.
Projected starting corner Aaron Robinson was the newest addition to the Red Jersey Crew on Thursday. Left tackle Andrew Thomas (ankle surgery) is supposed to be ready for the start of the season, but he was idle again after laboring last week.
Wide receivers Kadarius Toney (arthroscopic knee procedure), Kenny Golladay (unknown), Sterling Shepard (Achilles) and Collin Johnson (unknown) all are rehabbing. Golladay wasn’t seen at Thursday’s optional practice at all.
Linebackers Blake Martinez (ACL), Cam Brown (unknown) and T.J. Brunson (unknown) also are nursing something, as are corners Darren Evans (unknown) and CB Rodarius Williams (unknown). Michael Jacquet III was wearing red but still practiced.
Joining Golladay on Thursday’s absentee list were corners Darnay Holmes and Jarren Williams, and kicker Graham Gano. The Giants would not disclose any information on those players.
The team’s 10th and final OTA practice is on Friday at the facility. Then next week’s mandatory minicamp runs Tuesday through Thursday.
PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTS
Edge Niko Lalos made the play of the day, leaping to intercept Davis Webb for a pick-six with the third-string offense backed up against the goal line. …
Darius Slayton dropped a perfectly thrown deep pass by Tyrod Taylor just outside the left hash marks late in practice. …
Rookie guard Josh Ezeudu continued to line up in Thomas’ place as the first-string left tackle. Ezeudu had a false start and allowed a jailbreak pressure on another play. This is the time of year when it’s helpful for NFL coaches to take a look at rookies in different spots before maybe zeroing in on defined roles for camp. …
Rookie safety Dane Belton frequently lined up at strong safety instead of Julian Love, though there were also plays when coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale also had all three of his safeties on the field, along with free safety Xavier McKinney. …
Jacquet replaced the injured Robinson at outside corner, and rookie Cor’Dale Flott manned the slot in Holmes’ absence. …
Slayton lined up as the running back on one play, with Barkley flanked outside at wide receiver. Just an example of how Daboll plays with personnel. …
Tight end Jordan Akins had a rough drop on a nice Taylor pass downfield. …
The second string corners were Maurice Canady and Zyon Gilbert on the outside and Khalil Dorsey in the slot. Gilbert had a nice pass breakup on a Taylor pass intended for Travis Toivonen. …
Daniel Jones threw a touchdown pass late in practice to Richie James that got the offense fired up. …
Granted, almost none of Jones’ primary weapons are healthy and practicing. But consistently, every practice, Barkley lines up as a receiver and catches several passes in space. …
Ricky Seals-Jones was running as the second team tight end behind rookie Daniel Bellinger on the first team. …
With Thomas sidelined, the first-team O line remains Ezeudu – Lemieux – Jon Feliciano – Mark Glowinski – Evan Neal. The second-string O line on Thursday was Korey Cunningham – Jamil Douglas – Ben Bredeson – Marcus McKethan – Matt Gono. Lemieux, who missed most of last season after surgery to repair a partially torn patellar tendon, admitted that the Giants wanted him to wear a red jersey this spring but he declined. “I was itching to get it off,” he said. “I was itching to get it off because I didn’t even want the persona, I guess. I didn’t want to be in that jersey, and I did everything I could to get out of it.”
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