EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Odell Beckham Jr. was the main attraction during Wednesday’s New York Giants OTA practice. There were plenty of other things going on, though. Here are some of the non-Beckham takeaways from the workout.
Taking action against injuries
In revealing that defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris might be able to return this season from his Achilles tendon tear, head coach John Harbaugh also highlighted an aggressive response by the organization to the injuries.
“You look for answers and there are none,” Harbaugh said. “You can’t predict tendons really hardly at all, let alone Achilles are the worst. You just don’t know.
“There’s no common denominators with any of the three guys. There’s no common denominators with loads or anything else.”
The Giants have, though, reacted in an effort to prevent more injuries.
“What we did was we went to technology and we went to testing.,” Harbaugh said. “Tested all our guys this week. Turned over every stone, all hands on deck, and we’re bringing in four new pieces of equipment between strength training equipment and also testing equipment, body movement equipment to try to make sure that we can do everything we can for our players and make it as individualized as we can.
“That’s what you do. You try to tackle it with everything you’ve got.”
Andrew Thomas takes team reps
Left tackle Andrew Thomas, whose workload is being managed due lingering foot and shoulder issues, took left tackle reps during team periods on Wednesday. That is the first time Thomas has done so during the three OTAs media has had access to.
Veteran defensive tackle Shelby Harris was again not at practice. He has not been in attendance at any of the workouts media has attended. Workouts are voluntary, so no explanation was given.
Gunner Olszewski, out for the season with a torn Achilles, was in attendance. He was rolling around the field on a four-wheeled scooter.
A couple of other lineup notes:
- Kayvon Thibodeaux took some first-team reps in place of Brian Burns, the first time media has seen Thibodeaux do so this spring..
- The starting trio of wide receivers was Darnell Mooney, Calvin Austin, Malachi Fields.
- Greg Newsome and Deonte Banks split first-team cornerback reps.
Mooney had a sweet catch on a deep, back shoulder ball thrown by Jaxson Dart with Newsome in tight coverage.
Placekicker Ben Sauls made just four of 10 field-goal attempts from between 33 and 47 yards. Sauls did rally to make two late field goals from about 35 yards at the end of 11-on-11 move the ball sessions.
Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson dialed up a few effective blitzes. Abdul Carter and Arvell Reese got home on one. Cornerback Nic Jones got home on another, and let everybody hear about it.\
Why were the Giants so aggressive in signing three wide receivers on Monday?
“I’d say just principally doing everything you can to be the best you can be, give yourself the chance to be the best team you can be,” said head coach John Harbaugh. “Those were three guys that were out there, we’ve been monitoring, talking about those three for a while.”
“Probably was a catalyst when we lost Gunner. Didn’t have to be a ‘one for one’.
“Try to be aggressive and give ourselves as many opportunities as we possibly can to have the strongest roster we can. We’ll see what happens.“
