It’s also notable because Giddens, in 2024, dropped five of his 32 targets at K-State. He was dealing with a wrist injury last year, which certainly is important context there. And while it’s still early, Giddens has looked like a guy with good hands during the first two weeks of training camp.

“It looks real natural,” head coach Shane Steichen said.

Catching the ball is one thing; what Giddens can do when the ball gets in his hands is another. It was less of a question for him leading up to the draft, though, as he had over 1,200 rushing yards in each of his last two collegiate seasons.

As part of a group of running backs vying to be Jonathan Taylor’s primary backup – along with Tyler Goodson and Khalil Herbert, among others – Giddens has consistently impressed Steichen with his vision and burst on running plays.

And it’s not just what Giddens has done as a pass-catcher and runner – he’s quickly and physically picked up protection schemes. Keeping opposing blitzers away from your quarterback in the pocket is an important thing to do for a rookie looking to get on the field.

“DJ has done a really nice job,” Cooter said. “He’s a young guy who’s been put in some different roles maybe than he was in college. Just in the NFL, you’re running the ball, but maybe you’re running it from different sides and behind the quarterback. You’re running these routes that maybe you never ran in college. You’re working different blitz pickup schemes.

“Oftentimes, a young running back has a lot on his plate – learning that it is a little bit different than college. DJ has done a really, really nice job of picking up the offense, picking up his role and then going out and executing it.”

It’s not always easy to tell if a running back can translate success in training camp practices, where he’s not getting fully tackled, into actual live game action. That’s why Thursday night’s preseason opener against the Baltimore Ravens will be an important marker for Giddens – we’ll see if his vision, burst, football IQ and hands all show up in a live-tackling situation.

But over the first two weeks of camp, Giddens has built a solid foundation for himself to now build upon in preseason games, and if all goes well, the regular season.

“He’s had a knack in this camp of sort of finding that crease, reading that defense the right way and sort of working with his offensive line to create yards,” Cooter said. “So, we’re real encouraged with DJ. I’m excited to sort of watch him continue trying different roles and different routes and different run schemes within this offense, seeing exactly what he’s comfortable with and where he goes from here.”