{"id":859858,"date":"2026-04-07T23:51:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/859858\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T23:51:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:51:17","slug":"5-takeaways-from-john-harbaugh-as-ny-giants-offseason-program-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/859858\/","title":{"rendered":"5 takeaways from John Harbaugh as NY Giants\u2019 offseason program begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Head coach John Harbaugh gathered New York Giants players on Tuesday for the first time as the team\u2019s voluntary offseason program began. Here are five takeaways from the day, beyond the discussion of Dexter Lawrence\u2019s absence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cam Skattebo, Malik Nabers timelines<\/p>\n

Harbaugh said that running back Cam Skattebo, recovering from a fractured ankle and associated injuries, will be on the field well before wide receiver Malik Nabers, recovering from a torn ACL.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkatt is probably going to be ahead of Malik with that. I think you guys all know that. Skatt [will] probably get out there a little bit at some point in time [this spring]. Some degree. It wouldn\u2019t be fair for me to give you days or dates. Really haven\u2019t had that in-depth discussion with [head athletic trainer] Adam [Bennett]. I have a vague idea. It\u2019s not that important today. We try to focus on today,\u201d Harbaugh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMalik is going to be more into training camp and closer to the season. That\u2019s more Malik\u2019s timeline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harbaugh said that Nabers, who was in attendance on Tuesday, was in \u201cgreat spirits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harbaugh was running the first day of an offseason program for the 19th time in his coaching career, but for the first time with the Giants after 18 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. He called the opportunity \u201cfun\u201d and \u201can honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harbaugh, of course, had not personally met many of the 73 players who showed up for the first voluntary workout of the offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me it\u2019s like a lot of faces. I don\u2019t know who everybody is. Even when I see them, I don\u2019t know who they are,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cI\u2019m like John Harbaugh. Hi, John Harbaugh. Most guys will say, hey and give me their name. Some guys don\u2019t give me their name. Dude, I\u2019m not really sure who you are (laughter). I don\u2019t really know their face yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been that kind of a day. That\u2019s part of making the most of the first day. First day of school sort of. It\u2019s been really great. It\u2019s been really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worry about today. Tomorrow has enough troubles of its own. We want to make the most of the day. We want to get everything we possibly can done in the time that is allotted. We want to be as organized as we can. We want to present something efficiently as we can. We want the system that we\u2019re presenting to be as well built as we can. We want to put as many miles behind us today as we possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u2014 JOHN HARBAUGH<\/p>\n

Harbaugh began by having an \u201cintroductory\u201d session, which was a little bit like what happens when you have a bunch of CYO basketball players who don\u2019t know each other stand in a circle and introduce themselves. Only, Harbaugh wanted a lot more from players \u2014 and coaches \u2014 than \u201cmy name is \u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want our identity and we want our purpose,\u201d Harbaugh said.<\/p>\n

So, that is what he asked for.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive us a quick overview on your identity, how you see yourself as a player, as a person, whatever you want, how do you see your purpose. Identity and purpose, purpose and identity. Each guy went through that, told us a little bit about that,\u201d the coach said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the things when you\u2019re a little bit vulnerable that way you open up a little bit more, you start to get to know each other more, bond a little bit with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harbaugh liked what he heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was impressed,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody was really thoughtful about it. It was some really deep, good stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Everybody\u2019s tradeable\u2019<\/p>\n

The question Harbaugh was asked was in regards to outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, who has been the subject of trade speculation since the Giants selected Abdul Carter No. 3 overall in last year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh\u2019s answer likely applied to start defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and his request to be traded<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s tradeable. Everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specifically in regard to Thibodeaux, Harbaugh wanted to focus on what the player could do on the field for the Giants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s a great player. I\u2019m excited about him. I was fired up to see him today. He looks great, he\u2019s in great shape. I\u2019m thinking about him on the field, getting him plugged into our defense and getting him rolling,\u201d Harbaugh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s [trade talk] not really what you focus on. You focus on the fact that we\u2019re having a day, we\u2019re talking ball, we\u2019re getting our team coming together as a team. The business part of it is the business part. That kind of swirls around us. We try to lock in on the football.\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u2018good start\u2019 for Dart<\/p>\n

Harbaugh has spent a good deal of time talking with quarterback Jaxson Dart since he became Giants head coach. Tuesday, though, was the first time he had worked with Dart in a classroom or install setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was the first day for football, the first day we had a chance to talk football. What I witnessed was the first install, which is just the very first example of how we\u2019re going to build the offense. That\u2019s what was put in today. I saw that put in. I saw him reacting to it, interacting. I asked him what he thought about it. Seemed excited,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cJust kind of dipping our toe in the water today with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it was fun to see offense up on the screen and Jaxson right there taking his notes. That was awesome. It was a good start.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Head coach John Harbaugh gathered New York Giants players on Tuesday for the first time as the team\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,1207,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-859858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-york-giants-news","10":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116366113824602586","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}