WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.VA. \u2014 The New York Giants know they are definitely not in East Rutherford, N.J. anymore. They have noticed the beauty of their surroundings, nestled snugly into the Allegheny Mountains. They have noticed the comfort of their accommodations at the ritzy Greenbrier Performance Center.<\/p>\n
They know, though, that they are not in West Virginia to sightsee. They are not on vacation. They are on a business trip. The business of preparing to be the best football team they can be in 2026.<\/p>\n
New head coach John Harbaugh made that clear on Wednesday, the first day of training camp. He noted the \u201cbeautiful setting\u201d and thanked everyone who made it happen. Harbaugh, though, quickly turned to the business at hand when asked what he was evaluating in the early practices.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re chasing execution,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cWe\u2019re at a stage now, we\u2019re getting ready for the games. I mean, that\u2019s what practice is for. We\u2019re not here to practice. It\u2019s not a training camp exercise. We\u2019re here to prepare for the games that we\u2019re going to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat plays we call, how we practice, all those things. We\u2019re not just running plays out here to run plays. That\u2019s why we want to keep our plays to ourselves when we\u2019re doing them out here. So, that\u2019s what we\u2019re evaluating, is our execution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are some of the things we saw from the sidelines on the first day of training camp.<\/p>\n
It is clear watching the Giants practice that there are some differences in what is being required of second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart. He acknowledged as much Wednesday by saying \u201cThere\u2019s reps of things that I haven\u2019t really had a ton of experience doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of those differences is the amount of work Dart is being asked to do under center. Roughly half of his 11-on-11 work Wednesday came from under center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a few things mechanically that are different,\u201d Dart said. \u201cProbably just like the biggest thing is a little bit of footwork, landmarks in the pocket, but we\u2019ve repped the hell out of it. I\u2019m feeling really good with the track that we\u2019re on, and I\u2019m feeling comfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not something out there when I\u2019m on the field that I have to think extra about when I\u2019m having a rep at a certain play. It\u2019s more obviously just about readingthe rep from a conceptual standpoint, getting on time with all the guys, so, it\u2019s been something that we\u2019ve really, you know, pushed and really got a ton of reps out of this offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nabers did individual drills and ran a few pass routes on air at the beginning of practice. He played a few minutes of catch with Dart when practice ended.<\/p>\n
The placekicking competition, where undrafted free agent rookie Dominic Zvada was 13 of 13 in two practices witnessed by reporters and Ben Sauls struggled mightily, was a big story during the spring.<\/p>\n
Both kickers got opportunities on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Sauls made 4 of 5 kicks from 33 to 51 yards, missing a 43-yarder. Sauls also missed a 61-yarder wide right, a ball that had plenty of distance. Zvada was 4 of 6 on the day, missing an extra point and a 43-yarder.<\/p>\n
Dart threw a beautiful short out to tight end Chris Manhertz, floating it nicely over a trailing Abdul Carter.Cornerback Tae Banks got his hands on two passes. He broke up a throw across the middle from quarterback Brandon Allen that was intended for Xavier Gipson. He also got a hand on an off-target sideline pass intended for rookie wide receiver Malachi Fields.Jameis Winston hit Braxton Berrios for a 40-ish-yard touchdown. Berrios was well behind Nic Jones, the closest defender.Kayvon Thibodeaux, working with the second unit, broke the line and batted down a Winston pass.During a two-minute end-of-game drill, Fields had a leaping 15-yard catch that put the offense into field goal position.The defense missed chances for two interceptions of Dart. Safety Jevon Holland dropped an overthrown ball across the middle. Paulson Adebo had a pass down the middle go right through his hands into the arms of tight end Isaiah Likely for a big play.The defense also missed an interception when linebacker Tremaine Edmunds batted a pass into the air, and Arvell Reese and Ar\u2019Darius Washington collided trying to bring the ball in.<\/p>\n
Take me home, country roads<\/p>\n
Here are a handful of quotes from players and coaches about their West Virginia home away from home:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is like old school. It\u2019s like what you see in the movies, so I was stoked just to come out here with the team, and it\u2019s a cool experience because in the league, there\u2019s so many external factors \u2026 a lot of guys have families and things that they\u2019ve got to take care of off the field, so I think that us just being able to come here for extended days and just being with one another, growing our personal relationships, but also having great communication from the football side, there\u2019s not a ton of things to do around here, so it forces us to be together, and we love each other as a team, so I\u2019m really excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTalked to several general managers and head coaches that have been here, and it\u2019s everything they said it would be. I mean, it\u2019s beautiful. I think it was 60 degrees this morning when we woke up and came over here. So yeah, it\u2019s a beautiful setting and again, they were ready for us and I\u2019m thoroughly impressed with the facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
NOTE: A railroad train was chugging by during most of Burns\u2019 press conference, making it virtually impossible to hear him. Or, be heard by him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s peaceful, a lot of mountains, trees, wildlife. So, you know what I\u2019m saying, it\u2019s a peaceful view, but there\u2019s a lot of chaos on the field \u2026 it\u2019s beautiful out here. There\u2019s a couple cribs up there [in the mountains], it\u2019s nice. I notice quite a bit of things, we\u2019re trying to figure out something to do on the off day, maybe we\u2019ll go fishing or something. It\u2019s (not) a lot to do out here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tight end Thomas Fidone and defensive tackle Sam Roberts, who were initially on the PUP list, passed their physicals on Tuesday. They were both removed from PUP and took part in Wednesday\u2019s workout.<\/p>\n
Remaining Greenbrier practice schedule<\/p>\n
The fans are coming! The next three practices will be open to the public. The remaining schedule at the Greenbrier is below.<\/p>\n
Thursday, July 30 \u2014 1:30-3:15 p.m. (Open to the public)Friday, July 31 \u2014 1:30-3:30 p.m. (Open to the public)Saturday, August 1 \u2014 1:30-3:30 p.m. (Open to the public)Sunday, August 2 \u2014 Players\u2019 day offMonday, August 3 \u2014 1:30-3:15 p.m.Tuesday, August 4 \u2014 1:30-3:30 p.m.Wednesday, August 5 \u2014 1:30-4 p.m. (Open to the public)Thursday, August 6 \u2014 1:30-4 p.m. (Open to the public)Friday, August 7 \u2014 1:30-4 p.m. (Open to the public)Saturday, August 8 \u2014 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.VA. \u2014 The New York Giants know they are definitely not in East Rutherford, N.J.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":959434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,15972,6],"class_list":["post-959433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-football","tag-new-york-giants-training-camp","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117008384849379453","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959433","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=959433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/959434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=959433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=959433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=959433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}