Giants receiver David Sills having another impressive training camp

David Sills figured he’d spend cutdown day last summer like most young unproven players in the NFL, waiting around for a phone call to tell him he had either made the team or that his dream would be postponed. The wide receiver had a flashy, productive first preseason with the Giants and was ready for whichever of those two options the team came to him with.

Instead, there was a third one he never saw coming.

Sills, who injured his right foot in the next-to-last practice of the preseason, was sent for precautionary X-rays and told he’d suffered a fracture that required surgery. He was shocked. Sure it hurt, but he was able to walk around on it. He figured it was a bone bruise, something he could ice up and get back to work.

The Giants put him on injured reserve, and he was ineligible to return from it for the 2020 season. He never did find out whether his performance was good enough to make that roster. No one on the Giants ever told him, nor did he ever ask.

"It’s tough in hindsight to know what would have happened and what wouldn’t have happened," he said. "It was very devastating. I’ve never been a guy who gets down in the dumps, but that was definitely a tough time for me. You felt like you put so much work in and to see it end like that is not what you wish for at all."

Of course it did not end. Not entirely.

After spending last season in the training room Sills is back with the Giants this summer, pulling in catches all over the field, once again trying to make the team. It’s a far more crowded field he has to fight through this time, with the additions of Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney and veterans John Ross and Dante Pettis, but wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert said Sills has looked even better than last year. Joe Judge seemed inclined to agree.

"He’s making a lot of plays for us," Judge said. "He’s doing a good job, he comes out, works hard every day. Sills is a guy who does everything you ask and he does it 100 percent."

That was evident this offseason when Sills spent as much time as possible with quarterback Daniel Jones. First he found out that Jones lives in Charlotte about an eight minute drive away from where Sills’ sister and brother-in-law live. So he moved in there to be close to the quarterback. He went with Jones to Arizona for a throwing session with other Giants players and to Alabama where Jones worked with his personal trainer.

"Basically this guy followed Daniel around the country," Judge said. "Wherever Daniel was, he was going to be there to catch passes. That’s someone who you can tell has really invested in himself to give every shot he has."

Sills said he and Jones worked out 10 or more times per week for about 10 straight weeks. They would lift. They would throw and catch. They would talk ball and watch some film. They would connect.

"Knowing who you are playing with and having a good relationship, a lot of people don’t think it plays a huge part in football, but when you are closer with your team and out there going into battle, you know who these people are and you know what makes them tick," Sills said. "Basically it’s a good thing that I think we all know each other now."

And Jones knows what he knew last year when he said of Sills: "He’s a receiver you can trust."

Is it enough for Sills to make this team? A few more weeks will tell. At the very least, Sills would like to get a yes or no answer rather than the blurry one he received last year on cutdown day.

"I have another opportunity this year," he said. "I feel good. I feel healthy. I just have to continue to put my best foot forward."

He chuckled and looked down at his right foot, the one that may have robbed him of making the team a year ago. Is that his best foot now?

"This one has nickel in it now," he said of the screws holding it together, "so I’m ready to go."

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.