Giants aren’t rushing Odell Beckham Jr. back
New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (13) performs individual strength drills during training camp at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J., on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016. Credit: Brad Penner
Odell Beckham Jr. may return to practice on Thursday. Or Friday. The Giants aren’t particularly worried about the detail of the timing. The important thing is that he appears to be poised to return soon after suffering a scary lower leg injury in practice on Sunday.
“Looks close,” Ben McAdoo said after the star receiver spent a second straight workout doing running exercises on the side. On Wednesday, he seemed to ramp up his workload, running 100-yard sprints and zigzagging across the field. He even shagged a few punts with teammates during drills.
Beckham suffered cuts on his leg when he was cleated while competing for a pass with teammate Janoris Jenkins.
“We will evaluate him each day,” McAdoo said. “We’ll see how he responds. Every day is a new day. It’s amazing what could happen over the course of a night.”
Futbol practice?
An homage to Wednesday night’s friendly at MetLife Stadium between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid perhaps? Or maybe early preparations for the October trip to London? Whatever the reason, the Giants have incorporated soccer balls into their training camp drills this summer.
“We’ve got a little bit of everything out there,” McAdoo said of the somewhat foreign equipment. “We are trying to get our guys used to handling the ball as many different ways as we can to improve hand-eye coordination. We have to try and keep it as interesting as we can post-practice, and get everyone with their hands on the football . . . or whatever the case may be.”
Giant steps
Johnathan Hankins said he hopes the addition of fellow DT Damon Harrison on the line will allow him to be more of a pass-rusher and he hopes to tally a sack per game this season. The Giants record for sacks in a season by a defensive tackle is 10.0, set by Keith Hamilton in 2000 . . . McAdoo said Trevin Wade is a “pretty natural” slot cornerback, but the Giants continue to rotate Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie into the position as well. They also had free agent Leon Hall, a slot corner and nine-year veteran with the Bengals, in for a second visit. Hall, coming off back surgery, visited the Giants in March . . . TE Matt LaCosse left practice with a knee injury but returned late in the workout . . . K Josh Brown was excused from practice for personal reasons.
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.
