Giants CB Janoris Jenkins looking to blank receivers this season
Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins looks on during training camp in East Rutherford, N.J., on Aug. 8, 2017. Credit: Brad Penner
Janoris Jenkins allowed three touchdown receptions in 2016, one of the best performances by a full-time cornerback in the NFL. But he believes there is room for improvement. Like three fewer.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said on Tuesday when asked if he can go an entire season without allowing any scoring plays in coverage. According to Pro Football Focus, only Aqib Talib of the Broncos managed that last season.
Jenkins is much further from perfection in practices, where he faces the likes of Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall each day and every so often lets up a big play. He said that’s mostly because he is either working on a specific technique or is not allowed to muscle the receivers at full strength.
“It’s cool, man,” he said. “We have to understand they’re going to make plays. What you guys call getting beat, we don’t call it beat. We call it competing. You have to finish a certain type of way in practice, so that’s how I push back.”
In games, though, Jenkins can go all out. Not that he’ll be the one keeping track of his exploits.
“I don’t focus on stats,” he said. “I just focus on doing my job. At the end of the year, whatever the outcome may be, that’s the outcome.”
Fullbacks need to be special
The Giants have two fullbacks on their roster this summer, but the decision regarding whom to keep — if either of them — will not come down to their performance on offense. Special teams play, Ben McAdoo said, will be “everything.”
“If you can’t contribute on special teams, you are not going to make the roster,” McAdoo said.
That adds more to the plates of Jacob Huesman, the former quarterback from Tennessee-Chattanooga, and Shane Smith of San Jose State, both rookies. The Giants also have tight ends who can play fullback, so carrying a traditional one may be a luxury when the roster is trimmed to 53. The Giants did not have one on the team last year.
Giant steps
Rookie TE Evan Engram caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to give the offense its first score of training camp in two-minute drills. Brandon Marshall caught the two-point conversion to seal the win for the first offensive unit. The second and third offenses failed to reach the end zone . . . DT Robert Thomas (soreness), LB Mark Herzlich (stinger), WR Kevin Snead (hamstring) and S Mykkele Thompson (quad) all sat out Tuesday’s practice. Rookie DE Avery Moss left practice early with a shoulder injury.
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.
