Giants in no rush to organize own practice

The Saints, Patriots and Seahawks have held full-squad player-run workouts to get themselves ready for the upcoming season. Mark Sanchez said he wants to have all "50-something" of the Jets players on the roster in attendance when he organizes such an event for his team. In the face of the lockout, players around the league are taking it upon themselves to get together en masse, work on timing and execution, and try to preserve some sense of normalcy in this most abnormal of offseasons.

But the Giants? They don't seem too quick to follow that plan.

While there has been some chatter in emails and texts between the players about getting together, nothing has been officially planned. Some Giants leaders even questioned whether such activities are necessary.

"We've had a lot of conversations with a lot of people as far as where they're at, where they're working out, when would be a good time, and we're just collecting that data and seeing when would be the best time to get the most guys there," said defensive captain Justin Tuck, who hosted a celebrity billiards tournament in Manhattan on Thursday to raise money for his RUSH for Literacy program. "We don't want to do it with just eight guys We just have to figure out a time when we can get the most out of what we're doing and that's the reason why we haven't done it yet."

The Giants' leaders suggested that once the fallout from Friday's court date settles, they could decide to get together. But they'd have a tight window. Most players already have plans for July, whether it be family vacations or workout getaways at camps in Arizona or Florida. If a decision from the courts doesn't come for a few weeks, that would leave the last week or two in June as a possibility.

Also at issue is how much the Giants would be able to get out of the workouts compared to what they would be risking.

"The injury factor is looming over all of our heads with respect to this lockout," said center Shaun O'Hara. "There could be a place for a workout as long as it's controlled, nothing competitive, more of a mental workout than anything. If the time comes, we'll look into that We're just kind of in a holding pattern."

Several defensive players at Tuck's event suggested that such workouts would be more for the offense than the defense.

"For us, these workouts they do, seven on seven, the defensive guys we get nothing out of that," linebacker Michael Boley said. "I think it's more for offense, more for timing. That's great for them, receivers, running backs, quarterbacks, go out and work on timing. But for us, our technique, it comes more when we get together with coaches and work on team stuff."

Vornerback Terrell Thomas agreed.

"If the offense gets together that's all that really matters," Thomas said. "With the defense you're not going to get anything out of that. But it's always good to get around your players for team morale and jelling and things like that."

Then again, O'Hara suggested that the offense doesn't really need any offseason prep work.

"I'm not really concerned about our team just from the respect that we're not installing any new offense, we're not installing a new defense," O'Hara said. "We're a pretty veteran team. We could start training camp tomorrow and probably 95 percent of the guys would know exactly what to do. We could run plays tomorrow without any meeting time, film time, any of that. So that's not a concern."

The other five percent? Those would be the rookies who are missing out on valuable time soaking up playbooks and classroom study with coaches. They might be the ones who would need to have team workouts the most.

"I know that rookie minicamp for me and Kenny (Phillips), just that base defense we were up two hours at night going over it because we were so confused," Thomas said. "Those are the main people who are losing, but we're a veteran team by nature and we have a lot of veteran people in our secondary to help them come along a lot faster."

Thomas said he's already been in touch with drafted defensive backs Prince Amukamara and Tyler Sash and has even copied them on some of his notes from the 2010 season.

For the most part, though, rookies are pretty much on their own trying to stay in shape and wondering when they'll get to step on an NFL field.

"We drafted a defensive lineman like Marvin Austin but he's been out of football for a year and now he's not getting an opportunity to go through OTAs and being in the meeting room," Tuck said. "That's going to hurt him and all of the rookies for that matter. We run a very complex system, offensively and defensively. Coming in, I had the full advantage of an offseason here with a minicamp and everything and I still struggled with it. So that's going to be the biggest issue. What can they pick up in the short period of time that we'll have to practice before the season starts?"

Then again, having this time away from the team is nothing new even if it is out of the ordinary for this generation of players. Boley said he spoke with Jeff Feagles at Tom Coughlin's charity golf event in Florida last month.

"Feagles said this was normal when he first came into the league," Boley said. "They didn't have OTAs and all of that. So he was like 'Enjoy it.' "