What We Learned: Dexter Lawrence capable ‘of being the best of all time’

2. Nabers: Daboll already putting trust in me

The play of the day Friday came when Daniel Jones launched a deep pass 40-50 yards down the sideline to wide receiver Malik Nabers. The 20-year-old wideout made a nice play on the ball to secure possession and get his feet down before momentum carried him out of bounds. When talking to reporters after practice, Nabers shed some light on the play-call, telling the media that the head coach asked him directly which play he wanted to run.

“Dabs asked me what play I wanted to call, and I said, well, let’s throw a go ball. And Daniel came up to me, like, what do you want, you want to check out of the press? I said, nah. I said, off press, just throw it up. He was like I got you. The chemistry showed…” Nabers said. “It shows how much trust [Daboll] has to give me the ball in open space or just let me run any route I want. So, to have that, as a head coach that’s got trust in you when you come into the third day of training camp, they try to understand how good of a player I am. For him to just ask me what kind of play I want and for him to call it, it shows how much trust he has in me.”

Anyone that has watched “Hard Knocks” knows just how much Daboll likes the rookie wide receiver. That was evident since the first time the head coach watched Nabers’ LSU game tape. While the talent is clearly there, Daboll has also been impressed with the young receiver’s work ethic ever since the Giants selected him with the sixth overall pick in late April.

“His mentality is the mentality you need to have,” the head coach said before practice. “He’s humble, but he works extremely hard. We’ve moved him in a lot of places. I’d say for a young receiver, a lot of times you put [them] at one spot. So, it’s a credit to him and the amount of work that he puts in. He knows he’s got a long way to go.

“It’s just a couple practices, but obviously we thought he was a good player where we selected him. I told you I love the person. I love his competitive desire, his will, his grit, if you will. But he knows he’s two days in. He’s had an OTAs. He’s not where he wants to be. No one is, not anyone on our roster, not any coach, but he’s got the right mindset.”

3. Runyan: O-line continuing to build chemistry

When a team undergoes changes along the offensive line like the Giants did this offseason, it adds even more importance to training camp. The summer sessions serve as the first time the linemen can actually work on the cohesion of the unit, especially since contact is not allowed during the entirety of the offseason program. Runyan highlighted this point when asked about his goals for training camp.

“There’s nothing else to do besides work together, talk together, hang out and chemistry is really coming along,” Runyan said about training camp. “It’s a really light group, but also when it’s time to work, it’s time to work and put our head down and we get to it. It has been a great first week of practice and being here around the building, seeing everybody around and excited for what we got going ahead. We still got over a month left before the regular season starts, but enjoying this process right now in training camp, everybody working to get better.”

A significant part of that chemistry comes in the communication between the linemen. While practices are obviously a crucial time to work on that, Runyan told the media that their meetings going over film turn out to be just as important.

“It’s kind of twofold. It’s the reps you get together and how many reps you can build together as an offensive line and how valuable that communication is when you’re in the huddle and then on the line of scrimmage when the picture is changing, being able to communicate with that,” Runyan told reporters. “It starts in the film room and being in there in the film room and paying attention, even though those are some long two-hour meetings, sometimes. Being on the same page. Understanding how DJ sees the defense, understanding how John Michael is going to identify it and then the guards and tackles being able to communicate with each other should get everybody on the same page. But it’s a full team effort, all those five guys there. “