Notebook: Giants, Lions both welcome ‘tough, physical’ practice

*Daboll and Lions coach Dan Campbell are good friends who were together on the Miami Dolphins staff in 2011 when Daboll was the offensive coordinator and Campbell was the tight ends coach.

“I appreciate our time together,” Campbell said. “He is one of the smartest football minds I’ve been around. You talk about thinking fast, man, he tested us as a staff, and I learned a ton of football around him. He’s continued to grow like any great coach has and he evolved. I mean what he was doing in Buffalo was not what we were doing there (in Miami). There were similar concepts, but he evolved with what the roster and that quarterback (Josh Allen) said he was going to evolve to, what was going to make them best, and that’s what he’s done here and what he will do here. He’s a hell of a coach, he is. I mean you don’t do what you did a year ago without being able to coach, so I got a lot of respect for Dabs.”

The admiration flows in both directions.

“I got a lot of respect for Dan,” Daboll said. “Dan was the tight end coach for me when I was a coordinator. He’s got great energy. He is who he is. He’s smart. He does a good job of motivating the guys. I’m speaking back when I was a coordinator with him, not knowing him in his role. But he’s got a lot of great intangibles. I got a lot of respect for him.”

*Campbell also appreciates Daboll’s ability to both lose and gain weight, seemingly at will. Daboll is much thinner this summer than he was in the first two Giants seasons.

“I told him he’s a chameleon,” Campbell said. “This guy’s unbelievable. I mean when I was working with him, he was – when he first got the job, he looked about like he does now, and then within about two months, it was (pffft approximates the sound Campbell made) and then, he’s like, ‘You know what, I’m going to cut it back.’ And then all of a sudden, it’s like three months later (pffft), he’s back down to – I mean he – it’s unbelievable. If he decides he’s going to do this, he’s going to do this. If he decides, ‘I’m going to let it go, I’m going to let it go,’ and I love that about him. I mean, he’s rare that way. “

*Campbell was the Giants’ third-round draft choice in 1999. A tight end, he played four seasons for the team before spending three seasons in Dallas and three in Detroit.

“It’s always good to come back,” Campbell said. “I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I was drafted a Giant and I was here for four years. Some of my best friendships I had and still have are with those people that I played with here, my wife and I both. And then the Mara family will always be special to me. (Former Giants president) Mr. (Wellington) Mara, God rest his soul, was the best, and (Giants president and chief executive officer) John Mara I have a ton of respect for. There’s a ton of people that are still here in the organization that I was with and so they’ll always be near and dear to my heart and this place, it’s always going to give you that sense of what it was when you were here. So, yeah, it’s special to be back and I appreciate being back and I appreciate the people in this organization very much because they gave me a go and I probably wouldn’t be here had it not been for them.”

*Several prominent former Giants attended the practice today, including two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Tom Coughlin, Hall of Famer Michael Strahan, Phil Simms, Victor Cruz, Ahmad Bradshaw, Chris Canty and Kevin Boothe, plus alumni who are frequent attendees – Carl Banks, Shaun O’Hara, Carl Banks and Jonathan Casillas.

*Center John Michael Schmitz (shoulder), tight ends Lawrence Cager (hamstring) and Jack Stoll (concussion), linebacker Tomon Fox (hamstring), and running back Jashaun Corbin (hamstring) did not practice.