{"id":35415,"date":"2022-06-03T19:25:32","date_gmt":"2022-06-03T19:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/a-couple-giants-rookies-other-than-kayvon-thibodeaux-evan-neal-have-already-emerged-as-possible-day-1-starters\/"},"modified":"2022-06-03T19:25:32","modified_gmt":"2022-06-03T19:25:32","slug":"a-couple-giants-rookies-other-than-kayvon-thibodeaux-evan-neal-have-already-emerged-as-possible-day-1-starters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/a-couple-giants-rookies-other-than-kayvon-thibodeaux-evan-neal-have-already-emerged-as-possible-day-1-starters\/","title":{"rendered":"A couple Giants rookies (other than Kayvon Thibodeaux, Evan Neal) have already emerged as possible Day 1 starters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Joe Schoen knew going into the NFL Draft that he needed to find some players that could start as rookies – especially after a quiet free agency limited by the Giants’ cap constraints.<\/p>\n

Coming out of the draft, it wouldn’t have been controversial to declare that the Giants general manager found two Day 1 starters in his two first-round picks: outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux and offensive tackle Evan Neal. Both were running with the starters on their first day of OTAs.<\/p>\n

BUY GIANTS TICKETS: <\/b>STUBHUB<\/b>, <\/b>VIVID SEATS<\/b>, <\/b>TICKETSMARTER<\/b>, <\/b>TICKETMASTER<\/b><\/p>\n

But a couple of other rookies have emerged during OTAs as potential starters – even as early as Week 1 for one of them. And both were drafted in the fourth round:<\/p>\n

Tight end Daniel Bellinger and safety Dane Belton.<\/p>\n

Of the two, Bellinger is more likely to open the season as a starter, and if the season started this week, he might already be taking the field with Daniel Jones and company too. Cornerback Cor’Dale Flott was also running with the first-team defense at nickel, though he’s expected to compete with Darnay Holmes for that job – and Holmes wasn’t at Thursday’s practice.<\/p>\n

Thursday, Bellinger got the majority of the reps with the first-team offense ahead of veterans Ricky Seals-Jones and Jordan Akins, and he’s been a favorite target of Jones’ throughout OTAs. Where some rookies have been getting first-team reps in part because of injuries to others – including Belton – both Seals-Jones and Akins are healthy and practicing. Bellinger caught a touchdown pass from Jones during 11-on-11 drills on Thursday, while Akins dropped a catchable pass down the field from backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear how much head coach Brian Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka plan to feature the tight end in this offense, but Bellinger has an opportunity to step in as the starter as soon as Week 1. At San Diego State, Bellinger wasn’t much of a down-the-field threat – only four of his 31 receptions in 2021 came 10-plus yards down the field, per Pro Football Focus – but he’s a more well-rounded tight end than Evan Engram was before him. Especially since Bellinger is considered a solid blocker already.<\/p>\n

He’s also more sure-handed: Bellinger didn’t drop a ball in 2021 and only had a 4.2% drop rate for his career, per PFF.<\/p>\n

“I think he has good size. He had good speed. He had good hands, \u201dDaboll said in May. \u201cHe Did some good things at the line of scrimmage. Thought he had some tools to work with. Obviously liked him when we selected him there. Done a good job here for the short time I’ve been around him. Good young man. “<\/p>\n

Belton’s first-team reps on Thursday were a bit more of a surprise – though understandable considering his versatility and the absence of some defensive backs. Cornerbacks Aaron Robinson and Holmes, plus safety Jarren Williams didn’t participate.<\/p>\n

But projected safety starters Xavier McKinney and Julian Love did – and Belton was out there anyway. Belton lined up as a third safety for much of the afternoon, and even was out there when Love or McKinney would sub out too. McKinney is locked in as a starter, but Love has mostly been a backup in his career anyway and this coaching staff didn’t draft him – they picked Belton.<\/p>\n

At Iowa, Belton played the \u201ccash\u201d position on defense, lining up at a hybrid strong safety and outside linebacker. Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale values \u200b\u200bversatility, so expect him to find creative ways to use Belton, even if not as a starter right away. In rookie minicamp, Belton was primarily playing a traditional safety role, but on Thursday he was being moved around the formation a bit more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m just working on learning both safeties and being able to be versatile, that’s the biggest thing for me,\u201d Belton said at rookie minicamp in May. \u201cBeing able to play multiple positions in college, translates to blitzing off the edge, covering deep and match routes underneath. Just shows the versatile aspect to myself. “<\/p>\n

Often, teams won’t throw rookies right into the fire – even first-round picks – as starters during practices at this time of the year. But clearly Daboll, Kafka and Martindale aren’t operating that way.<\/p>\n

“The more you can do, the better off it is,” Daboll said on Thursday, “because you’re out there actually doing it.”<\/p>\n

Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust.<\/i><\/p>\n

Zack Rosenblatt may be reached at <\/i>zrosenblatt@njadvancemedia.com<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Schoen knew going into the NFL Draft that he needed to find some players that could start as rookies – especially after a quiet free agency limited by the Giants’ cap constraints. Coming out of the draft, it wouldn’t have been controversial to declare that the Giants general manager found two Day 1 starters …<\/p>\n

A couple Giants rookies (other than Kayvon Thibodeaux, Evan Neal) have already emerged as possible Day 1 starters<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/resizer\/d7OYY5K09yDyjpdfbyo0kHAUwsg=\/1280x0\/smart\/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com\/advancelocal\/MBWRYUDGRVCALIUKBRFISDDJLM.JPG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35415"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}