April is here, and so is New York Giants football.
Because they have a new head coach, the Giants were able to open their voluntary offseason workout program on Monday, two weeks before clubs with returning coaches can do the same. The next nine weeks are intended to provide training, teaching, and physical conditioning for players as a new era begins.
As things got underway, coach Brian Daboll met with the media to talk about the start of spring football. Here is everything you need to know:
🔹 Daboll said Monday was a "good start" as he took time to visit each position room in addition to the first full team meeting of 2022. He said he talked about "expectations and standards and get to know them a little bit."
🔹 And what are those expectations and standards? "To try to win each day. Look, we're not playing for five months. Improve from one day to the next, talked about some of the attire and the dress that I expect them to wear in the meeting rooms, team first attitude, be a pro, which there's a lot that goes into that in terms of accountability, dependability, resiliency, didn't get too far ahead of things. I'd say it was a 20-minute meeting to start out, and I'd say 10 minutes of those 20 minutes I let other people speak – trainers, strength coaches. It was a good introductory meeting."
🔹 Daboll said they've had "good attendance" and there was a "packed house." He said he told the players how much he appreciates that, "knowing it's all voluntary."
🔹 In the background of all the action with players returning is the upcoming draft, which is just three weeks away. Daboll said the coaches will meet with the scouting department toward the end of the week to discuss "evaluations and the rankings of the players the way we see it and sit down with the scouting department and (general manager) Joe (Schoen) and their staff and talk about it. At the end of the day, you set the board and we've always said let's draft the best available player. Let's not reach for a position just because it's a position of need to build our roster. When those two match, a position of need and the best available player, that's what we're looking for."
🔹 Asked about wide receiver Kadarius Toney, who had a stop-and-go rookie seas due to injuries and COVID-19, Daboll said everyone gets a "clean slate" with the new regime. "There's a lot of information right now to consume for these players once we get through the introductions and the standards and the things like that, in terms of playbook wise. So, each person's going to be responsible to make sure that they're on top of the information, the coaches are here to help them and then we'll have a good spring there in terms of the weights. Then when we can get out on the field, keep it going from there."
🔹 Daboll said they've had "plenty of meetings" on how to avoid an injury-plagued season like 2021. They reviewed the last few years and looked at how to schedule practice, how to ramp guys up, hydration, teaching, and any other area that factors into injuries. "You're never guaranteed, but we're certainly going to try our best to make sure that our players are as healthy as they can be for us on Sundays."
🔹 Daboll, the former Bills offensive coordinator who helped develop Josh Allen, was asked what he needs to see from quarterback Daniel Jones this spring. "I've answered this really the same way the last four years with Josh: It's an all-encompassing job. It starts with you just being able to communicate effectively in the huddle or run the no-huddle operation well. Really get to know your players and the body languages of each player, receiver, or the things that we're asking him to do. Have some input on what he likes and doesn't like, and then ultimately evaluate his decision making and try to put him in as many different situations as we can to teach him off of the situations that we can learn from and hopefully he can retain that as we're playing. Look, it might not come up until Week 3 of the season, but you're trying to hit all those things for the quarterback to make sure that he's on point in that regard."