The New York Giants were back at it on Thursday for training camp. Here are the standout players from practice:
RB Paul Perkins: Today was a much-needed day for Perkins, who missed all of last season because of injury. The former fifth-round draft choice made what was arguably the best play of camp so far – and he did it with his hands. Covered tightly by linebacker Jonathan Anderson, Perkins worked his way up the left sideline and Daniel Jones dropped it in perfectly from near midfield for a touchdown.
"I thought in the spring that Paul had a little bit of rust to him, because he's been away from the game for a little bit," running backs coach Craig Johnson said earlier this week. "The Perkins I see right now is the Paul Perkins I know. He's playing well."
QB Daniel Jones: The Perkins play wasn't the rookie QB's only touchdown of the afternoon. He threw two during seven-on-seven drills in the red zone, one to wide receiver Russell Shepard and another to tight end Scott Simonson, who made a nice diving catch near the front pylon on the left sideline.
"You want the players to be aggressive in everything that they do, but they also need to be smart," coach Pat Shurmur said. "That's a fine line sometimes for a quarterback. But this is where you see what you can get away with a little bit and how your receivers function down the field. It's practice. You try things and you do things. There are tight window throws. I've said it before. In fact, we were joking about it with the quarterbacks. Defenses push back in the NFL, and they do things to try to take things away. You've got to continually try to stay aggressive, but also be smart and take care of the ball."
S Kenny Ladler: It was Ladler's day. After having already broken up two passes, he followed through with an interception in the end zone during red zone drills. That's two good practices in a row for Ladler who, like many defensive backs yesterday, got a hand on a pass. Ladler has been in the league since 2014 and joined the Giants' practice squad last November after playing for the Bills and Redskins.
Other noteworthy plays: WR Sterling Shepard made another one-handed catch – the one with his good thumb…QB Eli Manning zipped a touchdown pass to TE Evan Engram from the red zone. Manning also hit WR Bennie Fowler for a score in seven-on-seven drills…TE C.J. Conrad made a few highlight grabs, including a touchdown from Alex Tanney in the back-left corner of the end zone.
