EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Giants concluded their rookie minicamp by signing a pair of free agent…veterans.
Running back Corey Clement, who spent the previous four seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, and wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, who most recently played in the NFL in 2018, each attended the camp on a tryout basis.
Clement's most memorable NFL moment occurred in Philadelphia's 41-33 victory against New England in Super Bowl LII. He caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Nick Foles with 7:18 remaining in the third quarter to give the Eagles a 29-19 lead. Clement caught four passes for a career-high 100 yards and rushed for eight yards on three carries. The 100 receiving yards is the fourth-highest total by a rookie in Super Bowl history. In addition, Clement fielded the snap on the famous "Philly Special," which ended with tight end Trey Burton throwing a touchdown pass to Foles.
Clement, 5-10 and 220 pounds, played in 46 regular-season games and three postseason games for the Eagles. His totals include 163 carries for 655 yards (4.0-yard avg.) and seven touchdowns and 37 receptions for 340 yards and two scores. In the playoffs, he rushed for 33 yards on six attempts and caught 10 passes for 139 yards.
His rookie season in 2017 was his most productive. He played in all 19 of Philadelphia's games and had career-high regular-season totals of 74 carries, 321 yards and four touchdowns. He also had both of his touchdown receptions while finishing with 10 catches for 123 yards.
In 2018, Clement played in 11 games and had career-best totals of 22 receptions for 192 yards and ran for 259 yards and two scores on 68 attempts.
Last season, Clement finished with 21 carries for 75 yards and one touchdown and caught five passes for 25 yards in 15 games.
Clement, 26, joined the Eagles as a rookie free agent after rushing for 3,092 yards and 36 touchdowns on 576 attempts at the University of Wisconsin. He also had 29 receptions for 279 yards and two scores. As a senior in 2016, Clement was named first-team All-Big Ten after posting career highs of 314 carries for 1,375 yards and 15 touchdowns in 13 games.
Clement is a native of Glassboro in South Jersey. He was a first-team all-state running back at Glassboro High School, where he ran for a state record 479 yards vs. Gloucester City. As a senior, Clement rushed for 2,323 yards and 33 touchdowns and had 8.0 sacks.
View photos from the career of new Giants running back Corey Clement.
Benjamin, 6-5 and 245 pounds, took reps at both tight end and wide receiver in the rookie camp.
"All of the guys were brought in on a trial basis," coach Joe Judge said when the camp opened Friday. "They were the guys available for us to work check within our system a little bit and see if there's a potential to add them for a role for our team.
"In terms of Benjamin working different position today, we're going to work different guys at a variety of things right now. He's a big guy. He's always been a big receiver. He'll work receiver. He's working a little bit flex tight end as well. I wouldn't really pin him down to any one position at this point. We're going to use the weekend to move him around to different spots and see how it works out."
Benjamin entered the NFL as a 2014 first-round draft choice by the Carolina Panthers and general manager Dave Gettleman, who is entering his fourth season in the same position with the Giants.
In four seasons with the Panthers, Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs, Benjamin played in 61 regular-season games with 52 starts. He caught 209 passes for 3,021 yards (14.5-yard avg.) and 20 touchdowns. Benjamin also played in three postseason games with two starts and had 12 receptions for 112 yards and two scores.
Like Clement, Benjamin posted his best numbers as a rookie. That season, he played in all 16 games with 15 starts and had career-high totals of 73 catches for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns. Benjamin added 11 receptions and scored two touchdowns in a pair of playoff games.
On Oct. 31, 2017, Benjamin was traded to Buffalo for third and seventh-round draft choices. He caught 39 passes in 18 games for the Bills before being released on Dec. 4, 2018. The Chiefs signed him three days later. Benjamin played in three games for Kansas City and had two receptions.
The Giants also waived running back Jordan Chunn and tight end Nate Wieting.
View photos of the career of new Giants wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin.
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