It was a beautiful day at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center as the Giants took the field for their third practice of training camp.

While Thursday's team drills took place primarily in the red zone, the line of scrimmage was mostly set around midfield during Friday's practice. The longer field led to some explosive plays by both sides of the ball.

Coach Brian Daboll addressed the media prior to practice, while guard Jon Runyan Jr. and wide receiver Malik Nabers spoke to reporters after.

The Giants will be off on Saturday before returning to the field Sunday, which will be the team's first practice wearing shells.

Here are five things we learned today.

1. Dex capable 'of being the best of all time'

It's only the third day of training camp, but guard Jon Runyan Jr. told reporters that he can already see what the identity of the 2024 Giants is going to be. According to the free agent acquisition, the team's success is going to be because of the performance of both the offensive and defensive lines.

"I feel like that's going to be the heartbeat of this team, how well we control the line of scrimmage," Runyan told reporters.

Leading the way on the defensive line is the back-to-back second-team All-Pro selection, Dexter Lawrence. Still only 26 years old, Lawrence has developed into one of the league's most talented interior defensive linemen over the past few seasons. Dating back to the start of the 2022 season, Lawrence has racked up 81 quarterback pressures when lining up either right over the center or shaded to either side of the center. No other player has more than 16 during that span. While it may make life for him a little tougher during training camp, Runyan said going up against the skilled D-lineman in practice will only help him improve once the regular season comes around.

"I thought going against Dexter twice in four years was enough and now I got to deal with it every day," said the right guard. "It's good. It's only going to make you better. You know, like they say, iron sharpens iron. If you're lacked on any technique, your hands miss, or you're too high, he's going to expose you immediately. So, every single play with him, you got to ring a hundred percent and you got to be locked in and focused. It's only going to make me and everybody else better being able to go against somebody like that.

"One of the best D-tackles in the NFL. I think he has capability, one of being the best of all-time. He moves so well for being whatever weight he's at and how big he is. It's just really awesome being able to work together with him and make each other better..."

As for the offensive line, one of the keys to the unit's success this year could be the development of center John Michael Schmitz. The second-year center has garnered praise from many of his fellow linemen since arriving in East Rutherford last year, including the veteran guard that has been lining up next to him since the spring.

"I praise J.M.S a lot," said the veteran lineman. "I say it all the time, you wouldn't believe that he's a second-year player. So smart. He's on top of all this stuff. He gets everybody up front on the same page, immediately. There's no hesitation in any of the ways that he identifies the defense. As soon as you put your hand down, you know what you're doing. He gets everybody set. He's just so strong on the inside and being able to battle against Dexter every day, is just going to make him so much better. I know it's going to be a little rough here and there in practice, but it's going to make such a difference for him in the game and really excited for what he's got going and how much he helps make this offense go."

2. Nabers: Daboll already putting trust in me

The play of the day Friday came when Daniel Jones launched a deep pass 40-50 yards down the sideline to wide receiver Malik Nabers. The 20-year-old wideout made a nice play on the ball to secure possession and get his feet down before momentum carried him out of bounds. When talking to reporters after practice, Nabers shed some light on the play-call, telling the media that the head coach asked him directly which play he wanted to run.

"Dabs asked me what play I wanted to call, and I said, well, let's throw a go ball. And Daniel came up to me, like, what do you want, you want to check out of the press? I said, nah. I said, off press, just throw it up. He was like I got you. The chemistry showed..." Nabers said. "It shows how much trust [Daboll] has to give me the ball in open space or just let me run any route I want. So, to have that, as a head coach that's got trust in you when you come into the third day of training camp, they try to understand how good of a player I am. For him to just ask me what kind of play I want and for him to call it, it shows how much trust he has in me."

Anyone that has watched "Hard Knocks" knows just how much Daboll likes the rookie wide receiver. That was evident since the first time the head coach watched Nabers' LSU game tape. While the talent is clearly there, Daboll has also been impressed with the young receiver's work ethic ever since the Giants selected him with the sixth overall pick in late April.

"His mentality is the mentality you need to have," the head coach said before practice. "He's humble, but he works extremely hard. We've moved him in a lot of places. I'd say for a young receiver, a lot of times you put [them] at one spot. So, it's a credit to him and the amount of work that he puts in. He knows he's got a long way to go.

"It's just a couple practices, but obviously we thought he was a good player where we selected him. I told you I love the person. I love his competitive desire, his will, his grit, if you will. But he knows he's two days in. He's had an OTAs. He's not where he wants to be. No one is, not anyone on our roster, not any coach, but he's got the right mindset."

3. Runyan: O-line continuing to build chemistry

When a team undergoes changes along the offensive line like the Giants did this offseason, it adds even more importance to training camp. The summer sessions serve as the first time the linemen can actually work on the cohesion of the unit, especially since contact is not allowed during the entirety of the offseason program. Runyan highlighted this point when asked about his goals for training camp.

"There's nothing else to do besides work together, talk together, hang out and chemistry is really coming along," Runyan said about training camp. "It's a really light group, but also when it's time to work, it's time to work and put our head down and we get to it. It has been a great first week of practice and being here around the building, seeing everybody around and excited for what we got going ahead. We still got over a month left before the regular season starts, but enjoying this process right now in training camp, everybody working to get better."

A significant part of that chemistry comes in the communication between the linemen. While practices are obviously a crucial time to work on that, Runyan told the media that their meetings going over film turn out to be just as important.

"It's kind of twofold. It's the reps you get together and how many reps you can build together as an offensive line and how valuable that communication is when you're in the huddle and then on the line of scrimmage when the picture is changing, being able to communicate with that," Runyan told reporters. "It starts in the film room and being in there in the film room and paying attention, even though those are some long two-hour meetings, sometimes. Being on the same page. Understanding how DJ sees the defense, understanding how John Michael is going to identify it and then the guards and tackles being able to communicate with each other should get everybody on the same page. But it's a full team effort, all those five guys there. "

4. Hyatt has 'really improved' since last year

The Giants have truly revamped their wide receiver corps over the last two years, with one of those pieces being second-year pro Jalin Hyatt. The 22-year-old showed flashes of what he can do for the offense last season, including his performance against the Patriots that saw him catch five passes for 109 yards and led to him being voted the Rookie of the Week.

Now heading into Year 2 in the NFL, Hyatt has already made a couple of impressive plays in the first few days of training camp. He caught a 40+ yard pass for a touchdown from Daniel Jones in Thursday's practice, and followed that up by making a nice back-shoulder grab from Jones near the goal line on Friday. Daboll credited Hyatt's growth to the young wideout's hard work, along with the job wide receiver coach Mike Groh has done with him since Hyatt was drafted.

"Him and Mike Groh, I tell you, Mike has done a fantastic job here these last two years," Daboll said. "He meets all the time with Hyatt. And Hyatt has really improved since he's been here. It's a different system than he came from, which is for most people. But he has put a lot of time, effort, and energy into improving his craft. And it shows up. He might not get the ball in certain things, but his routes, his understanding, his play speed. You can be fast, but sometimes not play fast when there's a lot of things going on and he has really improved in that area. Had a really good OTAs. And I like the receiver room we have. Hyatt's been good."

5. Singletary 'a very good leader'

While the Giants have a relatively young roster overall, perhaps the most youthful position group on the team is at running back. Eric Gray, Jashaun Corbin, Jacob Saylors, Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Dante Miller have combined for 18 NFL rush attempts (with Gray accounting for 17 of them). The one veteran of the group is Devin Singletary.

Singletary spent the first three seasons of his NFL career playing for Brian Daboll in Buffalo, so the head coach knows the 26-year-old quite well. That familiarity between the two played a role in Singletary landing with the Giants, a move that Daboll believes will really benefit the team both on and off the field.

"He has very good discipline," said the head coach. "He has the right attitude. He's got tremendous will and got a lot of grit to him. He does what he's supposed to do when he's supposed to do it. There's the dependability factor. Good communicator. He's a very good leader in the running back room. He's been around some good ones ahead of him, around Frank Gore, who's one of the best to do it at running back. He's not over-the-top loud, but I'd say he's respected by the people in the locker room. He'll do a good job for us."

Daboll isn't the only one impressed by the veteran running back's work ethic. Runyan has only been a teammate of Singletary's for a few months now, and yet the offensive lineman has already set that the back's dedication to his craft is very easy to see.

"You see it every day with him," Runyan said. "He's a true professional. He does everything right. There hasn't been one play where there's just kind of any lapse in anything. He's 100 percent committed. He does everything right, all the techniques. He's full go until the echo of the whistle and he's really exciting to have back there. You know how slippery he is in space. He's just a technician. He's going to be in the right spot all the time and he's going to hit the right hole. He's going to be downhill. I think we're all really excited to have him in the offense. I'm excited to have him run behind me and make me and the other four guys look really good. That's always really important when a running back can do that."