The New York Giants held their fourth of 10 OTA practices on Tuesday at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center. Here are the standouts from OTA No. 4:
TE EVAN ENGRAM: The second-year tight end started the day with a highlight catch down the sideline on a perfect pass from Eli Manning (think Manning to Mario Manningham in Super Bowl XLVI). He followed up with a handful of other catches throughout the morning, including two in the "blitz" period as a safety valve for Manning. Engram, who last year was the first rookie tight end in franchise history to lead the team in receptions, is looking for an even better sophomore campaign.
"I think about it every day, especially when I get up here and go to work with the team," Engram said after practice. "Just kind of improve on some things and take my game to the next level. So, I'm really excited. I'm really excited about becoming a better player that's going to help this team win a lot more games."
QB ELI MANNING: Once again, the quarterback entering his 15th NFL season looked in command of Pat Shurmur's new offense. He spread the ball around to Engram, wide receiver Sterling Shepard and tight end Rhett Ellison, who had a great catch in the middle of practice. Manning was as sharp as ever on a hot day coming off a holiday weekend.
"He looks great," Shurmur said. "He's doing great. I mentioned already, he is a joy to coach. A quarterback that is engaged at the level that he is is a lot of fun. Things are constantly changing. Plays change on the move, adjustments are being made. Within a practice, you might see something that you didn't think you would see. He is able to make an adjustment. He has been a lot of fun."
Photos from the Giants fourth OTA practice!
QB DAVIS WEBB: The second-year quarterback is looking to prove that he can be a capable backup to Manning, and he showed it on Tuesday. He showed great touch throughout most of the practice, hooking up with wide receivers Roger Lewis, Marquis Bundy and Kalif Raymond for some highlight plays. Webb is part of a four-man quarterbacks room, which includes rookie fourth-round draft choice Kyle Lauletta from Richmond.
WR KALIF RAYMOND: Raymond, who played in six of the Giants' final seven games last year primarily as a return specialist, made the play of the day as a receiver. He stretched out to make an impressive catch on a pass from Webb midway through practice, and no one topped it in the second half. Raymond, who went undrafted out of Holy Cross, had previously spent time with the Jets and Broncos before joining the Giants midway through last season.
CB ELI APPLE: There were no interceptions thrown in the fourth OTA, but Apple made the defensive play of the day on a nice pass deflection during the blitz period. Apple and the Giants are coming off a season they would like to forget, but the former 10th overall draft choice is turning over a new leaf with the new regime.
"I think that it speaks to maturity and it speaks to owning successes and failures," Shurmur said. "We have to be willing to, OK, if a mistake happened, in order to move forward from a mistake or something that went wrong, we have to admit that it happened and that we were involved in it. What you do is you find a solution, you make the correction and you move on past. That is really what we do play to play. As professionals in this business, we do this probably game to game and season to season. I think whatever happened a year ago and whatever he is talking about, I am sure that is just a mature guy that is reflecting."
Remaining OTAs: May 30-31, June 4-7. Mandatory Minicamp is June 12-14.