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Report: 40-plus Giants show up for voluntary workouts

Dan Benton
·2 min read
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A month ago, New York Giants players released a statement through the NFLPA stating that they would, in unison, skip all voluntary portions of the offseason workout program.

“Our team is a strong, unified brotherhood of professionals who love the game of football and work year-round to perfect our craft. We also have to make the best decisions to protect our health and safety, which is why players on our team are exercising our CBA right to not attend in-person voluntary workouts,” Giants players said in an April statement released by the NFLPA.

“We stand in solidarity with players across our league who are making informed decisions with the help of our union, both in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and what the data shows about the benefits to our overall health and safety.”

That decision led to uncertainty about the participation level for rookie minicamp and basically anything beyond that with the exception of mandatory minicamp in June.

The good news? All 22 eligible and invited players attended rookie minicamp and more than 40 have now reported for Phase 2 of the offseason workout program.

Head coach Joe Judge had prepared for the worst, stating the team would be ready to work with those who attended in person and would also be ready to work with those who chose to attend virtually.

“We’ve already scheduled and released the OTA dates. Obviously it’s a voluntary period so we are going to work with every player we can whether it’s virtual or in-person. So obviously whoever is here we’ll coach in person, whoever is virtual for the meetings we’ll work with them virtually. Some guys will be doing both,” Judge told reporters over the weekend.

Art Stapleton of the USA TODAY Network reports than 17 of the 40-plus who reported on Monday are rookie minicamp carryovers, which is actually still a positive development.

The second phase of the offseason program will run through Friday, May 21. Per CBA rules, the Giants can conduct on-field non-contact drills with coaches.

On Monday, May 24th, OTAs will begin. That’s also when bonuses become guaranteed. Here is that schedule:

The full OTA schedule is as follows:

  • May 24-25

  • May 27

  • June 1

  • June 2-4

  • June 14-15

The only mandatory portion of the program that remains this offseason comes in June during the full-team minicamp. That is currently scheduled to run from June 8 through June 10.