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Sidelines Notes

Practice Report: Rookie Minicamp Day 1

It's important not to judge much of anything during rookie minicamp, especially on the first day.

All the rookies, from the top draft pick to the last tryout player, are drowning in information from the playbook, which inevitably will impact how they look in team portions of practice.

Here are my impressions of the rookie class from day one with some practice notes.

  • Physically, quarterback Daniel Jones has everything you want in the position, from his height, to his athleticism and frame. He throws a tight spiral with good spin and was able to throw accurately moving left and right. He threw two perfect deep passes to Darius Slayton during one-on-ones, including the first rep of the period. He was able to use touch and velocity, depending on what was needed on the play.
  • Dexter Lawrence is a humongous human being at 340 pounds, but yet he somehow looks lean. This isn't some fat guy running around stopping the run. He is an athlete who happens to have a gigantic frame and a ton of strength. He looks like Linval Joseph did after a couple of years in the Giants' strength program and probably has the largest frame of any defensive player I have seen here since Shaun Rodgers back in 2013. His get-off at the line of scrimmage stands out.
  • Oshane Ximines looks the part of an edge rusher and is built similarly to Olivier Vernon. He reminded the media today about how he played very light (in the low 240's) at the Senior Bowl due to a diet change and a stomach virus just before getting to Mobile. He is back at 253 now, which should allow him to display some more punch and power in his pass rush arsenal. His violent hands are evident on the practice field, and I saw him in the backfield a couple of times late in practice.
  • DeAndre Baker was exactly as advertised today. Only one pass was completed against him during team, 7 on 7, and one on one periods. The one completion came on a play that he read correctly, and tried to undercut on an out route to the sideline, but Jones placed the ball just high enough to the receiver for a completion. If the pass was lower, it would have been an interception.
  • Julian Love just looks like a slot cornerback. He is under six feet tall and a little stout, which will serve him well in run support and on blitzes, and he has the necessary quickness to cover in and out of breaks. I didn't see any passes completed to his man throughout practice.
  • After those two aforementioned deep grabs during 1 on 1's, Slayton started fighting the ball a little during the first team session and in 7 on 7. After special teams, he closed practice with three consecutive catches during team period, including a nice leaping grab on a pass from Jones.
  • There were a couple of other great catches by wide receivers during practice, including a diving grab from Alex Wesley during 1 on 1's. After beating the cornerback down the field, he had to lay out with full extension to catch a pass from Idaho tryout quarterback Matthew Linehan. The other diving catch came from tryout player wide Montay Crocket.

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