The Giants were back on the field Thursday for Day 2 of training camp.

It was another action-packed day as most of the offense's work was in the red zone, which led to some big plays by both sides of the ball.

Coach Brian Daboll spoke to reporters in the morning, before safety Tyler Nubin, wide receiver Darius Slayton, and outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux met with the media after practice.

Here is what we learned Thursday.

Nubin has 'tremendous leadership skills'

The Giants' 2024 draft class has garnered plenty of praise. The group put up a strong overall performance throughout last season, with Malik Nabers' record-setting season leading the way. But Nabers' success seemed to overshadow the play of some of the other draft picks, including safety Tyler Nubin, who turned out to be one of the most reliable players on the defense last season.

Through the first 12 games of the year, Nubin missed only two total defensive snaps before an injury in Week 14 cut his season short. But the young safety wasn't just out there for nearly every play prior to the injury; he was also playing well. Nubin's 98 total tackles through 13 games not only led the team, but it was also the most of any rookie across the NFL. Now heading into Year 2, it's clear that the 24-year-old has been working on his skills off the field on top of his work improving on it.

"Nubin is a pro," Daboll said. "I think he's a very young player. He's got tremendous leadership skills. He's very, very smart. He's vocal, not just on the field but in the team meeting… The safeties are kind of the quarterbacks of the defense, particularly in the back end to make sure everything is aligned and good to go. Nubin is not just a good player, he's is a good person, he's a good leader. He's got a lot of good traits. I'm a big Nubin fan."

While he was encouraged by his performance as a rookie, one area Nubin wants to improve in is takeaways. The safety recorded a whopping 13 interceptions over his five seasons at Minnesota, which set a new school record, to go with three forced fumbles. In his first NFL season, he was held without an interception while adding one forced fumble. With the additions the Giants made all over the defense, Nubin could be in a much better position to force takeaways this season, something he's very much has his eye on.

"I got a lot of goals for myself this year, but I'm going to keep those to myself," Nubin said after practice. "I'm going to let my play speak for it and let everybody else decide what it is at the end of the day. I always want to be an impact player. That's what I pride myself on, is being somebody that when it's crunch time I'm going to show up."

Slayton 'blessed' to be going into Year 7 with Giants

Defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence was chosen by the Giants with the 17^th overall selection in the 2019 draft. Four rounds later, the Giants added wide receiver Darius Slayton with the 171^st pick. Fast-forward six years, Lawrence and Slayton are the only two players remaining from the 2019 team.

"It is kind of crazy," Slayton told the media about the transformation of the roster over the last few years. "Sometimes I forget about it until somebody brings it up like you just did. Obviously, I've been blessed, Dex has been blessed, to be Giants our entire career. This is a great organization to play for and hopefully we'll be able to continue to perform in a way that'll keep us here."

It hasn't been the smoothest road for the veteran wideout during his time in the NFL. But despite some of the ups and downs, Slayton has been able to establish himself as a consistent factor in the passing game. Four of his six seasons with the Giants have resulted in 700 or more receiving yards, while his 3,897 career receiving yards ranking 18^th all-time in franchise history. His ability to constantly produce over the years, regardless of some of the overall limitations of the passing game, played a big role in him signing a new multi-year deal with the team in the offseason.

"For Dex, I mean he just kind of was born that way. Bigger, stronger, faster," the wide receiver said when asked how he and Lawrence stuck around all of these years. "I was born faster, not quite bigger and stronger, but just consistency. I think, regardless of the coaches we've had here, regardless of the systems we've had here, I've been pretty consistent my whole career. I've been able to play good football regardless of who's been here and that's kind what I pride myself on and what I'll continue to pride myself on."

Nubin-Holland duo 'could do a lot'

The Giants made several splashes in the first few days of free agency, including a couple of big moves in the secondary. It started with the signing of cornerback Paulson Adebo, which was then quickly followed by bringing safety Jevón Holland into the fold. Between the additions of Nubin and Holland over the last two offseasons, the Giants completely revamped their starting safeties. While the pair have yet to take the field together in a game setting, Nubin is excited about what the two could do together.

"We definitely got a lot of similar skill sets," Nubin said when asked about Holland. "Things that he does are things that I like to emulate as well in the run game, being able to play deep in the half, being able to play in the post. He's a very versatile player and he's a guy that I looked at a lot when I was in college coming into the league, so definitely a lot of respect for him there in that aspect. Definitely, we could do a lot…

"Like I said, I was studying him a lot in college because I admire his game. I think we have a lot of similar traits. We're both bigger guys. We can both come up and tackle. We can both cover, we can both play in the half, do a lot of versatile things so it's awesome to be able to get a chance to play with him and learn with him."

"I think it's good to add Holland next to him, who's another vocal guy who's done it for a while," Daboll added about the team's starting safeties. "The combination of those two guys since OTAs has been very encouraging for me and I know for the defensive staff, in terms of the communication, the adjustments you need to make when you get into a different formation."

As for Adebo, the veteran corner has already helped make an impact on a young Giants secondary.

"He's real smart, bro," Nubin said about the veteran corner. "He's a super smart football player. He is real technical, he's a pro. I think he's just another example for guys to look at it, somebody that's really doing it the right way. Everybody can follow in his lead and follow in his footsteps."

Wrestling helping Kayvon heading into Year 4

After picking up 11.5 sacks during the 2023 campaign, outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux saw his sack total drop to 5.5 last season. Injuries played a part in that, as he suited up in only 12 games compared to the 17 contests he played in the prior season. But that was not the only reason, as he also sometimes struggled to consistently take down the quarterback after getting to him, which was one of the things Thibodeaux focused on the most this offseason.

"Definitely one of my goals is to finish, like I said before, I had 5.5 sacks last season," Thibodeaux said. "I had five half-sacks, which equates to 2.5 and probably would've been – you guys can do the math – maybe 7.0 or 8.0 if I were to finish those. (I'm) just making sure that I get everything I deserve this year."

The pads have not yet come on at practice, so the battles up front don't quite have the same punch as they will come next week. But even when that time comes, the defense obviously won't be able to hit the quarterbacks like they do in games. In preparation of training camp, the fourth-year outside linebacker turned to an interesting method to practice his finishing.

"Well, we don't get to practice tackling, pre-season, so until you actually – especially on the quarterbacks, until you actually get in the game that's the only time we actually get to replicate sacking a quarterback," the outside linebacker told reporters. "Just doing – as you mentioned before, I've been wrestling a little bit, taking some guys to the ground. I've been on bags and stuff, working on my tackling earlier in the season."

Thibodeaux added: "Wrestling is another form of tackling, I just wanted to make sure that I can use some techniques from wrestling into football."