Giants Mailbag: Will Malik Nabers Be Ready for Camp, Media Minicamp Viewing Rules and More

Welcome to the weekly New York Giants On SI Reader Mailbag! From offseason moves to game-day strategies, nothing is off-limits. So, let's dive right into your questions!

I don't like the idea, Kris.  While I agree it's good for the player, how is it good for the team to let another team negotiate for them? It’s not because it gives a team with a ton of salary cap space an advantage.

If they were going to do anything, I’d say get rid of all the tags and grant players full free agency.

Can he? Sure. Will he? That depends.

If the coaches plan to keep him at tackle, then no. If they plan to give him more work at guard, I could see him competing with Evan Neal at left guard for Jon Ruyan's spot. I've also heard that Mbow could get some work at center.

Overall, though, I'd say the chances of Mbow cracking the starting lineup this year aren't very favorable, but let's see how the OTAs and mandatory minicamp unfold as far as where he practices. Then we'll use training camp practices to see how everyone does with the pads on.

When making a list of 'best player available' in the draft, how do they stack the different positions?  Also, where do you think Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs were on the Giants board? -- Pat L.

Pat, all items are taken into consideration. Think of it like an SAT Score when you get one score that’s broken down into math and reading/vocabulary.

Where it varies is in the intangibles. Maybe one team has a stronger medical concern about a player or another, or didn't have as good an interview, or there is a medical concern. Everyone then gets a grade, and the highest grades are placed at the top of the board. It's that simple.  

As for where Styles and Downs were on their board, let's use deductive reasoning here. Obviously, they weren't at the top when the Giants went on the clock at No. 5, and obviously Downs wasn't the guy on the board at No. 10.

The bottom line is that the Giants got who they wanted and seem happy with the picks. Isn't that what's most important?

Are team captains voted on by players, are any picked by the coaching staff? Do you think JH will have a veteran council that will report to him? Think coach Coughlin had something similar. -- Dick V.

Season-long team captains are voted on by their peers. However, if a team decides to have a rotating captain in addition to season-long captains, the coaching staff can make that call in the week leading up to the game.  

In rare cases, coaches have named captains, but things usually go much better when the players can vote for their own captain.

I do not know whether Harbaugh plans to have a leadership council, but I'm sure the topic will come up as we get closer to the season. Remember, he's still getting to know a lot of these guys.

Hi Pat. You've alluded to this before in your podcasts, but how concerned are you that Malik Nabers won't be ready for the start of training camp? -- William V.

William, on a scale of 1-10, I'm probably at an 11. Every time Nabers spoke about his recovery, he made sure to mention that he had a lot going on with his injury and that, while surgery fixed it, it would take time for him to fully heal and regain confidence in that knee.

I've also noted countless times how every time Joe Schoen was asked about Nabers, there's always that "hedging"  in his responses, which has me thinking that while they are hoping against hope the receiver is ready for camp, I would not be shocked if Nabers lands on PUP to start the summer.

I've said on the Locked On Giants podcast that I could see a scenario where he spends all of the summer on PUP until, like, the last week, when they activate him so they can count him on the 53-man roster.  

And I've said that if that happens, I wouldn't be shocked if Nabers doesn't play for the first week or two of the season, similar to how things went with Andrew Thomas last year, Thomas of course having a different injury.

Now, do I think Nabers will start the season on the PUP list? I'm not there yet, to be honest. But I do have a strong hunch about what I just told you, though I hope, for everyone's sake, that I'm wrong and he gets the green light when they open training camp.

Hey Pat, with rookie minicamp, how come the media is only getting one day to view it? Didn't the media always get the full camp? -- Arnie H.

Arnie, yes, in the past we'd get the first two days (rookie minicamp was usually Friday through Sunday morning, so we'd get Friday and Saturday). As to why that has changed, look no further than the change in head coach.

And to be frank, a lot of teams limit access, with some even restricting media access on the days they allow media in the building, as I understand it.

As I write this, I have no idea if we'll be able to see the entire practice or just part of it.  Rookie camps have changed, with less emphasis on team drills and much more on instruction. So we'll see what the media gets when we show up later today.

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