The Giants face an uphill battle with a difficult schedule in 2025 coming off a 3-14 season, but there were some encouraging developments during their spring practices.
Here are five players that raised eyebrows and should have fans excited for late July:
ABDUL CARTER, HYBRID: The No. 3 overall pick’s usage all over the field, and his pass rush motor and ability, offered a tantalizing preview of what the Giants’ first-round pick out of Penn State might be able to bring to Shane Bowen’s defense in year one.
Players don’t wear pads in the spring, so it’s too early to say exactly how effective and consistent Carter can be right out of the gate against opposing NFL offensive lines — or even his own team’s during training camp this summer.
But he passes the eye test, and he especially seems like a problem for interior linemen when rushing as an off-ball linebacker or an interior D-lineman.
If the Giants offense can give the defense late-game leads, the pass rush of Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Carter has a chance to change games.
“Man, he’s a beast,” Thibodeaux, who seemed locked in all spring, said of Carter. “He’s been doing his thing. He’s fast, explosive, smart [and] excited.”
BEAUX COLLINS AND DALEN CAMBRE, WRs: With Malik Nabers shelved the entire spring, two undrafted rookie receivers earned first-team reps and impressed their teammates and coaching staff with strong springs: Collins, of Clemson and Notre Dame, and Cambre, of Louisiana.
Rookie first-round QB Jaxson Dart completed plenty of passes to both, including a downfield touchdown to Cambre on the first day of mandatory minicamp. And Dart agreed both Collins and Cambre have stood out.
“I’ve known Beaux since I was in high school, being West Coast kids and competing in different circuits,” Dart said on the Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard podcast. “I’ve followed his success from the time he was at Clemson to Notre Dame. Always thought he was a hell of a player. It’s been great to get him on this side of playing with each other in the league.
“He’s made tremendous strides,” Dart said. “I think the biggest thing is you’ve been able to see him find confidence in his play style. He’s earned reps and made the most of them, playing at a really high level. So I’m super proud of him.”
Collins being a capable receiver is not news, though. He made 132 catches for 1,780 yards and 14 TDs in four college seasons.
Cambre, on the other hand, made only 10 career catches for 123 yards at Louisiana. He made his mark on special teams instead as the Ragin’ Cajuns’ primary holder and a coverage ace on the kick and punt teams, earning first-team All-America honors as a special teamer from Pro Football Focus.
Now he’s getting an opportunity on the Giants’ offense and making the most of it.
“Dalen, not a lot of people knew about him,” Dart said. “He didn’t have a lot of catches in college. He kind of found a special role in college. But the personnel department — shout out to them — kind of found a diamond in the rough.
“I knew it from rookie camp,” the rookie QB said. “Introducing myself to everyone and going on the field, I knew he was special. He’s made tremendous plays. And he’s been an exciting talent for our team. A lot of guys rally around him. Like Beaux, he’s made the most of his reps.”
DANE BELTON AND ART GREEN, DBs: Bowen, the Giants’ defensive coordinator, took the rare step this spring of shouting out one player in particular for having a strong spring: safety Dane Belton.
“Dane has been really good for us here early,” Bowen said halfway through OTAs. “Like, he’s had a really good spring. Finding ways to get him on the field, what he can do for us to help us.”
Belton’s strength on defense is no secret: he knows how to create turnovers.
The Giants need way more takeaways, so much so that Bowen is telling his players to “be a pirate” and is keeping a “turnover chest” on the sideline to stash the treasure away when they do.
Belton, a reserve safety, and Green, a backup corner, took the ball away the most this spring on the Giants defense. Both were consistently around the ball and often capitalized on those opportunities.
It sets a good tone for what Brian Daboll and Bowen want the defense to look like during camp and the regular season. And it should, hopefully, earn Belton and Green chances this summer to earn more playing time than they’ve received.
JALIN HYATT, WR: Russell Wilson’s constant tire pumping of Jalin Hyatt is a bit tiresome, because it is so obviously an organizational talking point and emphasis to generate offseason hype about a player who wanted to be traded last fall.
That said, it doesn’t mean it can’t be at least partially true.
Hyatt looked noticeably stronger when he came back to spring practices, and more importantly, he was actually receiving opportunities to take meaningful reps with the first-team offense. And he was capitalizing, catching deep balls and/or touchdowns from Wilson and Dart.
Hyatt unfortunately appeared to tweak something on the first day of minicamp, because he didn’t do much this past week. So hopefully that issue doesn’t linger.
His deep speed and overall ability can help offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, though, especially if Wilson has the time and pass protection to air it out downfield this fall. So the Giants’ willingness to incorporate Hyatt offers some hope of positive change
“He’s got a great opportunity, in my opinion, this year to really set the tone in a great way,” Wilson said of Hyatt this week. “I’ve got all the belief in Jalin and who he’s going to be and what he’s going to mean to us.”
JAXSON DART, QB: The rookie quarterback’s presence is a positive in itself. Add in Dart’s pocket presence, mobility and work ethic, and he seems to have the makeup of a young quarterback with significant upside.
Dart had a typical spring for any rookie: he drank through a firehose learning the Giants’ offense, applying his knowledge daily to a higher-speed game, reviewing his highs and lows and attacking it again the next day.
“My first few days, you definitely feel like you’re swimming a little bit in information, and things are happening a little faster than usual just because you don’t really understand it as well as other people,” Dart admitted. “There were definitely a few things I had to work on.
“But I tried to do my best to prepare and make strides each and every day being able to feel more comfortable in the offense and improve on mistakes I made from the past day and just try to go out there and make plays.”
Wilson clearly is being handed the starting job at the top quarterback on Daboll’s depth chart, at least for now. But it will be interesting, as Dart gets more comfortable, how early the rookie will be able to push himself into the playing time conversation.
“I’m gonna prepare like I’m the starter no matter what my role is,” Dart said on Talkin’ Ball. “You really never know when your chance is gonna come. My mindset is whenever that comes, I’m gonna be ready for it. I’m not gonna shy from the moment. I’m gonna take advantage of it.
“But at the same time, the No. 1 thing I care about is winning,” he continued. “I don’t care how much success I may be having. If the team is not winning, it’s not fun. It’s not fun for me. It’s not fun for anybody else.”
So that’s his mindset: “Prepare like I’m a starter, and whatever my role is, I’m gonna take it head on and do the best I can to support everyone on the team and compete at the highest level,” he said. “I care about winning.”
