New York Giants: 8 Players Whose Stock Is on the Rise After OTAs

The New York Giants held their first organized team activities this week, as the earliest preparations for the 2015 season officially began. Holdovers from last season joined free-agent acquisitions and draft picks on the practice field in hopes of blazing another path to the Super Bowl.

The regular season is still more than three months away, so a lot can change before the Giants take the field at AT&T Stadium to do battle with the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 13. Training-camp competitions will burn throughout the summer, and stars are sure to emerge in the preseason. Injuries, of course, will undoubtedly occur too.

Still, we can glean something from these early OTA workouts. A handful of Giants showed signs that their stock is on the rise. This slideshow will highlight eight of those players.

Offensive Linemen Ereck Flowers and Marshall Newhouse

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Ereck Flowers' stock started soaring the moment Will Beaty's injury was announced. Now that Beatty is sidelined long-term, Flowers enters the fold at left tackle. He manned the blind side of New York's first-team offensive line during OTAs, according to Giants.com senior writer/editor Michael Eisen.

The original plan was probably to bring Flowers along at right tackle as a rookie, which would allow the team to iron out some of the wrinkles in his technique without him being a major liability. The sudden change evaporates any margin for error he would have enjoyed on the right side of the lineup. At left tackle, Flowers will face the finest pass-rushers in the NFL.

The Giants drafted him ninth overall with the intention of making him, one day, a franchise left tackle. Although that day may have come sooner than expected, there's reason to believe he can handle the sudden promotion. The mammoth offensive lineman has no physical limitations at 6'6" and 329 pounds. Also, he played left tackle last season at Miami and did not allow a single sack, according to Steve Palazzolo of Pro Football Focus.

With Flowers replacing Beatty at left tackle, Eisen reports the rest of the first-team lineup as follows: Justin Pugh at left guard, Weston Richburg at center, Geoff Schwartz/John Jerry at right guard and Marshall Newhouse at right tackle.

The decision to move Pugh inside to guard, compounded by the Beatty injury, opened the door for Newhouse to step into the starting lineup. He signed with the Giants as a free agent this spring, agreeing to the terms of a two-year, $3 million contract. He has starting experience from his time with the Green Bay Packers and Cincinnati Bengals, but his past performance isn't all that pretty.

The Giants signed Newhouse to play a reserve role, so the fact that he's in the starting lineup so soon is disheartening. Still, they have no other choice but to rely on him for now. Therefore, Newhouse's stock is on the rise by default.

Tight Ends Adrien Robinson and Matt LaCosse

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All of the tight ends have stood out at OTAs, according to Giants.com staff writer Dan Salomone's observations, but Adrien Robinson's play might be a cut above the rest. This development should be somewhat surprising, given how underwhelming he has been through three NFL seasons.

Since being drafted in the fourth round back in 2012, Robinson has barely found the field, let alone made an impact in the passing game. The tight end only saw time in three games through his first two seasons and did not record his first reception as a professional until Year 3. He managed to appear in all 16 games in 2014, yet he turned in a paltry five receptions on the season.

Salomone cited a catch Robinson made in the back corner of the end zone during 11-on-11 drills as one of the finest moments from Wednesday's practice. Then, his over-the-shoulder grab during seven-on-seven drills topped Salomone's ranking of the best plays from Thursday's practice.

The previously disappointing tight end might have finally turned a corner.

But Robinson must separate himself from the pack in order to save his job. Salomone also credited Daniel Fells and Matt LaCosse with nice catches at practice on Thursday. Fells is a veteran whose chances to make the team lie more with his ability as a blocker than as a pass-catcher, although he did snag four touchdown receptions last season. LaCosse, on the other hand, has a real chance to rise up the ranks.

Larry Donnell is still the starting tight end, but he's not untouchable in this competition. LaCosse, a 6'5" and 261-pound undrafted rookie, might be fighting for a roster spot with Robinson at the moment. However, it's not beyond reason to imagine these two competing for much larger roles as the tight end battle heats up this summer.

Defensive Linemen Cullen Jenkins and Kerry Wynn

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The Giants' defensive line situation is unsettled with Jason Pierre-Paul holding out of OTAs and possibly mandatory minicamp, according to Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News. On Wednesday, a shock wave ran through the positional unit, as defensive end Robert Ayers was carted off the field with knee and ankle injuries, Jordan Raanan of NJ Advance Media reported.

Ayers' injuries, according to NJ Advance Media, were nothing to worry about, as tests revealed no serious damage to either affected region. Still, a lineup without Pierre-Paul and Ayers may have caused the Giants to start thinking outside the box. Raanan wrote in his OTA observations that defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins took an "inordinate number of snaps" at end.

Jenkins has primarily been an interior presence for the Giants, but he does have experience playing defensive end. He is one of the most experienced players on New York's roster, and the 34-year-old's inside-outside versatility could end up extending his NFL career. After he had limped through the 2014 season with a calf injury, his days appeared to be numbered.

With so much uncertainty at the position, though, Jenkins may serve as a valuable rock along the defensive front—that is, unless Kerry Wynn's stock reaches its zenith.

Wynn saw some work with the first-team defense during OTAs, according to NJ Advance Media. The former undrafted rookie did not find the field until late last season, but he was fantastic when he did. Although Wynn lacks the girth of Jenkins, his effectiveness at end can sap the worth of Jenkins' contributions on the outside.

There's an interesting battle brewing between veteran savvy and youthful impact when it comes to Jenkins vs. Wynn.

Wide Receivers Corey Washington and Marcus Harris

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Two different types of receivers have stood out at OTAs in Corey Washington and Marcus "Soup" Harris, according to Giants.com staff writer Dan Salomone. Both players were phenomenal preseason performers in 2014—Washington as a rangy sideline target and Harris as a slippery option in the slot.

Salomone identified Washington as one of three standouts during Wednesday's practice, noting that he played with the first team near the goal line. That's where the 6'4", 214-pound pass-catcher can be most valuable to the Giants. Although Washington hardly played last season, quarterback Eli Manning did manage to chuck one touchdown pass his way in a blowout loss to the Colts.

If Washington has progressed at all since last summer, he should push Rueben Randle for reps on the outside. Randle is the more refined NFL player at this point, but he also lacks consistency. It's a long shot, but the Giants may see a higher ceiling in Washington than they do in Randle, who's often a source of frustration when quarterback-receiver communication breaks down.

On Thursday, Harris was one of Salomone's selected standouts, as two of his deep catches made the writer's list of top plays from Thursday's practice. Harris has been trying to break into the league for a while now, and he may finally be ready after spending the 2013 season on the Giants practice squad and the 2014 season on injured reserve.

Harris won't need to go through Randle to find the field. Instead, he can stand in for Cruz, who's still nursing a serious knee injury. While success on the outside requires a rare breed of athlete, anyone with quick feet and sure hands can be productive working out of the slot. Perhaps all that separate Harris from Cruz are first-team reps with Manning.

The Giants are lucky enough to have two rising receivers who are primed to make an impact in opposite ways.

Kevin Boilard writes about the New York Giants at Bleacher Report.