NY Giants Twitter Mailbag: The 'School's out for Summer!' Edition

School might be out for summer, but it’s definitely not out forever.

That’s right folks. In just six weeks, the New York Giants, who wrapped up their three-day mandatory minicamp (the last of their Phase 3 spring activities), by now have scattered all over the country for a little downtime with friends and family before they have to begin to embrace the grind.

Yesterday I ran down some of the highlights from the three-day minicamp. Today I’m trying to tie up some loose ends by answering your questions.

If you missed my call for questions on Twitter, feel free to leave a comment below. I’ll check back and answer as many as I can over the weekend.

Thanks for the question, Ceri. Here’s the problem with trying to predict roster numbers at one position right now.

First, the Giants have six good defensive ends. Who stays and who goes? Or do they keep all six? Now, if they keep six, does that mean they go with three defensive tackles? Five linebackers instead of six? Five corners and three safeties?

Steven Ryan-USA TODAY Sports

See the conundrum here? That’s why injuries are going to go a long way in helping to shape opinions about the roster. (And that’s why I cringe when I get asked to predict who stays and who goes at this time of year—it’s so hard to come up with a definitive answer.)

Now, since you did ask the question and I don’t want to leave you hanging, my response would be that I see that last safety on the depth chart as being a swingman, someone who can play corner and safety.

Candidates who qualify for that role include Josh Gordy and Bennett Jackson, so I would think one of those two will stick. I just don’t know if they will keep three true safeties or four.

"

@Patricia_Traina Is this OBJ story being blown out of proportion or is he really bothered by his teammates crackin jokes at him? Any clue?

— Matt Hopwood (@matthops88) June 19, 2015"

Matt, without having heard Odell Beckham Jr. speak his thoughts about the jokes, I can’t say for sure what his frame of mind was when he made those comments.

What I do think is that he should have kept that piece of information in house considering everything he does or says is magnified to the millionth degree.

Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

For what it’s worth, players bust on each other all the time and for the silliest things.

Quarterback Eli Manning even admitted to busting Beckham a bit  during a Friday morning radio spot on WFAN (h/t Paul Schwartz, New York Post). Manning downplayed the entire issue.

The best thing Beckham can do moving forward is to shut up about the teasing, get back on the field and show his teammates that he means business.

He’s still young, so he’ll eventually learn how to survive when around the big boys both on and off the field.

This is a tough question to answer because we just don’t know about injuries or Victor Cruz’s status.

For argument’s sake, let’s say Cruz is good to go and there are no other injuries that force the coaches to have to adjust their numbers at other spots.  

I think the Giants will keep six receivers: Cruz, Odell Beckham Jr., Rueben Randle, Dwayne Harris, Corey Washington and Geremy Davis.

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Ben Edwards, who has looked good in the OTAs and minicamps, tweaked his hamstring on the final day of the minicamp, so we’ll see if that keeps him out of action.

Also, Jordan Raanan of NJ Advance Media reported that Marcus “Soup” Harris needs knee surgery, so we’ll have to see what that involves as far as his recovery period.

I don’t think Preston Parker sticks—Dwayne Harris and Geremy Davis are probably the logical replacements for him. 

I’m not sure the numbers favor Julian Talley or Juron Criner at this time. I do think, though, that at least one of the receivers left on the outside looking in lands on the practice squad.

Thanks for the question, Kevin. Right now the NFLPA public report hasn’t been updated, plus I haven’t seen the numbers on the contracts for Ereck Flowers and Landon Collins, so I can’t give you an exact number—the latest report has the Giants with $7,233,492 in cap space.

If I had to guess, I would shave maybe $3 million off of that total and put the Giants at around $4.2 million.

Thanks for the question, Brian. I have to admit that I never bought into the easier/harder schedule theory because every year teams change.

Some get better and others get worse.  So it’s silly to base any judgments on strength of schedule. 

However, to answer your question, which is how many wins do the Giants need to get into the playoffs, I would say at least 10 given that they had two nine-win seasons in the last five years, one of which got them in and one of which didn’t.

I do think it would be in the Giants' best interest if they can win the division. For that to happen, they'd probably need to go at least 5-1 in their division games.

Thanks for the question, Javier. 

Stephen B. Morton/Associated Press

The Giants have always been cautious regarding players coming off injury, and what they did this offseason is limit the reps of those who were coming back from injury—Jon Beason, Geoff Schwartz, etc.

When new injuries popped up—Odell Beckham Jr., Owa Odighizuwa, Nat Berhe, etc.—the Giants wisely shut them down or limited them because why make the injuries worse now, in June?

As a rule, Tom Coughlin doesn’t like to see guys limited. If he’s going to go through the time and effort of having a camp, he wants 100 percent participation.

However, he’s also smart enough to yield to the team’s medical staff because is it worth it to put a player at risk to where a minor injury now becomes a bigger deal and he has to miss those valuable training camp snaps?

That’s a wrap for the mailbag feature for the offseason. As we get a little closer to the start of training camp on July 30, I’ll be calling for more questions for a training camp preview mailbag.

I’ll also continue to provide you with updates and analysis on all things Giants right here on Bleacher Report, so be sure you pop on in to see what’s cooking.

Have a great summer!

Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes, observations and information were obtained firsthand. Follow me on Twitter.