New York Giants' 5 Biggest Training Camp Battles

You want competition at this summer’s New York Giants training camp? Well, fasten your seatbelts because there is going to be lots of it.

Head coach Ben McAdoo, who is preparing for his second season at the helm of Big Blue, has been given a roster loaded with talent at several key positions.

There will be some starting jobs up for grabs—such as free safety—while much of the competition in the Giants camp will be among the depth role players who might not be starters, but who could see a significant number of snaps in games if they make the roster.

Let's take a look at some of the headline battles of this summer's Giants camp, which starts July 27 when the team reports for practices. Be sure to visit throughout the summer, as we will have updates and firsthand observations on how everything is unfolding.

Backup Quarterback

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Starting quarterback Eli Manning still has another three years left on what is likely to be his final NFL contract. With that in mind, the Giants have already begun planning for a successor with their drafting of Davis Webb in the third round this year.

However, before Webb can succeed Manning, he will have to move up to the No. 2 backup spot, something that is not likely to happen this year.

Instead, the Giants will conduct a competition between veterans Josh Johnson and Geno Smith for the No. 2 QB job, with the winner likely to take on the role for a one-year term.

In the spring, Johnson was fully healthy and able to take the bulk of his practice reps ahead of Smith, who is still recovering from a torn ACL.

However, Smith's experience, which includes more games started and more passes thrown than Johnson despite the latter having been in the league longer, could put him at an advantage if he outperforms Johnson this summer.

The likely goal for the Giants, and for Smith in particular, is to get him back to being the quarterback he was at the end of the 2014 season when he completed 88 of 134 pass attempts (65.7 percent) for 1,155 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions.

If Smith can show that kind of effectiveness in the preseason, he should easily walk away with the backup role.

Starting Free Safety

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When a starter ends up missing all or part of the season, the assumption is he will be back in the mix at his old spot once he's healthy.

That might not be the case at free safety, where Darian Thompson—the 2016 starter before a foot injury ended his rookie campaign and first year as a starter—will need to fend off Andrew Adams, an undrafted rookie free agent last year who played well enough to earn Pro Football Focus’ Giants "Secret Superstar" designation.

"I'm going to be honest with you," Giants safeties coach David Merritt said last month when asked if Thompson was a lock to regain his starting role. "You can sit here right now and say 'yes,' but I can't sit here and take away from what Andrew Adams has done.

"I think they're all competing for a starting job. To have two guys that can actually step in there and actually hold down the position, hopefully we will find that solid piece this year."

Still, there's good reason to think Thompson has the competitive edge ahead of Adams, and that reason is his ball-hawking ability. Adams, who played his college ball at UConn, finished with nine career interceptions; Thompson, who played at Boise State, recorded 19.

While Adams might have led all rookie safeties last year in pass targets completed (from a sample group that took at least 50 percent of their team's defensive snaps in coverage), he only managed to come up with one interception in 16 pass targets, with a couple other near-interceptions just grazing his hands.

Starting Right Guard

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With all signs pointing to Bobby Hart staying as the starting right tackle, the focus this summer along the offensive line might just turn to the starting right guard position.

Incumbent John Jerry, who has spent the last two years trying to hone his craft at LeCharles Bentley's O-line Performance Center, will attempt to hold off newcomer D.J. Fluker. The Chargers' former first-round pick in 2013 was brought in as competition for an offensive line that lacked consistency last year.

In the spring, Jerry was successful in keeping Fluker at bay, as the latter didn't see snaps with the starting unit in the practices open to the media.

But with Fluker continuing to work on honing his skills during the downtime before training camp, it's clear he has an eye on proving to the NFL that his struggles with the Chargers were, well, a fluke.

Starting Defensive Tackle (3-Technique)

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Stop me if you've heard the story about the Giants being unable to retain in free agency a homegrown draft pick who plays defensive tackle.

If that sounds familiar, it's because it is. This year, Johnathan Hankins joined Barry Cofield, Cornelius Griffin and Linval Joseph as Giants defensive tackles who were drafted yet moved on via free agency.

Hankins departure leaves a vacancy at the 3-technique spot. That's the bad news. The even-worse news is there doesn't seem to be—at least not yet—an idea on who is going to replace him in the starting lineup.

The Giants have options, though. They drafted Dalvin Tomlinson in the second round to presumably move into that starting role, though it's probably not a good sign when defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo—when asked where the rookie was—says: "Probably in the lunch room."

All kidding aside, Tomlinson, Jay Bromley, Robert Thomas and Corbin Bryant will be among those competing to replace Hankins in the starting lineup. Bryant, it should be noted, was a late addition to the mix, with his signing happening on June 8—the week before the mandatory minicamp.

Spagnuolo indicated that early on, at least, there's probably going to be a rotation at that 3-technique spot: "It is going to come from a lot of different people at that position. Robert Thomas has done a heck of a job; Jay [Bromley] has done a heck of a job. We never play with just two guys in there anyway, so they will all be rotating."

With this position being another that won't fully be settled until the pads go on, it will be interesting to see how long the springtime rotation of Thomas/Bromley with the first team and Tomlinson/Bryant with the second and third teams continues.

Kicker

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

The Giants don’t technically have a traditional competition for their kicking job, not with just one candidate on the roster.

But make no mistake about it: There is a competition for the position featuring Aldrick Rosas versus himself.

This spring, Rosas was impressive enough to draw repeated praise from his teammates and from his coaches.

"Aldrick has done well," special teams coordinator Tom Quinn said. "He's really progressed from when we first put hands on him and started working with him. He's gotten better every day, so that's really been encouraging. He's been consistent.  Big guys we try to tighten them up a little bit and he's done really well. Very coachable. Very strong leg, and he's had good accuracy this spring."

Of course, kicking in the spring is one thing while kicking in a game is quite the other. That's why the plan by the coaching staff is to put Rosas in a competition against himself by creating numerous pressure scenarios that with success result in a reward for the entire team such as cancelling post-practice meetings or wind sprints after practice.  

"We will do some things situationally to put some pressure on him," McAdoo said. "We will build that into two-minute drills. We did that a little bit in the middle of OTAs, but we will crank that up in training camp and we will see how we do."

Still, there's no substitution for kicking in games.

"I want to see him kick in games," McAdoo said. "He has done a nice job so far for us in OTAs and the offseason program, but I am looking forward to seeing him kick in games."

Patricia Traina covers the New York Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.