Giants Clips
The Giants have lost a key member of their defensive line during Organized Team Activities.
Roy Robertson-Harris tore his Achilles during yesterday’s practice, according to Dan Duggan of TheAthletic.com.
Robertson-Harris signed a two-year, $9 million contract with the Giants a year ago and started all 17 games last season. He had been working with the first-string defense at OTAs.
Achilles tendon tears are almost always season-ending injuries. It’s possible that with a fast recovery, a player who tears his Achilles in May could play by the end of the year, but it’s a long shot.
The Giants traded away their best defensive lineman, Dexter Lawrence, last month, so they’ve now lost two defensive linemen who started all 17 games last season. Free agent signings DJ Reader and Shelby Harris become even more important now, as does the development of sixth-round rookie Bobby Jamison-Travis.
Robertson-Harris is the second Giant to suffer a torn Achilles during offseason work. Rookie cornerback Thaddeus Dixon tore his Achilles last week.
By rule, NFL offseason practices are non-contact: No tackling, no blocking, no physical pass coverage, certainly no touching the quarterback. That makes it hard for the players to get the competitive juices flowing.
But Giants coach John Harbaugh says he still wants to see players looking competitive. He just wants them competitive with themselves, trying to get better every day than they were the day before.
“There’s no there’s no contact at all,” Harbaugh said. “You got to work with the guys that do that because guys get fired up, they want to go and you got to make sure that you can’t get near the quarterback. You can’t pull and push guys. There’s no physical contests out here. There’s no competition in the sense of you’re competing one-on-one to make a play because there’s no contact, and football is a contact sport. So, it’s more about I’m competing against myself, my technique, my assignment, my ability to execute really fast.”
Harbaugh says he’s impressed that players manage to avoid contact as well as they do.
“I think one of the things that’s amazing to me, I tell these guys this. . . . You’re standing right here on the sideline and you’re seeing how fast these guys move, right? And how big they are. And there’s 22 guys intersecting full speed. I’m just surprised that there’s not more more collisions in the intersection which goes to show you how talented these guys are. And I think it’s across the league in the NFL. For them to practice fast like this on a no-contact basis and not run into each other is just an incredible thing and it’s a testament to their abilities,” Harbaugh said.
Harbaugh said quarterback Jaxson Dart is a good example of a player who’s competing with himself, demanding nothing but completions when he knows the defense isn’t really competing.
“We are competing against ourselves, against execution,” Harbaugh said. “The offense should complete most passes because passes aren’t being contested at the catch point right now. So if we’re executing and doing things the right way, we should be completing passes out here. The ball shouldn’t hit the ground too often. He understands that and that’s why he wants things to be right, play after play.”
Giants General Manager Joe Schoen lost a significant amount of internal influence when the team hired coach John Harbaugh. Schoen’s willingness to adapt has helped secure his future in New York.
The Giants have announced that Schoen has signed a multi-year extension.
Schoen, we’re told, had been entering the last year of his contract with the team.
The move necessarily means that Schoen has made a solid impression on new coach John Harbaugh. The long-time Ravens coach’s arrival transformed the long-time reporting structure with the Giants. For decades, the G.M. ran the show, with the coach reporting to the G.M. Now, the coach and G.M. separately report to ownership.
It’s no surprise that ownership was willing to make a major change to the way they do business. The Giants have struggled since winning Super Bowl XLVI, 15 years ago. They’ve had a revolving door at coach and G.M. Harbaugh instantly has stabilized the organization — and he has determined in less than five months that he’ll be happy to partner with Schoen in the coming years.
The Giants had their first three organized team activities this week, and starting left tackle participated in two of them. Head coach John Harbaugh said Thomas will get some maintenance days for foot and shoulder issues.
Thomas missed the first two games in 2025 as he worked his way back from a Lisfranc injury in his foot in 2024. He said he and the Giants’ medical staff are “doing our best to manage it” with the maintenance days. Thomas called his shoulder a “lingering” injury but said he thinks it’s “in a good place.”
“They have a nice ramp-up plan for me. Just a precautionary thing,” Thomas said, via video from the team. “Obviously, what we care about is September, being ready. I’ve been trusting that. It’s definitely tough sometimes, because I want to push and I want to get better. But I’m trying to trust the process to make sure I’m ready to go when it counts.”
Thomas missed the final two games of last season with a strained hamstring, but that is not an issue now.
The Giants have second-year swing tackle Marcus Mbow taking Thomas’ reps when he is out. First-round pick Francis Mauigoa is with the starters at right guard.
Malik Nabers’ second season came to a premature end when he suffered a torn ACL in Week 4 of last year.
While there is a chance Nabers is ready for Week 1 in September, right now the Giants wide receiver is in the dog days of his recovery process.
“He’s in the middle of [his rehab],” Giants head coach John Harbaugh said on Thursday, via Jordan Raanan of ESPN. “It’s a hard thing. It’s an ACL whatever else he had in the knee. Not a simple knee [injury]. So, he’s in the slog of it, the grind of it, I would say. So, he’s fighting through it. He’s here every day.
“Just impossible to predict [when he’ll be ready]. I mean, the goal is to start the season and for him to get out there sometime in training camp — that’d be the goal. And then, we’ll see what happens. If he’s out there, great. If he’s not out there, great. We’ll be ready to go either way. But, I know he’s fighting like crazy to do his best to be out there. And he’s with the guys every day.”
With this being Nabers’ first significant injury at the pro level, Harbaugh noted the Giants are doing their best to keep the young receiver engaged during the offseason program.
“[M]y experience with guys, the first time you have a serious injury, it’s tough because it’s new for him,” Harbaugh said. “It’s a tough process. Our job is to stay close to him, to stay with him, and his job is to trust, work hard. He’s doing his job and the trainers and docs are doing their job. And he’ll be back.”
The No. 6 pick of the 2024 draft, Nabers caught 109 passes for 1,204 yards with seven touchdowns as a rookie. He had 18 catches for 271 yards and two touchdowns in his limited action in 2025.
Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart’s penchant for risky runs that exposed him to injuries were a frequent topic of conversation during his rookie season and the team’s new coaching staff has been addressing the issue with him this offseason.
Dart missed two full games with a concussion and portions of others while being evaluated for them last year. He said on Thursday that he “hated that time” off of the field and that quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan and others have been working to establish that the “most important thing is to be out there” when he’s making decisions about when to take off with the ball.
“That was one of our first meetings with coach Callahan,” Dart said, via Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. “Pulling up my tape and just going over situationally, is it worth the risk here in this situation. That’s what we talk about a ton.”
Dart’s play when healthy created some optimism about what the future holds for the Giants, but it will be a much tougher sell if Dart is going to continue to put himself at risk of missing time on a regular basis.
Most of the NFL’s Jeffrey Epstein-related conversation has focused on former Giants co-owner Steve Tisch, who has transferred his shares into a trust for his children but who continues to serve as chairman of the team’s board of directors.
There’s another connection, as explained by Adam Kilgore of The Athletic.
Brad Karp stepped down as chairman of the Paul Weiss law firm after emails showed his ties to Epstein. However, he continues to be a senior partner at the fiim. He also continues to work for the NFL.
“It’s one of those things that’s lawful, but awful,” U.S. Representative Wesley Bell (D-MO) told Kilgore. “The NFL, considering the place they hold in our society — much less with kids — I think should be very sensitive to the people they associate with. Very questionable, I think.”
In his article, Kilgore outlines the various connections between Karp and Epstein. One specific exchange discussed surveillance methods regarding a woman who was later reportedly identified as the mistress of Leon Black, co-founder of private-equity firm Apollo Global Management. At one point, Epstein suggested that Karp’s staff determine the woman’s visa status, and that they should attempt to revoke it.
“Both good ideas; will work on this,” Karp said in response.
Said Paul Weiss after the emails came to light: “Mr. Karp attended two group dinners in New York City and had a small number of social interactions by email, all of which he regrets.”
“Organizations like the NFL that hold the type of place in our society that impacts and influences all parts of our society do have a higher responsibility,” Bell told Kilgore. “There are a lot of attorneys. They got a lot of options of folks they can use that don’t have ties to one of the largest sex trafficking operations in the world potentially. The NFL needs to re-assess, re-evaluate and really be sensitive to who they’re associating themselves with, because the world is watching.”
The world is indeed watching, even if there hasn’t been much action. Especially by the NFL, as it relates to Tisch or to Karp.
Cam Skattebo insists he will be “ready to go” Week 1 as he continues his rehab from a gruesome leg injury. That is good news for the Giants as the running back had 125 carries for 617 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie.
Skattebo has much bigger goals for his second season.
“I do not consider that successful for me,” Skattebo said of his rookie season, via Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. “I had 400 yards on 100 carries. When I play 17-plus games this year, it’s going to be 300 carries for over 2,000 yards.”
Nine running backs have had a 2,000-yard season, the most recent coming by Saquon Barkley in 2024. Eric Dickerson owns the NFL record with his 2,105 rushing yards in 1984.
Tiki Barber holds the Giants team record with 1,860 rushing yards in 2005.
The Giants will have a joint practice with the Dolphins before the teams play in Week 2 of the preseason on Aug. 22.
Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley revealed that news earlier this week.
That, though, is the Giants’ only joint practice this year.
Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reports that the Giants will not hold their annual joint practice with the Jets.
The Giants and Jets play their annual preseason game in Week 3 of the exhibition season.
The Giants will spend the first two weeks of training camp at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
The Giants hope that the hiring of John Harbaugh as their head coach ushers in a new era of success for the team and Harbaugh’s first season on the job will include a celebration of the franchise’s first Super Bowl win.
The Giants announced that they will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of their Super Bowl XXI champions during their Week 4 home game against the Cardinals. They went 14-2 during the 1986 season and then beat San Francisco and Washington in the playoffs by a combined score of 66-3 to advance to the Super Bowl. They beat the Broncos 39-20 at the Rose Bowl to secure the Lombardi Trophy.
“This anniversary is about honoring a team that defined Giants football and delivered one of the most dominant championship runs in NFL history,” Giants owner John Mara said in a statement. “We look forward to celebrating these legends while giving our fans unique opportunities to relive and connect with that unforgettable season.”
Former Giants players will be on hand at the game and the first 25,000 fans to enter MetLife Stadium will receive Mark Bavaro bobbleheads. There will also be a halftime ceremony commemorating the team, which featured head coach Bill Parcells, quarterback Phil Simms, linebacker Lawrence Taylor and many others.
