00:00Here at the owners' meetings in Phoenix, the owners, general managers, and head coaches from around the league are staying
00:06at the stately Arizona Biltmore, a very, very lovely resort.
00:11And John Harbaugh met with the media and spoke about many different issues. Let's get to some of those.
00:17About his working relationship with Joe Shane, the general manager, and Brandon Brown, the assistant general manager, and newly hired
00:24Donna Ponte.
00:25John Harbaugh on Joe Shane said, I thought Joe was great. His group was great. He said, we operated at
00:31a really high level.
00:33This is talking really about the first wave of free agency. Don't forget, Harbaugh, after 16 years in Baltimore, it's
00:39a whole new operation for him.
00:41He sounded incredibly pleased with the way the process worked. Let's get into some things on the roster.
00:47The offensive line, really the only thing the Giants would have done in free agency was re-sign their right
00:52tackle, Jermaine Illuminor.
00:53John Harbaugh admitted the offensive line is a work in progress, and he said it might be a one-year
00:59process.
01:00It might be more than one year's. They still need a right guard.
01:03So Harbaugh is not really 100% sold on what they've done with the offensive line, but he realizes that
01:09could take some time.
01:11Two offensive linemen from members of the Giants 2022 draft class.
01:16Evan Neal, a first-round pick, and Josh Izudu, a third-round pick.
01:20They have not played well for the Giants, and a lot of people thought that they would be cut.
01:25John Harbaugh came in, and lo and behold, they both were re-signed.
01:29Why were these guys re-signed?
01:31John Harbaugh laid it out pretty quickly.
01:33He said, there's two players we felt good about from Baltimore, and if they're going to dream big, I'd like
01:39them to dream big right here in our building.
01:41So Harbaugh liked these guys coming out of the draft four years ago when he was with the Ravens,
01:46and he's willing to give them a chance with the Giants, it would be very interesting to see if he
01:50and his staff can salvage these two young players
01:53who physically look like they can play but have just not done it so far.
01:57That would be very interesting to see.
02:00John Harbaugh does not hide his pleasure and his affection for what quarterback Jackson Dart can do.
02:07Pretty much unsolicited, John Harbaugh said, one of the many great things about Jackson Dart is he does so many
02:13things so well.
02:14He can live in a lot of different worlds.
02:17That means they want to play the RPO game, they want to run the ball, they want to throw the
02:21ball, they want to throw deep,
02:22they want to rely on a running game.
02:24You know, he's not saying, Harbaugh's not saying that Jackson Dart is Lamar Jackson,
02:27but he has some of those qualities.
02:29I think Harbaugh sees it.
02:31He's very excited.
02:32I don't think John Harbaugh would be the coach of the Giants if he didn't see Jackson Dart and view
02:36him as a budding star quarterback in the league.
02:39So that could be a very good pairing.
02:42Making some headlines, don't forget, Odell Beckham Jr. a few years ago played for Harbaugh and the Ravens.
02:48And Odell's 33 years old, he did not play all of last year, battling injuries and a suspension.
02:55Harbaugh likes him.
02:56Could he be coming back to the Giants?
02:59Well, we'll see.
03:00Harbaugh said, we talk, we text, we have a really great relationship.
03:04And John Harbaugh called Odell Beckham Jr., one of my favorite people in the world.
03:10Does that mean he's coming to the Giants?
03:12Harbaugh said, we have to see where that one goes.
03:16If there's, if there's, makes sense for Odell to come to the Giants and for the Giants to want to
03:21re-sign Odell.
03:22Look, Odell comes with a lot of baggage.
03:24He's not the player he was when the Giants drafted him in 2014.
03:28I'm not so sure that's going to happen, but never say never, certainly.
03:31And any time you mention Odell and coming back from the Giants, that's a big deal, right?
03:36Also, another name that was asked about and John Harbaugh responded to was Jeremiah Love, the best running back in
03:43this draft, right?
03:44The draft's coming up, third week of April.
03:46Would the Giants actually take Jeremiah Love with the fifth pick of the draft?
03:50Remember when they took Saquon Barkley in 2018 with the second pick in the draft?
03:54And how that whole debate raged about positional value and great player versus should you draft a running back number
04:01one?
04:02You know, John Harbaugh wants to run the ball.
04:04He said, he was asked, do you think Jeremiah Love is a very good player?
04:07And Harbaugh did not hesitate.
04:09He said, I'd probably put very, very good player.
04:12I put a couple of verys in there.
04:14He's really good.
04:15Do I think the Giants are taking Jeremiah Love with the fifth pick?
04:19I'm not so sure about that right now, but I certainly would not discount that.
04:23We have to wait and see.
04:24Are they going to take a defensive stud?
04:25Are they going to go for a running back?
04:26Like I said, John Harbaugh wants to run the ball.
04:28He had Derrick Henry running the ball a lot and often very well in Baltimore.
04:33Maybe he tries to replicate that a little bit with the Giants.
04:36Joe Shane also met with the media, the GM.
04:39The Giants off-season workout program starts April 7th.
04:43That will be Harbaugh's first time where he gets the vast majority of the players on his roster in the
04:47building
04:48and he can talk to them, you know, for some light work and conditioning work and things like that.
04:54Shane said he has been in contact certainly with Malik Nabors.
04:59They saw him in Miami when the Giants went to Miami's pro day.
05:04Malik has been working at Miami.
05:06Don't forget rehabbing from his torn ACL.
05:08He said, Joe Shane said Malik is in great spirits.
05:11He feels good.
05:12He's in a good spot mentally and physically and he expects him to be ready,
05:15certainly if maybe not right out of the shoot in the spring, which I doubt he will be then in
05:20the summer.
05:21They expect him to be on pace to certainly play opening day.
05:24Another player that is coming back from an injury that Giants fans certainly hold near and dear to their heart
05:29is running back Cam Scadaboo.
05:31Don't forget he had that gruesome dislocated ankle in week eight in Philadelphia.
05:35The Giants also saw him last Friday in Arizona at Arizona State.
05:40It was their pro day and, of course, Scadaboo was a great player at Arizona State.
05:44So Scadaboo was there, you know, cheering for his former teammates.
05:48And Joe Shane said, kind of laughed and said he saw Cam and he's jogging around, running, jumping on ex
05:54-teammates back and stuff like that.
05:57That's Cam Scadaboo, right?
05:58He's so energetic.
05:59You can't keep him down.
06:00They will ease him back in, but there's a feeling that he will be ready sometime this summer as well.
06:06So two of their key offensive players could be ready sooner rather than later.
06:11That's it from Phoenix.
06:13Another day here.
06:14And then the owners and the coaches and general managers all leave.
06:18Maybe there'll be some trades kind of talked about with all these people under one roof.
06:22And then we hit the draft hard and heavy.
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