Shurmur gives young players hard look

The Giants on Thursday sat down for what head coach Pat Shurmur described as “a real big personnel meeting’’ to assess the roster. It was determined the smartest course of action moving into the final week of OTAs was to shift the focus a bit, away from the established starters in order to get a better look at the youngsters vying for slots on the depth chart.

“We’re seeing a lot good things from our front-line guys, but we felt like [Monday] was a good day to see what some of the younger, fresher-legged guys could do,’’ Shurmur said.

Shurmur gave those younger players 14 plays in a live setting inside the field house — with no contact, of course — to see how they would function in scrimmage-like conditions.

“It will be a good tool for us to evaluate some of the young guys,’’ Shurmur said.

WR Odell Beckham Jr. and DT Damon “Snacks’’ Harrison were not at Monday’s OTA. Shurmur says he expects both players will attend next week’s three-day mandatory minicamp. Harrison has been an infrequent participant at the OTAs.

As far as Beckham participating in the minicamp, Shurmur said “yeah, possi- bly. We will have to see when we cross that bridge.’’ Do not expect Beckham, coming off a fractured left ankle, to be given medical clearance for next week’s camp.

“We talk frequently,’’ Shurmur said. “We’ll visit how he is doing and put him out there and give him a little bit more as we go.’’

CB Eli Apple continued his strong spring. He ran with Sterling Shepard into the end zone to break up a fade thrown by Eli Manning.

“Eli, he’s comfortable now,’’ safety Landon Collins said of Apple. “He’s got a lot of stress off his shoulders and you can see it. He’s growing up, he’s doing his thing and playing great ball.’’

TE Garrett Dickerson, a rookie tight end from Northwestern who attended the Giants’ rookie camp on a tryout basis, was signed.

“We thought that in really a short period of time he showed us that he was smart and he had instincts, runs around well, he catches the ball and we’re just trying to keep reshaping the 90man roster as we get ready for training camp,’’ Shurmur said. … Three players were waived: WR Keeon Johnson, DB Mike Jones and DB Jeremiah McKinnon.

The Giants hired Mark Koncz to the new position of director of player personnel. General manager Dave Gettleman had brought Koncz in this offseason as a consultant.