Odell likely to spend preseason opener on sidelines

Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. have played in 47 regular-season games and one playoff game together. They’ve shared a field for countless practices. Beckham, though, is coming off surgery to repair a fractured left ankle and all the time he missed last season means there is some catching up to do.

This is why, after many two-hour training camp sessions in the hot sun, the 37- year-old quarter back and the 25-year-old receiver remain on the unshaded green grass, talking and running through routes.

Beckham will be limited in how much he plays this preseason, starting with Thursday night’s opener against the Browns. Likely, he will not play at all in this first game. The Giants certainly remember Beckham hurting his lower left leg one year ago, in preseason game No. 2 in Cleveland, when cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun hit a leaping Beckham low, causing an injury that forced Beckham to miss the regularseason opener.

Beckham was around for some, but not the majority of the organized team activity practices in the spring. He has not missed a thing in training camp, although the Giants remain somewhat cautious with his workload. He might not play at all in the preseason and at most will be limited in how he is used. This is why he and Manning continue to stay after to f ine-tune their passing and route-running combinations.

“We missed a lot of time in the spring, just trying to get work on some routes where you might get to run it one time in routes versus air or run it one time during the course of practice,’’ Manning said .“We are imagining different coverages, different techniques, maybe I didn’t work it to him on that side because of the coverage and you say, ‘Hey let’s work now, I didn’t get to throw it to you.’ Just trying to get a few extra reps on things that we haven’t gotten the opportunity to throw those routes in the course of that practice.’’

The Giants had players in for a workout Tuesd ay and signed one of them Wednesday, adding safety Mike Basile to the roster. Basile, undrafted, is Monmouth’ s all-time leading tackler and was the Big South Conference co-Defensive Player of the Year last season. The Brick, N.J., native takes the roster spot opened up when cornerback Teddy Williams asked for and was granted his release to attend to family matters.

This will be the f irst opportunity in a game for Jon Halapio to show he deserves to start at center. He has worked all summer with the f irst team, with Brett Jones assigned to the second-team reps. Halapio played in 10 games as a rookie last season, starting six, but all his action came at guard or on special teams. This will be the first time he lines up at center in a game.

“I think it’s going well,’’ Manning said. “It’s always important to get on the same page as the offensive line, especially the center. There is a lot of communication, just making sure we are picking up blitzes. It’s going really smooth, and I think after every game we will watch film together and get on the same page.’’