Brand-new toy
Perhaps May 9, 2016, will become a day looked back on as the start of a beautiful football relationship, the day Eli Manning for the first time tossed the ball in the direction of Sterling Shepard.
“He’s a guy who is shifty and athletic,’’ Manning said Monday night at a Guiding Eyes for the Blind event at Mulino’s in White Plains. “It’s tough to say from six routes on air. But I hope he is a young Victor Cruz.’’
None other than Giants general manager Jerry Reese likened Shepard to a young Cruz, a nod to Shepard’s size, hands and playmaking ability that allowed him to star at Oklahoma and made him a second-round draft pick of the Giants. Manning met the rookie receiver Thursday “for a second’’ and got to throw to him four days later. There was no defense on the field and thus no competition. The veteran quarterback is not going to anoint Shepard just yet, but he surely liked what he saw.
“He seems like a very sharp kid, a good kid,’’ said Manning, who also ate lunch with Shepard at the team facility. “He seemed to catch the ball very naturally and run routes, so I’m excited. He seems like a good play-maker and I’m excited to get to work with him and see what he can do.’’
The Giants hope to have Shepard, Odell Beckham Jr. and the real Victor Cruz — coming back from knee and calf surgeries the past two years — on the field together to form a terrific trio for Manning.
“Having Victor back running routes is exciting and having all the weapons out there on the field gets you excited for the upcoming season,’’ Manning said.
Manning also got to meet the first-round pick, cornerback Eli Apple, who he said “seems like a great kid so it’s exciting to get him in there and see if he can help us out.’’
As for now having two Elis on the team, the older one did not call dibs on the name.
“Haven’t really thought about it that way,’’ Manning said. “Never really cared about other people’s names. I don’t know what we’ll do. We’ll figure it out. I have seniority so we can call him E.A. or Apple maybe. I don’t know. Call me Elisha, maybe, switch to my official full name. I dunno.’’
Eli Apple’s mother, Annie Apple, has become a Twitter sensation. Manning knew all about it, even though he is not on social media.
“I got my mom a Twitter account now so she can help out and add to the mix,’’ Manning said. “I probably haven’t seen everything that’s out there, but as long as it’s not a distraction for him or the team it shouldn’t be a problem.’’
The Giants signed four players who attended last weekend’s rookie minicamp on a tryout basis, including QB B.J. Daniels, a 2013 seventh-round draft pick of the 49ers who has spent time with the Seahawks and Texans. Daniels, 26, played at South Florida. He appeared in six games (but did not throw a pass) last season for the Seahawks and played in two games last season for the Texans, throwing two passes, completing one for 6 yards. Daniels also caught two passes and returned five punts.
Also signed: WR Kardon Boone (LSU), WR Donte Foster (Ohio) and DE Ishaq Williams (Notre Dame). To make room on the roster, the Giants trimmed four players: WR Ben Edwards (waived/ injured), QB Josh Woodrum, LB James Morris and TE Cedrick Lang.