After sitting out for a good portion of the offseason program while allowing his broken foot to heal completely following an injection procedure, Prince Amukamara is slowly making strides on the field in this three-day veteran mini-camp.
“They are letting him [go] up to a point and he is out there competing,’’ Tom Coughlin said. “It is a whole different year for him, really. He is doing a good job. Hopefully he is going to continue.’’
The Giants are counting on Amukamara to step into the No. 3 cornerback role this season behind starters Corey Webster and Terrell Thomas, who is coming off major knee surgery. Amukamara entered his rookie season with virtually no professional on-field experience, because the lockout robbed him of all the OTA work and a broken foot forced him to miss nearly all of training camp and the first nine games of the season.
“If he gets himself in position where he is comfortable and knows what he is doing, we have seen that other aspect — the physical part of the play,’’ Coughlin said. “As a collegiate player, that is what he was. He was a physical player.’’
* TE Travis Beckum on Tuesday ran for the first time to test his surgically repaired ACL and followed that up yesterday with some jogging in place.
“Just a feeling that I hadn’t felt in a while, kind of weird just because of the whole patella situation, kind of felt something on my patella, as far as like right where my scar was,’’ Beckum said. “I’m assuming it was just breaking up the scar tissue but my knee feels great.’’
Beckum is noticeably bulkier and said he weighs 242 pounds, up 10 pounds from a year ago.
“It’s really hard for me to gain weight so I’m actually really excited about this,’’ Beckum said. He is trying to eat more and eat healthier but admitted, “I have the worst sweet tooth ever. Whether it’s candy, the fried foods, I always go out to eat. Double cheeseburgers with Mac sauce from McDonald’s.’’
* DE Justin Tuck has a new and fairly fearsome-looking facemask but, it’s not the one Jason Pierre-Paul likes best. “I really like Chris [Canty’s] facemask, it looks super mean,’’ said Pierre-Paul, who described his own facemask as “a simple one.” … DE Osi Umenyiora practiced after sitting out Tuesday because of soreness. … Corey Webster won’t see the field during this mini-camp because of a lingering hamstring issue. … Eli Manning could have been intercepted three times if not for some slippery hands by Giants defensive backs. Rookie CB Jayron Hosley and S Stevie Brown dropped Manning passes in their hands and S Antrel Rolle deflected away a pass to Domenik Hixon in a red zone drill.