You know who you are and you know what you have been thinking. You are not alone.
With each day, each report, each update that has anything to do with “Hakeem Nicks didn’t work today’’ or “Nicks says he won’t rush back’’ the armor gets dented. That armor, once seemingly invulnerable, doesn’t fit as snugly around Nicks as it once did.
There’s no one around the Giants who doesn’t love Hakeem Nicks. There’s his easy-going demeanor, the ultra-coolness, the soft-spoken politeness, those huge hands snatching the ball out of the air and those deceptive strides knifing through a defensive secondary. He was a first-round pick at receiver who actually panned out for a franchise that doesn’t have much of a track record or success in combining the two.
The echoes of Nicks and the 2011 Super Bowl season, the roars of approval, have diminished, replaced by whispers about his durability. He is a great player, but he needs to play great, something he did not do last season, something fans are wondering whether he will do again as he sorts through various physical aches and pains.
“That’s just some people on the outside looking in,’’ Nicks said yesterday of the doubters, the first time he has spoken to the media as training camp heads into its second week. “They really don’t understand. Hopefully they understand now that coming off a season like last year, just want to be cautious about it, making sure I’m able to perform when it’s really time and when it really counts.’’
The first week of August is not when it really counts. When it comes to the Giants, the first half of the season is usually not when it really counts. The Giants need Nicks for the long haul, and Nicks needs to channel his inner Wallenda in tight-roping between getting on the field and making sure he’s healthy enough to dominate once he’s there.
After all, no one is doing this for the heck of it. Nicks, just 25, is entering the final year of a five-year, $12.5 million rookie deal. He needs to cash in with his next contract, and he will not if he duplicates his injury-slowed 2012 season (53 catches, 692 yards, three touchdowns) dealing with right foot and left knee issues.
That’s why it makes perfect sense when Nicks tweaked his groin on the second day of camp, he determined he wasn’t hurrying back.
“I’m trying to be a little more wiser, knowing the game right now, knowing the business side of things, you kind of want to be smart,’’ Nicks said, not having to explain what “the business side of things’’ means.
Nevertheless, Nicks is a competitor and he realizes how it looks when Victor Cruz and Rueben Randle are making plays at practice and he is standing around and watching.
“At the same time, you don’t want to take advantage of not being able to practice and turn it into a laziness thing,’’ Nicks said. “That’s definitely not the case.’’
A facsimile of Nicks will not help the Giants and it will not boost his worth, to the Giants or any other team if he becomes an unrestricted free agent. General manager Jerry Reese sees Nicks as his top receiver, a top-tier NFL target, but it would be nice if Nicks has the numbers to back up that contention when it comes time to talk deal or no deal.
Nicks said he expects to return “in another day or two,’’ and coach Tom Coughlin said he has heard from team doctors that Nicks should be ready by Tuesday.
Coughlin admits it’s “frustrating’’ to see Nicks sit day after day and he was more than irked when Nicks never had the courtesy to alert him that he wasn’t going to attend any of the offseason organized team activity practices.
Nevertheless, there’s nothing frayed about the player-coach relationship, because you can tell when Coughlin is really peeved and he doesn’t get that way when discussing Nicks. It’s a bit of a strange deal, though, as Cruz just got paid (a five-year, $43 million extension) and is wildly popular and hasn’t missed a game the past two years. Yet Nicks is viewed as the No. 1 receiver, though the past two seasons Cruz has been more productive.
“We always understand our role in the offense, you know the outside receiver is the number one receiver in this offense,’’ Nicks said. “That’s what I’ve been doing since I got here.’’
But that ranking and stature lasts only so long. Cruz is now a fixture and Randle looks as if he’s ready to burst onto the scene in a big way. Nicks needs to get healthy, stay healthy and get busy. Not now, but soon enough.