NY Giants training camp: Predicting 6 camp battles

The New York Giants 2026 training camp is just a week away.

In previous years, it’s seemed like the roster was pretty much set by the time that year’s draft wrapped up. There were a few opportunities for competition in training camp, but for the most part we knew what the roster and depth chart would look like.

That doesn’t appear to be the case for 2026.

As things stand now, there is the potential for competition across the roster in John Harbaugh’s first year. Some position groups are likely set, but there are plenty where it remains to be seen just how the depth chart takes shape. We could be in for some real surprises once the preseason wraps up and final cutdowns are made.

So, just for fun, we’ll take a stab at predicting how some of the most important camp battles could play out.

Cornerback

Deonte Banks is again fighting for a starting cornerback job, but with a couple of key differences from last season.

To start, this time he’s the underdog fighting for a spot. Last year, he was the incumbent starter trying to fight off Cor’Dale Flott, who was trying to win a big second contract. This year, it was widely assumed that either Greg Newsome II or Colton Hood would take the starting job across from Paulson Adebo.

The second difference is that the Giants have returned to the type of defense that Banks was drafted to play in.

And so Banks has made a fight of it, earning starting reps through OTA’s and mini-camp. The training camp battle for the starting job seems to be Banks against Newsome, while Hood is developing on the second team.

Prediction:

Banks wins the starting job. I wouldn’t have predicted this a few months ago, but we’ve seen enough reports of him being a top performer in practices to think that he’s taking well to the new scheme and coaching. If so, his elite athletic traits and ability to force tight coverages work well with what Wilson wants to run. Likewise, Banks has primarily played the left side, which would allow Paulson Adebo to stick to the right side.

Kicker

Kickers are people too! And considering how important the kicking game has been to the Giants over the past few years, this definitely deserves to be mentioned early in our rundown.

This camp battle is a straight-up kicker’s duel between undrafted rookie Dominick Zvada and wily veteran (of three games) Ben Sauls. Zvada comes into training camp with the perceived lead in the battle, as he has been the Giants’ most consistent kicker throughout the off-season program. That said, Sauls was perfect on field goals (8 for 8) and extra points (7 for 7) in three games for the Giants a year ago.

Prediction:

Zvada wins the competition outright. Sauls being reliable on gameday counts for a lot in his favor. Teams have little patience for inconsistent specialists, and Sauls being reliable in the regular season has to be considered. However, he hasn’t been consistent through the spring, and he won’t have much hope if he can’t be consistent in camp. Zvada, meanwhile, was inconsistent at Michigan last year — granted, that was a nightmare season for the program as a whole. However, he was truly elite in 2024, going 7-7 on attempts over 50 yards and his only miss being a blocked kick.

His leg strength and consistency this spring and summer carry the day.

It’s also worth noting that both players are also competing against every kicker who is in danger of being cut after the preseason as well.

Wide receiver

The Giants have a spectacularly crowded wide receiver room. This isn’t so much a camp battle, as a scrum to not only see how the depth chart shakes out, but which of the 14 receivers on the Giants’ 90-man roster will even make the final 53-man roster.

Malik Nabers is entrenched at the top of the depth chart, while rookie Malachi Fields and veteran Darius Slayton are all but locks to make the roster. But there are nothing but questions everywhere else. The Giants have questions as to who will be the other starting receivers apart from Nabers, who will fill out the depth chart, and who will be special teams contributors.

Prediction:

• Malik Nabers starts the season on the PUP list.
• Darnell Mooney, Darius Slayton, and Malachi Fields are the Giants’ (initial) top 3 receivers.
• Calvin Austin, Odell Beckham Jr., and Braxton Berrios round out the initial depth chart.

Defensive tackle

Much like the wide receiver position, the Giants have a lot of defensive tackles but few clear answers as to how this position shakes out.

The Giants currently have 11 true defensive linemen on their roster (12 if you count Chauncey Golston), with plenty of opportunities for players to earn rotational or even starting jobs. The Giants’ plans at defensive tackle suddenly went sideways after Dexter Lawrence demanded a trade. Now it seems as though they plan to stock the front with space-eaters while their athletic linebackers and edge defenders create pressure and chaos.

Prediction:

• DJ Reader is the starting nose tackle, as expected. Rookie Bobby Jamison-Travis emerges as the second nose tackle
• Darius Alexander and Sam Roberts emerge as the starting defensive tackles alongside Reader, with Shelby Harris and Golston playing a rotational role.

Third safety

There are probably some fans muttering “Really? Third safety? Who cares about that?” right now.

The answer is “NFL Defenses”, particularly those in the “Ravens 2.0” mold. That means that the battle between Ar’Darius Washington and Jason Pinnock could become one of the most important in Giants’ camp. Having a versatile nickel defender who fits the “STAR” mold is key to the type of defense Harbaugh and Dennard Wilson want to run.

Washington filled that role for the Ravens in 2024 and played exceptionally well. Jason Pinnock, meanwhile, played relatively well in Wink Martindale’s scheme (the Ravens 2.0 scheme’s immediate antecedent) for the Giants in 2022 and 2023. Washington more fully blends safety and cornerback skills, but Pinnock is a bigger player.

Prediction:

Ar’Darius Washington wins the third safety job outright and becomes a fan favorite. Not only does he have experience playing under Dennard Wilson and John Harbaugh, but we’ve seen him do so at a very high level. Jason Pinnock is a solid safety and a useful player to have around as high-level depth. However, Washington was playing at a near-elite level before being injured and could become one of the pivot players who allows the Giants to field a dynamic modern defense.

Left guard

So far, Jon Runyan Jr. has been the clear starter at left guard, with Daniel Faalele, Joshua Ezeudu, Evan Neal, and Aaron Stinnie filling out the depth chart. However, Runyan Jr. doesn’t really fit the mold for the type of blocking schemes Greg Roman uses in his run play designs.

Complicating matters is the fact that Runyan carries an $11.75 million cap number, and cutting him would create $9.25 million in cap space. That would almost double the Giants’ cap space and give them the flexibility to sign players in the event of injury or perhaps even maneuver on the trade market.

All of that means that a camp battle may in fact materialize once the pads go on and linemen can start run blocking for real.

Prediction:

Runyan becomes a cap casualty, with Faalele assuming the left guard spot. Faalele has experience blocking for Harbaugh as well as playing in Greg Roman’s schemes. It would also reunite Faalele with his former teammate John Michael Schmitz, who was his linemate at Minnesota from 2018 to 2021.

It seems highly unlikely right now that Evan Neal will make real noise in his quest to continue his NFL career with the Giants; it’s possible that could change once the pads go on. He remains a massively powerful man with good feet for a guard and real ability as a run blocker. He could be a dark horse.