For the New York Giants, “rookie minicamp” is a bit of a misnomer this year…as they’re inviting veteran RBs Corey Clement and Ito Smith and WR/TE Kelvin Benjamin in for tryouts during the minicamp.
Clement, 26, was undrafted out of Wisconsin in 2017 and spent his first four seasons in Philadelphia, running for 655 yards and seven touchdowns and catching 37 passes for 340 yards and two scores. He played 46 games over those four seasons, but his biggest was Super Bowl LII; the then-rookie had four catches for 100 yards and a touchdown (as well as three rushes for eight yards) in the win over New England, marking his only career game with even 100 total scrimmage yards.
Smith, 25, was a fourth-round pick of the Falcons in 2018 and spent three seasons in Atlanta, and over 35 games, he amassed 689 rushing yards, six rushing scores, and 55 catches for 314 yards.
Benjamin, 30, was drafted in the first round (No. 28 overall) in 2014 out of Florida State by Carolina, where Dave Gettleman was the GM at the time, and he had 73 catches for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie.
However, he never again reached that level of production, as injuries – including a torn ACL that cost him all of 2015 – and ineffectiveness saw Benjamin play with three different teams over the next three seasons, and he has been out of football since finishing 2018 in Kansas City. For his career, Benjamin has 209 catches for 3,021 yards and 20 TD in 61 games with the Panthers, Bills, and Chiefs.
Clement or Smith may have an easier time carving out a role, as the Giants’ depth chart at running back behind Saquon Barkley and Devontae Booker is fullback/special teamer Eli Penny, sixth-round pick Gary Brightwell, and a handful of backs with limited to no NFL experience – the most coming from Taquan Mizzell, who played 12 games with the Bears in 2017-18 and has nine career rushing attempts.
As for Benjamin, he was listed as a tight end in information disseminated by the Giants. If he were still a receiver, he would join a crowded room that added free agents Kenny Golladay and John Ross III and first-round pick Kadarius Toney to holdovers Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton, and Dante Pettis.
Tight end may be just as tough of a group to crack, as the team has holdover Evan Engram and free agent addition Kyle Rudolph atop the depth chart, along with Kaden Smith - who has 49 catches in two seasons - and blocking specialist Levine Toilolo among others currently on the camp roster.
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