Friday’s Rookie Report

It didn’t take LB Jonathan Goff long to make an impression during the Giants rookie minicamp. During the first play of 11-on-11 drills, Goff picked off an errant pass from QB Andre’ Woodson and returned it for a big gain. Woodson later had another pass swiped, this one by LB Bryan Kehl on a pass that was batted by CB Darren Barnett.

Despite the two picks, Woodson had a pretty good first practice session with Big Blue. Late in the workout, he rolled out and threw a bullet to tight end Jawad Nesheiwat, a Syracuse product.

“He did fine,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “He did better as we went along.”

“Today was pretty good,” Woodson said. “I threw some really good balls.”

Some of New York’s other top draft picks also caught Coughlin’s eye.

“He can run, he’s big, he’s smart,” Coughlin said of top pick Kenny Phillips. “We like the way he moves.”

Same goes for third-round choice Mario Manningham, who also caught his share of passes. Coughlin noticed a “couple of flashes” from Manningham.

“I made a lot of mistakes out there,” Manningham admitted. “Every practice I’m going to get better.”

In the afternoon, there were two downfield battles between second-round pick Terrell Thomas and Manningham. In the first, Thomas had great coverage and batted the pass away. Manningham captured the second by getting a step or two on Thomas before collecting a TD pass.

Phillips posted his first interception as a Giant when he cleanly collected a tipped throw and started heading in the opposite direction.

One of the non-drafted skill players was especially noticeable during the first day of camp. That was Alabama WR DJ Hall, who caught basically everything in sight, including a beauty of a deep pass from Woodson late in the afternoon session.