Young Giants duo embracing rivalry, friendship

New York Giants training camp is featuring a number of matchups that are fascinating onlookers. The well-documented battle between Pro Bowl left tackle Andrew Thomas and Pro Bowl edge rusher Brian Burns has been the main event for the first week of practices.

There’s another mano-a-mano face-off that’s surfaced, however. The one that pits the team’s two first-round draft picks from the last two drafts against one another — cornerback Deonte Banks versus wide receiver Malik Nabers.

Remember that old saying, “Iron sharpens iron?”  Well, we’re seeing it every day at Giants’ practice with these two.

“It’s just the mentality that we want to bring to practice,” Nabers said last week. “I want to go against him, he wants to go against me. So, we’re just trying to make each other better, and by doing that it’s going against each other every day.”

“It’s just a good matchup; I like it,” added Banks. “We’re both competing. We have the same body type. Quickness. We are both quick and fast. It’s fun.”

Nabers vs Banks battle in 1-on-1s pic.twitter.com/6IxhBD320y

— Emory Hunt (@FBallGameplan) July 25, 2024

The trash-talking and one-upmanship between the two has gotten more intense as camp has unfolded. The two former first-round picks apparently like to stick it in each other’s faces. But it’s all for the common good.

“It gets chippy, but you’ve still got to know this is my teammate and this is my brother,” Nabers told The Athletic. “That’s my dog. Me and him are like twins. That’s like my long-lost brother. Me and him can vibe all day together. His competition is my competition, his trash talk is my trash talk.”

Nabers vs Banks, Day 3 #Giants100 pic.twitter.com/i56avuZSx0

— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) July 26, 2024

After practice, Nabers and Banks usually meet up to review the day’s events. After all, it’s a learning process for the two players the team has their future riding on.

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“On the PBU he had, I just wanted to talk to him about how he knew the route was coming,” Nabers said. “After practice, you can give honesty about how you knew.”

“On the release, I kind of beat him too bad,” Nabers said. “When you beat somebody too bad and you’ve got a shorter route, he was already back there. So it’s easy to stop and stop the route. He was telling me, ‘You beat me a little too bad off the line of scrimmage so I was able to stay behind your hips.’ That’s just a lesson for me.”

The friendship is growing as fast as the rivalry. The two chatted about the Olympics after practice as well.

“He was talking about what Olympic sport he could medal in,” Nabers said. “He was saying the long jump. I was like, ‘Nah.’”

At this point, no one would be surprised at the feats of these two players who are working together to make themselves — and the Giants — better.