Arvell Reese\u2019s college tape passed the lie-detector test.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Giants believed they were getting a rare combination of size and athleticism<\/a> at inside linebacker by drafting Reese with the No. 5 pick<\/a>, but head coach John Harbaugh\u2019s mind is more at ease after overseeing the last of Saturday\u2019s two rookie minicamp practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI thought he moved well,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cHe is 6-foot-4-plus, 240-some pounds. Yet he moves like a smaller guy. He moves his feet. He can flip his hips. Very natural-looking mover off the ball, which was something we saw on tape. We thought we saw, but now we saw it on the practice field, so we feel better about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n While predecessor Brian Daboll annually put the draft class on ice to avoid injury risk during rookie minicamp, Harbaugh threw Reese, fellow first-rounder Francis Mauigoa and the other five picks into individual and 11-on-11 drills. <\/p>\n Harbaugh pulled Reese aside at one point for some one-on-one block-shedding instruction.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cVery serious-minded,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cI don\u2019t think he got one assignment wrong throughout the two days, which is great to see.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rookie linebacker Arvell Reese answers questions from reporters during Giants practice on May 9, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. Noah K. Murray for NY Post<\/p>\n Rookie minicamp is like a \u201cfast rehearsal\u201d to be integrated alongside the veterans in upcoming OTAs, but there have been times in years past when red flags such as quarterback arm strength and the commitment level to practice were quickly raised.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not in this case.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was everything I ever dreamed of,\u201d Reese said. \u201cIt felt good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Reese had 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks in his lone season starting for Ohio State.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI want to show the team right away that I\u2019m one of those guys that would rather be seen and not heard,\u201d Reese said. \u201cEspecially as a rookie, that\u2019s what you have to do. You have to know what you\u2019re doing on the field before you say what you\u2019re about. Just get on the field, minimize mistakes and just show I\u2019m one of those guys that can get better every day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo behind the scenes with Big Blue\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Giants by Paul Schwartz, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n The Giants didn\u2019t expect Reese to be available at No. 5 \u2014 he was the favorite to go to the Jets at No. 2 for much of the predraft process \u2014 but did their homework in case of a surprise.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMost people saw him as an edge rusher. We see him as a stand-up [weakside linebacker],\u201d assistant general manager Brandon Brown said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen the last couple days his ability to command the huddle. That\u2019s the attention to detail and presence part of rookie minicamp.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Reese\u2019s presence made an impression on Giants second-round cornerback Colton Hood when they trained together for the NFL combine.\u00a0<\/p>\n Arvell Reese (52) and cornerback Colton Hood (12) share a laugh \u201cYou see how big he is,\u201d Hood said. \u201cHe came up [to the podium] and probably looked like The Hulk, you know? His physical abilities, and not just that, but he\u2019s a smart football player. He knows football. That\u2019s why he\u2019s going to be a problem, for sure.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson stressed to the scouting department that he wanted his scheme to \u201cbring chaos, be violent, be multiple,\u201d Brown said. Soon enough, Reese will be lined up next to fellow 6-foot-4 inside linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, whose speed and range strengths should complement Reese\u2019s physicality.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou have two guys who are 6-foot-4,\u201d Brown said. \u201cDefending the pass, you\u2019ve got a rim protector, you would say. It\u2019s hard, where you are going to have to layer those throws.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Harbaugh teased Reese\u2019s versatility being used off the ball as well as at defensive end.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if we\u2019re cheating or not,\u201d Harbaugh said, \u201cbut you\u2019ll see him playing over the guard sometimes just by virtue of the call.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Giants coined the \u201cNASCAR\u201d pass rush package during the days of Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Jason Pierre-Paul and Mathias Kiwanuka by sliding Tuck to the inside in 2011. Is it back?\u00a0<\/p>\n Rookie linebacker Arvell Reese answers questions from reporters during Giants football practice. Noah K. Murray for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to marry the rush with the coverage,\u201d Brown said. \u201c[Reese] can do it from multiple alignments. Abdul [Carter] can do it from multiple assignments. You talk about getting your NASCAR package out there and deploying the rush. He gives us versatility and allows us to create chaos and matchups that are in our favor from a defensive standpoint.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Reese credited linebackers coach Frank Bush for preparing him and sixth-round middle linebacker Jack Kelly before rookie minicamp.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe spent a lot of time pouring the playbook into us,\u201d Reese said. \u201cIt\u2019s always fun to me, especially when I think about all those different roles I could play.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He is not alone in feeling the anticipation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arvell Reese\u2019s college tape passed the lie-detector test.\u00a0 The Giants believed they were getting a rare combination of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[47939,34377,9,2683,11,10,22,319],"class_list":["post-226284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-arvell-reese","tag-john-harbaugh","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-giants","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
during Giants football practice. Noah K. Murray for NY Post<\/p>\n