Wide receiver Hakeem Nicks’ is expected to participate in the New York Giants mini-camp today, according to the team’s quarterback Eli Manning.
Manning reported that he has been exchanging texts with Nicks. Nicks’ absence from Giants OTA’s has not gone unnoticed. Head coach Tom Coughlin was outspoken in his displeasure with Nicks over these last couple of weeks.
“He should be here,” said Coughlin, after the Giants first day of OTA’s. “I expect everybody here. We’re trying to get our team better.
“It’s a tough situation,” Eli Manning said later that week. “You always want everybody there, and you want them back here for practice as soon as possible. I’m not going to say this is not an important time, because I think it is, but it’s kind of a tough situation.”
Nicks’ agent has denied earlier reports that the wide receiver skipped OTA’s because of unhappiness with his contract. While Nicks was expected to be with his teammates when OTA’s began, the bottom line is that OTA’s are mandatory workouts.
“You deal with some of this, pretty much on a yearly basis, Coughlin said. “And it’s a product of our system and that’s the way it is. I can complain all I want, but nevertheless, it is our system.”
June 11 marks the start of mandatory team activities, and the Giants are hopeful that Nicks will not go back on his word as the team preps for 2013.
