Connor Davis, former SBU tight end, hopes Giants will give him a shot

There is the 90-man roster each NFL team maintains throughout the offseason, filled with veterans and rookies, from which they’ll eventually whittle down to 53 for the start of the season in the fall.

Then there is the other list. The one that each general manager and personnel department keeps to the side for emergency situations. Players 91 through whatever. That’s the one Connor Davis is hoping to land on after this weekend.

The tight end from Stony Brook University is at Giants rookie minicamp as a tryout, getting what could be his one and only shot at the NFL. The chances are slim that he’ll be added to the roster Sunday when the Giants make a few tweaks to the bottom of their depth chart. But Davis is hopeful that at some point, the Giants might need a player and give him a call.

“If somebody goes down, they say, ‘Can we bring this guy in to fill a spot?’ ” Davis said Saturday. “That’s what I’m looking to do this weekend, no matter how the weekend goes, to leave the impression that I can be someone they can rely on to play.”

Whether he sticks around — or ever gets asked back — remains to be seen. And maybe it doesn’t even matter, really. Davis said he’s having a blast with the experience.

“All of the training I’ve been doing, all the time I’ve been putting in, this is the reward,” he said. “It’s an opportunity, which is all you can ask for. It’s just an opportunity to step on the field and show what you can do and compete at this level.”

Lauletta impresses

Shurmur was equally impressed by rookie quarterback Kyle Lauletta in his debut practice.

“You can tell by the way he handles his business that he’s going to be able to pick everything up very quickly,” Shurmur said. “He’s very smart, he’s in the building early, he was here late. He understands how to study, so to speak. When he’s on the field here when you’re coaching him, a lot of times in coaching, it’s kind of like a quick drive-by. You want to make a point and keep moving. He’s able to take it in and run with it. So I thought it was a good first day.”

Shurmur went on to say that he thinks Lauletta will be a strong addition to a quarterback room that will also include Eli Manning and Davis Webb.

“You want really good players in there trying to get better each day and then helping one another get better,” Shurmur said. “I think seeing the way he functioned in day one, he’s going to really add to that room.”

CFL’S top pick with Giants

Saquon Barkley isn’t the only high draft pick participating in the rookie minicamp this week. Wide receiver Mark Chapman is here as a tryout just a week after he was the first overall selection in the Canadian Football League draft, taken by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Because he has dual citizenship — his mother was born in Canada — Chapman was eligible for the CFL draft. If the Giants do not sign him, he’ll report for training camp with the Tiger-Cats later this month. In the meantime, Chapman has the blessing of his new CFL team as he tries to impress this NFL team.

“They told me to give it a shot and to give it my all, same with my family,” Chapman said. “They said that they were rooting for me and that whatever happens, happens, but they are behind me in my decision to attend the camp.”

Giant steps

Defensive end R.J. McIntosh, the team’s fifth-round pick, has not participated in rookie minicamp with a “minor medical condition.” He said he expects to be ready by the veteran minicamp in mid-June . . . Third-round pick DT B.J. Hill said he was glad to have the never-ending predraft exercises behind him. “You don’t have to worry about the 40, the shuttle and all that stuff,” he said of practices this weekend. “You’re actually putting your hand in the dirt, attacking people and doing your job, playing football. Finally. It felt wonderful.”

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.