Odell Beckham Jr.'s agent spotted at Giants training camp

Team Beckham was at Giants camp on Thursday.

Zeke Sandhu, Beckham’s agent, was spotted in the family and friends section during practice as negotiations between the team and the player on a potential contract extension move forward. Sandhu spent most of the time chatting with Giants assistant general manager Kevin Abrams, who handles the contract negotiations for the team. For those who recognized him, Sandhu’s presence created nearly as much of a buzz as Beckham’s did when he reported to camp last week.

Beckham’s father and mother also were seen watching practice. They’ve been to several of the team’s workouts throughout training camp.

Beckham is entering the final year of his rookie deal, and last week Giants co-owner John Mara said negotiations were about to begin and that he would like for Beckham to remain a Giant for “a long time.” On WFAN on Wednesday, Mara was asked if a deal could be in place before the start of the regular season on Sept. 9.

“Depends on how reasonable they want to be,” he said. “I don’t have a feel yet for how long this is going to take. I don’t think we have any deadline imposed on that. We’ll talk as long as it takes…but it’s got to be something that makes sense for both of us.”

SAQUON ON A SNAP COUNT

Saquon Barkley sat out the final 45 minutes or so of practice on Thursday, not because of an injury but so that he would not have one. Pat Shurmur said the rookie running back was removed from the last three periods of team drills in an effort to pace him throughout training camp.

“We’re just managing him like everybody,”  the Giants coach said. “He’s had a really, really big workload, so this was a day that [he sat out] for no reason other than just a little bit of rest.”

The Giants, like many teams in the league, collect reams and reams of data on the players throughout practices. They can tell when a player is beginning to fatigue. Shurmur is privy to that information but said the ultimate influence on such decisions is more old-fashioned.

“I kind of see it, we see it as coaches,” he said of simply watching players perform. “We just gauge how guys are doing physically and give them what they need.”

GIANT STEPS

The Giants moved practice from its normal 2:45 p.m. start to 10:45 a.m. on Thursday so as not to conflict with a concert at MetLife Stadium on Thursday night. They’ll do the same on Friday. Shurmur said that while the initial impetus for the change was the concert, he’s using it as a football teaching tool. “It’s not sudden change but it’s change and they have to deal with it,” Shurmur said. “They have to perform at a high level whether we are playing at 1, 4, 7, playing in the parking lot, on a rooftop, on turf, grass, whatever. Changing the schedule and making them adjust I think is a good thing” ... Cornerback Kenneth Durden had an interception in seven-on-seven drills and is having a strong camp after being waived over the summer and brought back by the Giants.