Greetings from your newest Giants football blogger! I’m Patricia Traina, Editor of Inside Football, an accredited, independent publication that covers the New York Giants. From time to time, I’ll pop in to share tidbits, observations, quotes, and other goodies that I collect from my visits to Giants central. I hope you enjoy what I have to offer in the way of information!

For my first blog, here is a quick snapshot of how I thought the Giants’ 2009 draft class looked during this past weekend’s rookie mini camp.

WR Hakeem Nicks: The first rounder came as advertised – very polished. He’s not very tall, but he plays “big.” He’s not afraid to go into traffic and he has good concentration, especially in traffic where he successfully used his body to shield the ball from the defender.

LB Clint Sintim: He worked  on the strong side, and from what I could tell, this kid definitely has a nose for the ball. He diagnosed quite a few plays correctly, though he always wasn’t in a position to make the play. Still he showed great hustle and I think once he puts it all together, he is going to be just fine.

OT Will Beatty: I was surprised to see him exclusively at right tackle as he’s supposedly the future at left tackle. Beatty is a big guy, but he said that they want him to get a little bit bigger. I thought he played a little high at times, but there is definitely some talent there to work with and he does have a very good attitude.

WR Ramses Barden: Definitely a man amongst boys, especially during the 11-on-11s. He still rounds off some routes, but he does a nice job of using his height to his advantage. In fact, they had him running a few corner fades in the end zone.

TE Travis Beckum: I thought he had a quiet camp. He lined up at tight end and at times was split out wide. He also had some problems disengaging from coverage, but the tools are definitely there. He has nice size and did a nice job using his body to shield the ball from the defender on his pass receptions.

RB André Brown: I was very impressed with this young running back. He showed good quickness and vision with finding the hole. I think this kid could be the steal of the draft for the Giants, who got incredible value with this pick.

QB Rhett Bomar: I immediately noticed his unusual throwing style – he has a bit of a side-armed motion. He really zips the ball to his receivers and I think the speed of his passes caught a few guys off guard.  Head coach Tom Coughlin indicated that QB Coach Chris Palmer will work with Bomar to correct his throwing motion.

DeAndre Wright / Stoney Woodson: Of the two drafted corners, I thought Wright was more impressive. In one drill, the defensive backs had to come out of their backpedal, turn around, and make a catch, Wright caught the ball with no problem. Woodson, meanwhile, seemed to fight the ball at times, and tended to leave his feet.

Be sure to stop by at my other “home,” Train-a Thought. You can also follow my Giants updates at Twitter, where my ID is Inside_Football.

Till next time!

Newsday’s NFL beat reporter Bob Glauber is taking questions in a live chat from Giants minicamp right now. The chat began at 2:00. Click here for the live chat.

The Giants kicked off their offseason team activities today at Giants Stadium. All of the beat writers were on hand and provided a ton of tidbits from practice.

- While these practices are just optional, WR Plaxico Burress, DE Osi Umenyiora, LB Antonio Pierce, DE Michael Strahan and TE Jeremy Shockey were the only five players not in attendance today. It is believed that Jeremy Shockey is planning on attending next weeks minicamp (June 11th-13th). David Tyree was in attendance, but did not participate, and instead rehabbed his injured knee inside the building. He is expected to be back at the earliest, the start of training camp in late July. Pierce is on his honeymoon.

- Veteran wideout Amani Toomer appeared to be the player of the day, making circus catches left and right.

- A pair of defensive ends blew past their oppositions when Justin Tuck got around right tackle Kareem McKenzie and newly signed Renaldo Wynn beat backup offensive tackle Guy Whimper.

- Safety Terrance Stringer had a diving interception off the hands of wideout Domenik Hixon.

- On the injury front, tight end Mike Matthews was limited with a shoulder injury. Sixth-round draft choice quarterback Andre Woodson was sidelined with his quad injury from rookie minicamp a few weeks ago. He expects to be back in the quarterback rotation in next week’s minicamps.

- Quarterback Anthony Wright practiced with the second-stringers, while Jared Lorenzen played with the third-stringers. The club is still carrying five quarterbacks at this point with Eli Manning, Woodson and David Carr also on the roster. Expect them to go into training camp with just four.

The defense set up with Justin Tuck, Fred Robbins, Barry Cofield and Dave Tollefson in the front four. Mathias Kiwanuka lined up at strong side linebacker with Chase Blackburn in the middle and Gerris Wilkinson on the other side of him. Aaron Ross and Corey Webster both started at cornerback, while Michael Johnson and James Butler lined up at safety.

- Mathias Kiwanuka feels like he can pick up right where he left off in terms of his development as a linebacker. He would be open to moving back to defensive end if the Giants asked him to.

- Runningback Derrick Ward is 90-95% healed from his broken leg and has not been limited on the field.

- First-round pick safety Kenny Phillips is expected to hear from the Giants regarding an initial offer on his contract. He also deflected a pass on a long ball from Eli Manning intended for Amani Toomer.

Thanks to Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News, Tom Rock of Newsday, and Mike Garafolo of the Star-Ledger for all of the notes.

While these are only minicamps, and any of the players numbers can change, it has been announced that first-round pick, safety Kenny Phillips will be wearing a famous, and recent jersey number. The Giants have given Phillips jersey No. 21 of former Giants running back Tiki Barber.

The rest of the rookies have also been given their numbers. Cornerback Terrell Thomas will wear No. 30, wide receiver Mario Manningham will wear No. 82, linebacker Bryan Kehl will wear No. 53, Jonathan Goff will wear No. 94, defensive end Robert Henderson will wear No. 90 and finally quarterback Andre Woodson will wear No. 3.

With minicamp’s starting tomorrow, the Giants have released the official list of signed undrafted rookie free agents.

Andrew Bain, G, Miami
Camell Stewart, G, LSU
Digger Bujnoch, C, Cincinnati
Dylan Thiry, T, Northwestern
Joshua Muse, DT, Louisiana Tech
Ogemdi Nwagbuo, DT, Michigan State
D.J. Hall, WR, Alabama
Wallace Gilberry, DE, Alabama
Antonio Reynolds, DE, Tennessee
Nehemiah Warrick, S, Michigan State
Eric Butler, TE, Mississippi State
Owen Tolsen, P, Army

Head over to Giants.com to see the jersey numbers for each of the undrafted rookies.