MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — With most of their starters in street clothes, the Giants spent a humid Saturday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium sorting out the back of their roster rather than tuning up the front of it. Some players helped themselves. Tyrone Tracy Jr. did not.
The Giants won 26-3 with little difficulty. For Tracy, a third-year running back who produced on two bad teams, the game extended a preseason he will want to forget.
Devin Singletary started in the backfield, with Cam Skattebo among the frontline offensive players held out alongside quarterback Jaxson Dart. Tracy came in on the second series and stayed on for the third.
He ran for 11 yards, then cut hard to his left for 12 more. Then, at the Miami 10-yard line, he lost the football without being touched. Jackson Woodard recovered it.
As the first quarter ran out, Tracy stood by himself on the sideline, looking up at the sky.
“There’s a lot of guys fighting for jobs on this team,” coach John Harbaugh said afterward. Asked whether the fumble had damaged Tracy’s chances of making the roster, he said: “I’m not commenting on that.”
Singletary and Winston make their case
Singletary answered on the next possession, finishing a 71-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown run to the right. The 28-year-old carried eight times for 40 yards after an impressive camp.
“He played like he always plays,” Harbaugh said. “One of the most consistent players you’re ever going to see.”
Jameis Winston handled the entire first half at quarterback, going 15-for-21 for 150 yards and running in an 11-yard touchdown. Dart, who was sharp in Thursday’s joint practice with the Dolphins, was not needed.
“He was in control, he ran the show, he’s poised in the pocket,” Harbaugh said of Winston. “It’s a great thing to have a quarterback like that as your No. 2.”
Darius Slayton, back from surgery to repair a sports hernia and quiet for most of the summer, caught four passes for 58 yards. “That was big,” Harbaugh said. “Honestly, I needed to see that.” Odell Beckham Jr. added two catches.
A crowded backfield
The fumble was not Tracy’s first misstep of the summer. In the preseason opener against the Vikings he missed a blitz pickup and Dart took a heavy hit.
The Giants did not frame their signing of Najee Harris as a response to that play, but it changed the math in the running back room. Harris, who opened his career with four straight 1,000-yard seasons in Pittsburgh, is working back from an Achilles tear suffered on Sept. 21 with the Chargers. He took snaps in Thursday’s joint practice but did not play Saturday.
Harbaugh has also praised Eric Gray’s camp. Skattebo is safe, and Singletary appears to be as well.
Tracy, a fifth-round pick in 2024, rushed for 839 and 740 yards in his first two seasons and cleared 1,000 yards from scrimmage in both. Under a new coaching staff, that history counts for less than what he shows now.
He finished Saturday with six carries for 26 yards and three receptions for 22 yards.
Reporting in this story is based on coverage by the New York Post from Hard Rock Stadium and on postgame comments from Giants coach John Harbaugh. The photograph is a stock file image, not a photograph of the game described.
