It was a day of mixed emotions for the New York Giants, who early in the morning learned that starting TE Kevin Boss had signed with the Oakland Raiders for a reported four-year, $16M contract. The Giants had hoped to get Boss back, but with that door having closed, they will move forward with Travis Beckum and Bear Pascoe as their top tight ends.

Head coach Tom Coughlin said he heard the news of Boss’ departure shortly before he was scheduled to speak with the media, terming it “disappointing.”

“We were very much involved in that,” Coughlin said of the Giants’ negotiations with Boss. “The decision is the decision. I wish him well.”

“Obviously, we would like to have him here,” he added. “We’ve got five tight ends here, they’re going to have to compete for jobs.”

Beckum, who has always been a tweener/hybrid sort of tight end and thus far has been more of a receiver than blocker, figures to get his chances early and often this training camp.

Pascoe, who bounced around between fullback and tight end last year, said earlier in the day that he’s now spending all of his time with the tight ends.

Behind them are three wild cards in Jake Ballard, Ben Patrick and Christian Hopkins. Ballard was  on the team’s practice squad last year; Patrick was signed as a free agent after four years with the Arizona Cardinals and Hopkins played in the United Football League for the past two seasons.

“[Pascoe’s] bigger, he’s stronger,” Coughlin said. “Ballard, obviously, is here for that job, for one purpose [blocking]. He’s gotten a little bit better with that. We’re continuing to develop Beckum into a consistent player; [he’ll] make a great play and then make a not so good play. So the guys that are here are going to have to prove to us that we can continue and run the offense that we want to run. If we have to make adjustments, we’ll do it.”

A Prince saves the day

Better news came later in the afternoon, as first-round draft pick CB Prince Amukamara finally signed his contract — the last 2011 first-round pick  to do so. Amukamara arrived at the Giants’ Timex Performance Center Friday morning after an early 5:45 AM flight to ink his four-year,  $8.18M contract that contains $7,484,700 in guaranteed money.

With the financials out of the way, Amukamara can turn his full focus to the football field. In the days leading up to his signing, Coughlin’s message to the media regarding the 19^th overall pick in the draft was simple — he better get in here.

“Well I think you’ve got to get him the terminology first, the understanding so that there isn’t something that he’s confused with from a verbalization standpoint,” Coughlin said. “And then you’ve just got to throw it at him. He’s got to come along. You’ll bring him to a point, and you’ll try to assess how he can help us. And then after that, it’s a continuous extra time kind of devoted to getting there as fast as he can. So he’s got a lot of classroom to make up for. You figure four hours a day since he’s been here.”

Giants Lose CB Bruce Johnson

In a return to the bitter news, Coughlin also addressed the injury situation of CB Bruce Johnson, who ruptured his Achilles tendon in practice Thursday night. Johnson was waived/injured today, and he will likely end up on injured reserve this year — after missing 10 games last year with a torn ACL.

“I’m very, very sorry; very sad,” Coughlin said. “Bruce has had two in a row, with the ACL in the knee and the Achilles. We all were stunned by it because, as often happens — which there’s really no reason it should happen — he was backpedalling, he was just doing something of that nature and all of a sudden, this occurs. Why it happens, I always ask myself that. But I feel bad for Bruce.”

Practice Highlights:

• CB Prince Amukamara was on the field as promised, but participated in practice sparingly. After stretching with the team, he went off with the defensive backs to position drills but mainly observed. He also spent some time learning special teams, where coaches had to correct about him where to line up. During the 11-on-11 scrimmages, he initially watched from the sideline before being inserted in the third-string secondary. On one play, he covered WR Todd Watkins step-for-step and QB Sage Rosenfels threw to the other side of the field. Later, though, Watkins got the best of Amukamara, beating him on an in-route and making a catch 15 yards down the field, prompting one fan to shout, “That’s what holdouts get!”
• DE Osi Umenyiora continued to sit out practice, once again beginning on the workout bikes with injured players WR Ramses Barden and OL Adam Koets.
• Speaking of injuries, WRs Domenik Hixon (knee) and Devin Thomas (ankle) both returned to practice after sitting out the night before. Thomas did, however, suffer another injury when he dislocated his finger trying to make a catch.
• CB Darnell Burks, signed earlier in the day to fill Johnson’s roster spot, practiced and wore No. 41.
• The offense began position drills in a two-tight end set, with Travis Beckum and Bear Pascoe on the field. That set was used a lot throughout the practice.
• The Giants have finally moved on from Plaxico Burress, having issued his No. 17 jersey to WR Michael Clayton.
• Speaking of Clayton, he was one of three wide receivers that lined up with the second team. Devin Thomas and Victor Cruz were the others.
• CB Aaron Ross has struggled in pass coverage so far, and this time, it was Domenik Hixon’s turn to burn him on a quick slant move inside that had Ross crossed up and falling over. Ross has also gotten some reps as a kick returner.
• WR Mario Manningham was the inside receiver for the first-team offense. Hixon and Hakeem Nicks were outside.
• DE Justin Tuck has had a terrific camp so far, going hard every snap and serving as the unquestioned vocal leader of the team. Friday night, he knocked one Eli Manning passes down at the line of scrimmage and made it into the backfield on several other occasions.
• On the second snap of the 11-on-11s, the offense lined up without any tight ends in an I-formation. Undrafted free agent Henry Hynoski lined up at fullback.
• Sage Rosenfels had a very inaccurate practice, missing high on several throws and overthrowing many of his deep passes. He continues to receive competition to newly signed David Carr and reserve/future contract signee Ryan Perrilloux.
• Sixth-round pick S Tyler Sash had his first interception of camp, making a great play on a high, floating pass from Rosenfels and timing his jump perfectly. Afterward, Safeties Coach David Merritt ran over to where Sash finished the play (the opposing end zone) and congratulated him by saying, “That’s a heck of a play, Sash!”
• RB Andre Brown seems to be making the most out of every opportunity he’s getting in his second stint with the team. Brown showed good hands catching dump off pass from Rosenfels and made a shifty cut up field that had the defensive players on the sideline oohing and ahhing. Brown also seems to be making a clear point to finish every run, sprinting all-out until the whistle is blown.
• Practice ended on a great play by WR/KR Darius Reynaud, who made a great leaping catch on a 40-yard bomb from Manning. It looked like Reynaud was running a deep post route toward the middle of the field, and as he was running to his right, looked up and switched direction as he leaped to haul it in.