Joe Martinek, the former Rutgers running back currently participating in New York Giants rookie mini-camp as an undrafted free agent, said recently that he hoped to open some eyes during the three-day mini-camp.
Martinek may be on the way to doing just that. The 5-foot-11, 224-pound Martinek showed some versatility during the two Friday practices, catching some passes and looking crisp on a handful of running attempts.
[Related: All Of Friday’s Transcripts]
The Giants seem intrigued by the varied skill the New Jersey native offers. Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride was asked Friday if Martinek was a halfback or a fullback, and seemed to indicate he is a little of both.
“We’re obviously playing him at fullback now and [we’ll] see what he can do, but that fullback position is so versatile depending on who it is that’s playing. If it’s Madison Hedgecock, we did certain things with him. Last year we did a few more things, but if he ever became the fullback I think he would probably expand some of the movement in terms of taking him out of the backfield, putting him in that detached position that sometimes the tight ends will go to and see if he can catch the ball and do some things,” Gilbride said. “But you’re asking is he going to be the one back runner. I don’t necessarily project him as the tailback behind a fullback, but certainly if we’re going two-tights or three-wides and he’s the single back. We’ll explore that down the road, but this camp obviously it’s just going to be just in the fullback.”
The fact that he was playing fullback seemed like news to Martinek, who told reporters he “was playing running back today.”
There are two more practices on Saturday that are open to reporters, but closed to the public.