As New York Giants training camp rolls on, the team’s roster is still in flux. With the first Giants preseason game looming against the Detroit Lions on Friday, August 11, head coach Brian Daboll and his staff have some tough decisions to make. Several players on the bubble could get cut if they don’t perform well in the next few weeks. Here are four Giants players on the roster bubble who must shine in the preseason, including wide reciever Sterling Shepard.

WR Sterling Shepard

The wide receiver room is standing room only right now in Giants training camp. The team currently has more than a dozen players at the position under contract.

What we know so far, ahead of the first Giants preseason game, is that Isaiah Hodgins, Wan'Dale Robinson, Parris Campbell, Darius Slayton, and Jalin Hyatt are locks to make the team. That likely leaves two spots for Cole Beasley, David Sills, Jamison Crowder, Collin Johnson, or Sterling Shepard.

Beasley is a slot specialist that Brian Daboll knows and loves from his time with the Buffalo Bills and Collin Johnson is coming off an Achilles tendon tear, but he is 6-foot-6 and has shown potential. Plus, the 25-year-old Johnson offers more on special teams than the 30-year-old Shepard.

Shepard is the longest-tenured Giants player still on the roster and one of the last true connections to the Eli Manning Era. Still, that’s not enough to keep the WR on the team if he doesn’t show out in the preseason and rip the spot away from someone else.

OL Shane Lemieux

Shane Lemieux was supposed to be the Giants’ starting guard last season, but injuries limited him to just one game last season after playing just one game the season before and 12 as a rookie in 2020.

While Lemieux was working to get healthy this offseason, the Giants were beefing up their interior offensive line. The team drafted center John Michael Schmitz and signed center JC Hassenhauer (now on IR with a torn triceps) and guard Sean Harlow.

It now looks like Ben Bredeson and Mark Glowinski will start at the guard spots, with Joshua Ezeudu, Jack Anderson, Marcus McKethan, Wyatt Davis, Harlow, and Lemieux all fighting for two backup spots.

The silver lining here is that the Giants are giving Lemieux a chance in the preseason to work at center to fill in for Hassenhauer after his injury. However, if Lemieux doesn’t pick up the new position quickly and stay healthier than he’s ever been, then he could be out when the final 53-man Giants roster solidifies.

RB James Robinson

Poor James Robinson. The 2020 undrafted free agent rushed for over 1,000 yards for the Jacksonville Jaguars as a rookie, but since then, he hasn’t been able to get a firm hold on an NFL job, thanks in large part to a torn Achilles at the end of the 2021 season.

In 2022, the Jaguars traded him to the New York Jets, and then the New England Patriots signed and released him this offseason. Now he gets a chance with the Giants, and unless he has a monster preseason, he likely won’t stick on the roster.

Now that the Saquon Barkley drama is over, the backup running back spot will go to the winner of the battle between veteran Matt Brieda and rookie Eric Gray. The other player will likely become RB3, while Giants back Gary Brightwell is a young player the team likes and is a valuable special teams contributor.

This all adds up to Robinson getting the boot once cuts start unless he somehow quickly rediscovers his 2020 form.

CB Darnay Holmes

Maybe the toughest position battle on the Giants in training camp is at the cornerback position.

Adoree’ Jackson, first-round pick Deonte Banks, and Cor’Dale Flott are the presumed starters, while Darnay Holmes, Aaron Robinson, Nick McCloud, and sixth-round pick Tre Hawkins are also competing for spots.

Holmes was a solid player for the Giants last season and was supposed to compete with Flott for the starting slot corner role this preseason. However, Robinson, McCloud, and Hawkins are all outplaying Holmes, and Jackson is actually playing a lot of slot corner with Banks and Flott on the outside.

This means that Holmes, the second-highest-paid CB on the Giants’ roster behind Jackson, could be the player who doesn’t make it to Week 1.

In the coming preseason games, Holmes needs to be a lock-down player in the slot and hope that Banks, Flott, or Hawkins falters a bit so that Jackson has to move back out. If this doesn’t happen, though, look for Holmes to be a shocking cut.