EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- With training camp set to open Thursday, change is in the air at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center. It really always is with coach Ben McAdoo around.

The status quo is unacceptable. Putting a fifth trophy in the case remains the overall goal for the New York Giants, but on a micro-scale the message needs to be fresh and the program altered. After all, this is a coach who, along with his staff, kept a running list last year on what they could do better. The list had hundreds of ideas and recommendations upon its completion.

Some were installed this spring. Others will be instituted this summer when they return for training camp.

The Giants' goal this coming season is to get a little better each day. Their motto is "Make Gains: 1%." The slogan was even plastered on T-shirts distributed to the players this spring.

The idea is that every day the Giants should at least be making minimal gains. No steps backward. Progression is imperative on a daily basis if they intend to accomplish their ultimate goal, even though they finished 11-5 last season and made the playoffs for the first time in five years.

This thinking holds true throughout training camp, where the plan is for the Giants to commit 1 percent more each day in camp. Apparently that equals gains of 14 minutes, 24 seconds compared to last year.

McAdoo also plans to get more efficient by shortening each night by one minute as camp progresses. Giants training camp is July 27-Aug. 15.

There were already changes instituted in the spring (shorter classroom sessions, a new nutritionist, a position flex period, among others) and there will be more this summer. The idea is to keep things fresh. Expect the unexpected.

The players see it as a positive.

"I like the change [McAdoo] had at OTAs with the opportunity meeting," All-Pro safety Landon Collins said. "They won't let me play running back, but it was a good change to give everyone a little job to do something different and get different aspects of the game.

"I don't know what is going to happen in Year 2 of the [McAdoo] camp, but definitely looking for some kind of change. It keeps it exciting."

McAdoo called it a position flex period. It should be noticeable to fans this summer when linebackers are playing tight end, wide receivers are playing cornerback and, maybe, safeties get a crack at running back.

All these tweaks are done with a purpose.

"The more you can do in this league, the greater chance you have to stick," McAdoo said during minicamp. "We're giving players the opportunity at the end of practice to grow and play multiple positions. We call it our position flex period and they've taken to it."

The changes last year were drastic given that it was McAdoo's first year and camp. Even though he kept some of what Tom Coughlin had installed throughout his 12-year regime -- such as the clocks remaining five minutes ahead on Coughlin Time -- there was a noticeable difference to his program. There were new drills, a fresh schedule, a different off day and a radically different strength and conditioning program.

The players are expecting more tweaks than radical change this summer and season. And they expect them to be coming from that list from last season.

"I feel like you have to make it a little bit different because you look at the season we had last year and you have to add some of the stuff we need to work on," wide receiver Sterling Shepard said Saturday while hosting the Hyundai Youth Football Camp in New Jersey. "He'll probably put more emphasis on some of the stuff we need to work on but I don't see that being drastically different."

That begins with protecting the football or, as McAdoo and the Giants like to say, "Protecting the Duke." They didn't do a good job of it last season, when they were tied for 21st in turnover differential. Only six teams committed more turnovers last season. It would hardly be surprising to see more and revised ball-protection drills this summer.

This is how McAdoo operates. He locates inefficiencies, consults his staff and lays out a blueprint. They then stick with it throughout the summer or season.

The Giants even have a plan in place to combat what is perceived as a difficult schedule. They have three West Coast trips during a seven-week stretch late in the year (although none are back-to-back) and travel more miles in the second half than they did all of 2016.

McAdoo has told people in and around the building he wants to use this year's schedule to the Giants' advantage. It's not going to be easy but he's going to try by giving players more days off, having more "REM days" to maximize sleep on the most important days of the week, and putting additional emphasis placed on hydration, nutrition, mental conditioning and training loads. The hope appears to be that the Giants' extra emphasis on these areas will allow them be fresh as the 2017 season meanders into the New Year.

Change is viewed as a positive with Ben McAdoo around.