Giants wide receiver Cody Latimer was the Denver Broncos’ second-round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, entering the league with the lofty expectations that come with being chosen so high.

Latimer, though, quickly proceeded to rest on his laurels.

“Coming into the league, having a lot of money, I wasn’t focused,” Latimer said. “It took me years to get settled. It took me getting benched. It took me getting kicked off the field — because I didn’t know what I was doing a couple times — to learn. Year 3 was the year that really caught on: ‘This is what I’m supposed to do, this is how I’m supposed to study, this is how I’m supposed to prepare.'"

Now, entering his second year with the Giants, Latimer has made a conscious effort to ensure that their young receivers don’t start their careers as poorly and immaturely as he did.

That is an especially important mission in this training camp because the Giants’ banged-up (and Odell Beckham-lacking) receiver room might need to lean on fifth-round pick Darius Slayton and undrafted rookie Reggie White Jr.

“People don’t really look at us,” Latimer said of the Giants’ healthy receivers, including Bennie Fowler and Russell Shepard. "We’re underdogs, or whatever, but I think it will show itself this year because you see guys making plays in practice all day.”

At Indiana, Latimer was a standout, catching 135 passes for 2,042 yards and 17 touchdowns. However, when he arrived in Denver, Latimer soon found out that he’d need to quickly adapt if he planned on sticking in the NFL.

Through the first four years of his career, Latimer was a special teams ace, but saw limited offensive production with the Broncos, catching just 35 passes for 445 yards and two touchdowns.

While Latimer struggled to find himself, he came to admire the work ethic of the undrafted special teamer Fowler (who arrived in 2014 and also joined the Giants last summer) and third-round pick Emmanuel Sanders.

“Those were guys that I looked up to,” Latimer said. “They were supposed to look up to me, because I was drafted, but it was me looking up to them and watching them work and how they prepare every day gives us that dog mentality.”

Latimer, who got married in June, credits the advice from former Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, the hard times in Denver, and his family (wife Jaimee and son Jacoby) for helping him find the focus and commitment he needed to turn his career around.

“My son and my wife, that’s what honestly changed me," Latimer said. “Nowadays, I try to pass it on to the young cats here every single day. I check in on them every single day, make sure they’re studying, because it’s the little things. We can all actually play football. That’s our God-given talent. But it’s mental and the little things that matter. That’s what I’ve learned.”

Latimer, entering his fifth NFL season, has risen up the Giants’ depth chart and is now running with the first-team offense, after Sterling Shepard broke his thumb and Corey Coleman tore his ACL during the first practice of training camp.

Still, Latimer relies on the toughness necessary to thrive on special teams — he is in the mix for the Giants’ kickoff returner job — as he hopes to emerge as one of their top two wide receivers at the start of the season. Fowler and Shepard, an undrafted journeyman receiver, also are valuable special teams players.

“We’re all just a bunch of hungry guys," Latimer said. “Watching the emotion that they bring motivates me. Me and Bennie have been competing for years now. Watching him every day, he never slouches.”

Part of what has pushed Latimer is watching Shepard and Fowler approach the game differently than he did early in his career, when the Broncos had so much more invested in him than the Giants do in these guys. And he hopes Slayton and White, as young receivers, notice.

“They’ve always been hungry, always been the underdog,” Latimer said.

Matt Lombardo may be reached at MLombardo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardoNFL