What can fans expect out of the New York Giants’ tight ends this season? Your guess is as good as anyone’s, but looking at the personnel in the group and the coaching staff, it’s a good bet they’ll play a prominent role in the offense.
New head coach Joe Judge comes from New England where they had a guy named Rob Gronkowski, one of the most prolific tight ends ever to play the game. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett comes in from Dallas where they had a guy named Jason Witten, who was the most prolific tight end of his era.
Judge hired his old pal, Freddie Kitchens, to run the tight ends this year. Kitchens, as you know, was the head coach in Cleveland last year but he’s no novice when it comes to coaching tight ends. In 2006, he coached the Cowboys’ tight ends under a guy named Bill Parcells. He also coached the tight ends in Arizona from 2007-12.
Under Garrett, you can expect the Giants to line up with two tight ends on many snaps, also known as the 21 formation.
“Last season in Dallas, the Cowboys used 21 personnel on 91 total snaps, but 57 percent of those snaps were running plays that netted 4.9 yards per carry on average,” writes NJ.com’s Matt Lombardo. “Comparatively, the Giants only ran 21 personnel 48 times in 2019, perhaps offering a glimpse of what offensive coordinator Jason Garrett’s scheme might have in store.”
Those two tight ends are likely to be Evan Engram and Kaden Smith, but don’t discount the signing of the massive Levine Toilolo, whose blocking will provide a boost to the running game.
The Giants currently have seven tight ends on their roster, but that number is likely to be cut down when the team assembles for camp this week, as camp rosters will be trimmed to 80 players this summer instead of the usual 90 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here’s who will likely be part of the 80.
Evan Engram
Evan Engram is the primary tight end on the depth chart, but he’s just not big enough to play as an in-line end, so Garrett is likely to get creative with him and likely will be used as a split end a la Jordan Reed, Delanie Walker, Darren Waller etc.
Of course, the Giants would love to see Engram emerge as a workhorse in the mold of Travis Kelce, Zack Ertz and George Kittle. But at this point, the Giants will be happy if the injury-prone Engram can stay healthy for 16 games.
Kaden Smith
Kaden Smith is not the flashiest guy but he’s a smart kid out of Stanford with good hands who knows his role. He’ll have to be able to block, which thus far hasn’t been an issue as far as we’ve seen. He has shown some red zone prowess, and any Giant fan will tell you that is something that is sorely needed.
Smith could take a huge leap this year under Kitchens and Garrett.
Levine Toilolo
Another Stanford product but not in the traditional sense.
The 6-foot-8, 270-pound Toilolo is here to block, taking over the role held by the retiring Rhett Ellison. He’ll catch an occasional pass to keep defenses honest, but he is here for his blocking, something does well and something the Giants sorely need.
Eric Tomlinson
This is Tomlinson’s seventh stop in the NFL since going undrafted out of UTEP in 2015. This is also the 6-foot-6, 263-pounder’s second stint with the Giants. He was cut last year three weeks into the season to make room for linebacker Nate Stupar.
Tomlinson went on to play for New England and Oakland last year after the Giants released him. He’s here to block, make no mistake, but can catch the football if needed.
Others
Not sure why the Giants keep bringing back Garrett Dickerson other than he’s a hustler and a solid special teamer. Also on the roster — for the moment — are 6-foot-7 Canadian project Rysen John and Kyle Markway, an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina. It will be tough for any of these there to make the roster without any preseason games to showcase their ability.
