The New York Giants have a fairly talented group at wide receiver heading into camp but some questions still linger? Who is their No. 1? They seem to have three No. 2s on their roster, so it will be interesting to see who emerges as the team’s top wideout.
They bypassed drafting a wide receiver in this year’s NFL Draft and missed out on some premium talent as this was one of the deepest wide receiver classes in recent memory.
That aside, they still have to play the season and here’s how the unit lines up…
Golden Tate
The soon-to-be 32-year-old will be entering his 11th season this fall and by what we’ve seen he’s still a viable option in the passing game.
Tate’s Giants career got off to a rocky start when he was suspended for the first four games of the 2019 season after violating the NFL’s PED policy. It took him awhile to get in sync with rookie quarterback Daniel Jones. Once they got used to one another, Tate reeled in 49 receptions for 676 yards and six touchdowns in 11 games.
Prorate that over 16 games, that’s 71 catches for 983 yards and nine scores. Tate is the closest thing the Giants have to a No. 1 although his days as a deep threat are likely behind him.
Sterling Shepard
Shepard received a four-year extension before the 2019 season began and was poised to take over some of the targets that were left on the table by the Odell Beckham Jr. trade.
Shepard did lead the team in receptions (57), but only averaged 10.1 yards per catch. Two concussions limited him to 10 games and even though he’s a gamer, one wonders how that affected his play down the stretch.
Shepard and Tate are very similar in style and both work better in the slot than they do on the outside.
Darius Slayton
Slayton, a fifth-round selection out of Auburn last year, showed flashes of becoming a star as he led the Giants in both touchdowns (8) and receiving yards (740).
Slayton forged a rapport with Jones that was unmistakable. They clicked and imaginations began to run wild. The Giants hope that relationship blossoms further this season and Slayton becomes the outside deep threat they really need.
Fourth receiver
The Giants have a load of underachieving veterans and special teams players that can “David Tyree” their way into the offense.
Corey Coleman, Da’Mari Scott and Cody Core will all be given an ample shot at earning the role. They’ll be challenged by three players they had on their practice squad last year (David Sills, Alex Bachman, Amba Etta-Tawo) and this year’s rookie free agents: Austin Mack, Binjimen Victor and Derrick Dillon.
Anything can happen here and I don’t know anyone who is predicting who will win this derby.
Other options
When running Saquon Barkley and tight end Evan Engram are healthy, they will get the lion’s share of the targets as they are the Giants’ two most explosive players. That leaves a lot less on the table for the wideouts.
The Giants also signed Dion Lewis in free agency, so there’s a lot of mouths to feed on this offense. That’s a good thing for the Giants but not for the players themselves. The wide receivers may not need to go beyond four deep on this roster.
Barkley and Engram could find themselves lining up as receivers on certain plays to exploit some mismatches. Maybe the Giants knew what they were doing when they chose not use any of their ten selections in this year’s draft on a wideout.
