Giants 2022 UFA Primer: WR John Ross

John Ross has tantalizing speed. But he also continued to have injury-related issues that might leave the Giants better off looking elsewhere for receiver depth.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Feb 24, 2022 10:00 AM EST

In this story:

New York Giants

John Ross WR

Height: 5’11”
Weight: 190 lbs.
Age: 26
NFL Exp.: 5 seasons
College: Washington

The New York Giants, looking to add some deep vertical speed, signed Bengals wide receiver John Ross, the ninth overall pick in the 2017 draft. Ross’s deal was worth $2.25 million with one million guaranteed.

Ross, 5'11", 190 pounds, was originally drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, who fell in love with the former Washington receiver's speed after running a 4.22 40-yard dash in the combine.

Unfortunately, Ross's career didn't unfold as hoped. In four seasons with the Bengals, he recorded 51 receptions, his best season coming in 2019 when he caught a career-high 28 balls, leaving the Bengals to decline his rookie option.

In 2020, he appeared in just three games, recording two receptions after a rocky year in which he spent time on the reserve/COVID-19 list during the summer after leaving camp to care for his son, who tested positive for the virus.

When his contract was up with the Bengals, the two sides couldn't get away from one another fast enough.

2021 Recap

Hoping to make a fresh start with the Giants, Ross’s injury issues followed him to New York. He missed most of training camp with a hamstring injury and was placed on injured reserve during the final roster cutdown period.

When he was activated at the end of September to fill in for Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton, both of whom were injured, Ross flashed that speed that initially drew the Giants. Still, after appearing in 10 games with one start and catching 11 out of 20 pass targets for 224 yards and a touchdown, Ross became something of an afterthought, never getting on the field again after Week 13.

Why Giants Should Keep Him

Ross has a few traits that make him a keeper. For one, he has shown himself to be proficient in the red zone, showing that he can work through traffic, find voids in zone, and make high leverage catches with his hands.

Ross's speed is also a plus because it forces defenders to play off him. He is proficient in angling his body to keep defenders guessing which direction he's going. And he runs excellent routes at this point in his career, having shown the ability to jump into a quicker gear in a snap. Coaches will tell you that they can't teach speed in a player, and Ross has speed--when he's healthy.

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Why Giants Shouldn't Keep Him

With the Giants looking to rebuild their roster, they need to move on from guys who have been habitually injured during their time in the league. Ross, when healthy, has blazing straight-line speed that can amaze, but with that comes availability problems that the Giants just can’t keep putting up with.

To add to that, Ross doesn’t contribute on special teams, despite having done so in college. The Giants need their WRs 4 and 5 to be special teams contributors. And if that's not enough, Ross only managed 42 yards after the catch (out of 424 receiving yards) with the Giants, a stat that suggests that he doesn't quite have that breakaway speed or that ability to separate that the Giants need for their receivers to have.

Ross also has struggled with drops. He has 14 career drops (18.4 percent), and he struggled to outmuscle defenders on contested catches, logging a 36.8 percent career contested catch rate.

Keep or Dump?

Ross was worth taking a flier on for the one-year deal he received, but unfortunately, many of the issues that popped up during his time with the Bengals followed him to the Giants to the point where even when he was healthy later in the year, he was an afterthought.

Simply put, the Giants didn’t get the kind of return on their investment in Ross that they were looking for and would be better off looking to the draft to find a fresher set of legs with a lesser injury history that can also contribute to special teams.