Giants Have an Unlikely Group of Saviors Keeping the Offense Afloat

How good have the Giants tight ends been in the offense so far? Better than anyone might have anticipated, given the group's initial lack of experience.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Oct 4, 2022 11:20 AM EDT

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New York Giants

At the start of training camp, one could have hardly blamed the New York Giants coaching staff if they were just a little bit giddy over the thought of what the passing offense could be with receivers Kenny Golladay, Sterling Shepard, and Kadarius Toney leading a group that included Collin Johnson, rookie Wan’Dale Robinson, Richie James, David Sills V, and Darius Slayton.

Those dreams of lighting up the scoreboard and burning up NFL fields with speed quickly went down in flames as the injury bug ripped through the unit with the same ease as tearing a piece of tracing paper. Johnson tore his Achilles.

Golladay went from looking like he was about to take off in an offensive system he finally liked to being something of a misfit and now is looking at missing time due to a knee injury.

Toney developed a hamstring issue. Shepard’s comeback from a late-season Achilles injury last year lasted three games before he tore his ACL. And the promising rookie Robinson sprained his MCL, which has caused him to miss three games and counting.

But as NFL coaches always like to say, “Next man up!” and for the Giants, the next man—or make that men—up have been their completely revamped tight end group consisting of rookie Danie Bellinger and veterans Chris Myarick and Tanner Hudson.

Oct 2, 2022; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants tight end Tanner Hudson (88) runs with the ball against Chicago Bears safety Eddie Jackson (4) and cornerback Kyler Gordon (6) during the second quarter at MetLife Stadium.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Want some numbers to chew on? The Giants receivers, which also include Richie James and David Sills V, have caught 46 of 62 pass targets (74.1 percent) for 409 yards, one touchdown, and six drops.

The tight ends? In addition to mostly delivering solid blocking efforts to help the running game, such as a 21-yard touchdown run by Daniel Jones that Hudson led the way on, the group has caught 13 of 16 pass targets (81.2 percent) for 205 yards, two touchdowns, and zero drops.

“I think those guys have made steady improvements,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “I think Coach Bischoff (tight ends coach Andy Bischoff) has done a really good job with those guys. They’re smart. They’re tough. They’re dependable.”

The Giants heavily featured their tight ends in the offensive game plan against the Bears, the strategy working to near perfection as the Giants went on to record a season-high 262 rushing yards in the 20-12 victory.

“We thought that was a good personnel package to use,” Daboll said. “I thought they played well this game for the things we asked them to do.

“In this game, we happened to use a little bit more multiple tight end sets than the previous couple of weeks, but they earned it. That was part of the plan going into the game relative to deciding what we wanted to do and how we wanted to play.”

Daboll has always insisted that the game plan and personnel deployment will change weekly based on the opponent. But after seeing the young, relatively inexperienced group of tight ends do their thing against the Bears, any trepidation the coaching staff might have felt about the group has dwindled.

“These guys have been working their tails off since they’ve been here,” Daboll said. “I think they’re earning the trust of the coaches to put them out on the field more.”