How the Giants Might Compensate for the Loss of Daniel Bellinger in the Offense

It won't be easy for the Giants to replace tight end Daniel Bellinger in the offense. But here's a look at how they might approach the challenge.

Author:
Brandon Olsen
Publish date:
Oct 25, 2022 2:22 PM EDT

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New York Giants

The New York Giants win over the Jacksonville Jaguars was costly as offensive linemen Evan Neal, and Ben Bredeson both suffered knee injuries that will likely result in missed time.

But the most serious of the injuries the Giants suffered was the poke in the eye suffered by rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger, who needs surgery to fix a broken orbital bone and septum.

Bellinger was injured on his only reception of the day when after catching the ball, he was accidentally poked in the eye by linebacker Devin Lloyd, who was trying to punch the ball out of the tight end's hands. Bellinger immediately brought his hands to his face as he wriggled in pain before being attended to by the Giants' medical staff and then eventually being carted back to the locker room, his eye appearing bloody.

It’s unclear at this point just how much time Bellinger will miss, but the Giants will have to find ways to replace his production. Bellinger accounted for 12.6 percent of the Giants receptions this year and 12.4 percent of the receiving yards, his 94.1 reception percentage being second among tight ends (34 total) with at least 15 catches this season, and his 143.1 reception rating being third among that same group.

The Giants, hamstrung by the salary cap, have preached that it's "next man up" whenever an injury happens. Thus far, the battle cry has worked as guys who received a larger role due to an injury ahead of them have delivered.

But when it comes to the tight ends room, do the Giants have a player that can be the two-way threat Bellinger, who was also the Giants' best pass blocker among its three-man tight end group, at the ready? And how much, if any, does the Giants scheme change?

Let's try to answer some of these questions.

Personnel

The Giants now have one tight end, one fullback (who plays almost exclusively tight end) on the roster, and two tight ends on the practice squad.

Chris Myarick, listed as a fullback according to the Giants, is a tight end through and through: 78.4 percent of Myarick’s snaps this season have come with him playing as an in-line tight end. Myarick is the most likely replacement for Bellinger as the Giants starting tight end, but there may be a noticeable drop-off in talent.

Myarick has been used primarily as an additional blocker this season, blocking on 74.9 percent of his offensive snaps played. Even with this usage and a clear indication that the Giants and head coach Brian Daboll trust Myarick, he’s not as consistent a blocker as Bellinger. However, Myarick has been the second-best blocking tight end on the team.

As a receiver, Myarick hasn’t been asked to do much. He's only been targeted five times this season, reeling in all five of those targets for 32 yards and a touchdown. This is where Myarick might have an uphill battle when it comes to replacing what Bellinger had been doing for the Giants before his injury.

Tanner Hudson, who is a better pass-catcher than a blocker, is the only other player on the Giants' 53-man roster listed as a tight end. Hudson has been used as a blocker on just 36.2 percent of his offensive snaps this season, and for good reason: he’s just not that good at it. To Hudson’s credit, he’s improved as the season has gone on, evident by his increased role over the past month.

Despite that improvement and increased role, Hudson simply isn’t reliable enough as a blocker to justify starting him for the time being. Hudson has only been targeted six times on the season but reeled in three of those targets for 40 yards.

The Giants have used Hudson lined up all over the formation, playing 60.3 percent of his snaps in-line, 20.1 percent in the slot, 16.1 percent out wide, and 3.4 percent in the backfield. The percentage of in-line snaps will likely climb while Bellinger is out, with Hudson taking on a bigger role in this offense.

On the practice squad, the Giants have someone who likely isn’t ready to contribute much at tight end in Lawrence Cager. Cager played wide receiver with the Miami Hurricanes and Georgia Bulldogs before signing with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent.

In January 2022, Cager would move from wide receiver to tight end, following what many big-bodied receivers have started doing after struggling to find success at receiver.

At 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, Cager is still too lanky and wiry to be asked to play much as an in-line tight end and block edge defenders, thoroughly eliminating him from true contention to replace Bellinger.

The Giants also signed Andre Miller to the practice squad, who had been with them in training camp before being waived during final cuts with an injury settlement for a wrist ailment.

Miller, 6-foot-3 and 224 pounds, played in 33 games, recording 93 receptions for 1,670 yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 50.6 receiving yards per game in four seasons at Maine, where he was primarily a pass catcher rather than an in-line blocker. Viewed as a receiver/tight end hybrid, Miller is versatile enough to line up all over the formation.

At Maine, he primarily lined up wide, using his size, speed, and strength to win many of his one-on-one battles against defensive backs, and he also received several slot snaps where he often held the upper edge.

Sep 18, 2022; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger (82) scores a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers in the 3rd quarter at MetLife Stadium.
Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Scheme

Schematically, there shouldn’t be much that changes for the Giants. As good as Bellinger has been in his rookie season, his absence should not change what the Giants have done so far in 2022, which is run the ball well, throw the ball short, and scramble when the opportunity arises.

As far as running the ball well, the Giants could reasonably expect less explosive plays to the outside. This season, the Giants have run to the outside shoulder of the tight end 59 times for 360 yards, good for 6.1 yards per carry. There should be little-to-no doubt that Bellinger was that tight end setting the edge for a good deal of those carries.

The area that is more concerning with the Bellinger injury is the short passing game. Daboll and the Giants have done a great job this season of giving quarterback Daniel Jones an easy completion in the quick passing game, and Bellinger has been one of those targets.

Jones found success by hitting Bellinger in the flat or on a slide route and allowing Bellinger to pick up yards after the catch, which he did incredibly well. Bellinger this season had 16 catches for 152 yards and two touchdowns, with 103 of those 152 yards coming after the catch.

With Jones no longer having that safety valve that can pick up extra yards, that could legitimately hurt this offense and put the Giants in some more uncomfortable third-and-long situations.

The way for the Giants to replace that production in the passing game likely isn’t in the tight end room right now. Look for Wan’Dale Robinson (or Kadarius Toney if he’s healthy soon) to take on a bigger piece of this offense as the underneath target that could pick up extra yards after the catch.

Daboll could also use the running back room more in the passing game for these completions, although Saquon Barkley’s work rate is already very high. So it would likely be Matt Breida that gets more looks out of the backfield.

Scrambling is an area that the loss of Bellinger might impact. The reasoning for it being a toss-up is that part of Jones’s scrambling efforts, whether he tucks and runs or ultimately passes the ball, is that he can have Bellinger as a check-down or as an additional blocker.

Likely, scrambling won’t be very impacted, but it’s certainly something that there’s a potential impact on without Bellinger.

Final Thoughts

Bellinger has had a great year as a rookie in this Giants offense, and his absence will be felt. While there are some positions where the Giants can have an injury and not see a significant drop-off in talent, tight end is not one of those positions.

Myarick is the best option for the Giants to use as their starting tight end while Bellinger is on the mend, but there will likely be a noticeable difference. Look for the Giants to use more 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers) sets while Bellinger is on the mend.