New York Giants Roster Rebuild Plan: Wide Receivers

The Giants had a strong group of receivers on paper, but they all shared one unfortunate thing in common that undermined their productivity.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Dec 30, 2021 10:27 AM EST

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New York Giants

At the end of the 2020 season, one of the New York Giants' off-season goals was to get playmakers for quarterback Daniel Jones so that they could evaluate his future as the franchise quarterback.

They attempted to do that, adding to a group that already included Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton receivers Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney, and John Ross. Golladay, Toney, and Ross were all considered deep vertical threats who were viewed as fits for the team's vertical passing game concepts and all receivers capable of making plays.

But like Shepard, Golladay, Ross, and Toney all had one trait in common other than their shared position: an injury history.

Golladay, who received a four-year, $72 million contract, missed half of the 2020 season with a hip ailment. The Giants, satisfied with Golladay's free-agent visit physical, went ahead and signed him to the lucrative contract anyway, believing that the injury issues were behind him.

Alas, they were not. Deemed a high risk for injury, Golladay missed a large chunk of training camp with a hamstring strain and also popped up on the team's injury report this season with a hip issue, a sprained knee that cost him three games, and most recently, a rib issue.

Ross, the Bengals first-round pick in 2017 who made teams fall in love with him due to his 4.22 40-yard dash timing at the combine, was another receiver with issues staying healthy and deemed a high injury risk.

Since entering the NFL, he's had issues with a knee that he previously had repaired in college, shoulder issues, and a groin strain. He began the 2021 season on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.

Toney, the Giants' first-round pick whom they traded down to get, was deemed as a medium injury risk by DraftSharks, earning a durability score of zero. The former quarterback turned receiver missed several games in college with a shoulder injury.

When he got to the Giants, the injury issues continued--that and two rounds of dealing with COVID-19. But sticking with the injuries, Toney dealt with a hamstring strain, an ankle injury, and more recently, and an oblique issue.

Shepard's injury history is well documented, though he's considered a medium injury risk. In addition to the turf toe he had last year that landed him on injured reserve and head injuries, this year, he's dealt with hamstring and quad issues before finally being put on the shelf for the rest of the season when he tore his Achilles against Dallas in Week 15.

Add it all up, and you have just over $17 million of cap dollars invested this year in receivers who have combined for just three touchdowns among them--one each by Shepard, Ross, and Slayton and none by Toney and Golladay.

Ahead of the Giants' Week 17 game against the Bears, the last time the Giants receivers caught a touchdown pass was in Week 7 against Carolina, when Dante Pettis, now on injured reserve, had the honor.

Overall, you have reasons why, if this Giants team is lucky, it will match last year's win total of six.

Cap chronicles

As noted, there are many financial resources tied up in the Giants receivers with really nothing to show for it, and it's not going to get any better, unfortunately.

According to Spotrac, once the big money kicks in on Golladay's contract in 2022, the Giants will have an estimated $39,389,067 of cap money devoted to the receiver group alone, tops in the league and a whopping 18.66 percent of their 2022 salary cap.

That obviously cannot stand, not given this group's poor production this year and injury history.

Is this is for Sterling Shepard?

Unfortunately, it might very well be. Shepard is the longest-tenured member of the Giants. He's been a solid contributor and is a genuinely good locker room presence. But even before he started having injury issues, the handwriting was on the wall regarding his future with the team when the Giants drafted Toney.

You could also say that the Giants mishandled Shepard a bit toward the end. Shepard, remember, made his living (and earned his second contract) with his play in the slot.

However, the Giants, in failing to take a more strategic approach in roster building under general manager Dave Gettleman, added Golden Tate a few years back--another slot receiver--for big money. That forced Shepard to kick outside where he wasn't as effective (and where he didn't make his money).

Now with Toney, a first-round pick added to the mix, there is no justification in keeping Shepard, who is due to count for $12.495 million against next year's salary cap (sixth-highest figure currently on the team).

If the Giants move on from Shepard, they'd save $4.505 million and eat $7.99 million in dead money. Given his Achilles injury, this might be a case where they might want to wait as long as possible before cutting the cord. This would make Shepard a post-June 1 transaction, at which point he would yield $8.5 million in savings while dumping $3.995 million in dead money into the 2022 and 2023 caps.

What should they do about Darius Slayton?

They might start by admitting that Slayton, despite a surprisingly good rookie year, is what he is: a fifth-round draft pick and not some future number one receiver in the making, which is what his rookie year buzz, in which he led the team in touchdowns with eight, generated.

I went back and looked at Slayton's deployment over the years. In his rookie season, he was deployed almost exclusively as an outside receiver (95.6 percent of the time). In the last two years, he's been used a little bit more in the slot, and his outside receiver snaps dropping to 80.4 in 2020 and 83.2 so far this year.

Slayton is still on a rookie contract, so I wouldn't necessarily have a problem if they kept him for what would be the final year of his rookie deal in 2022. But I would like to see him used more as an outside threat since that seems to be where he excels the most.

Do they need to adjust Kenny Golladay's contract?

That probably wouldn't be a bad idea since Golladay's $21.15 million cap hit tentatively counts for 10 percent of the Giants' 2022 total cap.

Golladay is due a $4.5 million roster bonus on March 19, the date on which his 2023 roster bonus (also $4.5 million) gets locked in. And of Golladay's $13 million base salary, only $3 million becomes guaranteed.

If the Giants wanted to convert $9 million of Golladay's base into a signing bonus, that would dump an additional $2.5 million into his 2022-2025 cap figures, a small amount to pay to clear out some much-needed cap room on a player whose first season as a Giant was injury-plagued.

What about the rest of the talent they have? Anyone worth considering?

The Giants have Alex Bachman, Pharoh Cooper, David Sills V, and Travis Toivonen sitting on the practice squad. It would not be surprising if all of those receivers are signed to the off-season roster on reserve/futures contracts, which remember swells to 90.

But as far as one o those guys rising to say, take Shepard's place as the No. 2 receiver? That's debatable.

Cooper, who has been elevated to the 53-man roster every week of late, might be a very early candidate to snag a roster spot at the bottom of the depth chart. Cooper has averaged a modest 8.1 yards per return average and has caught four passes for 33 yards.

That said, the Giants always seem to import a new crop of receiver hopefuls and at some point, once can't help but wonder if that still to be determined group might push guys like Cooper plus Bachman and Sills 9both of who have been around for multiple years) off the roster.

Keep, Tweak, or Start Over?

Tweak. Look, the injury situation is a whole other animal that requires a deep dive into the various injuries and how and where they happened--and even then, I doubt we'd come to any foregone conclusions as to what's going on there. To load up on so many players at one position with recent injury histories might not have been the wisest thing to do at a time when so much was expected of the unit to begin with.

I don't see the Giants completely overhauling this group in the off-season--the investments made won't let them go crazy. But if they do move on from Shepard and Ross, the latter who was in here on a one-year contract, maybe look to get guys in here that haven't been as banged up throughout their careers?