NY Giants Receiver Montrell Washington Seeks Only to "Reload" Amidst Viral Grabs

New York Giants receiver Montrell Washington isn't letting budding viral fame go to his head.

New York Giants wide receiver Montrell Washington (left), is trying to make the 53-man roster. | Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

New York Giants receiver Montrell Washington isn't letting viral fame go to his head.

As the football-loving masses work through their final days without a frequent flow of televised games, Washington became popular on blue socials on Monday for an athletic one-handed catch off a feed from Jaxson Dart during the Giants' team sessions at training camp.

It was enough to land the roster contender a spot at the post-practice podium, where he brushed off his flirtation with fame in a display that'd no doubt make recent camp visitor Tom Coughlin proud.

Montrell Washington ONE HANDED CATCH pic.twitter.com/WVK7tDptNf

— The Giant Take Podcast (@TheGiantTakePod) August 4, 2025

"We kind of got a word here, like a little motto that we go by called ‘reload,’" Washington explained after practice.

"[If] you do make one of those catches, yeah, you get excited, but you got to reload, do it again, do it the next play. You make a drop or something like that, you kind of mess up or whatever, you got to get over it, reload, get back to it, and go out there and make a play.

"Sometimes you make plays and you mess up, but then again, you go out there and you do stuff like that, and you say, you reloaded, ready to go, locked and loaded."

Having spent the last two seasons in the Kansas City Chiefs' system, Washington is fighting for a spot among the crowded Giants receivers room after signing with Big Blue in the offseason. 

The Samford alum has mostly been viewed as a contender for kick/punt return duties, but he has taken advantage of high-profile chances with the premier offensive unit.

Fringe roster men like Washington may often try to avoid the watchful gaze of coaches at training camp, never knowing if their next conversation will be their last. Another motto, Washington believes, has kept him in good standing as he fights for a roster spot against several undrafted rookies and veterans whose careers have taken on similar tones.

"A play a day, keep the coaches away,” he said of his motto. “So, I'm trying to make as many plays as I can," Washington said. "If I'm in with the third team, fourth team, first team, whatever team I'm in on, a play a day will keep the coaches away."

That means the preseason, which gets under on Saturday in Buffalo (1 p.m. ET, FOX 5), means just a little more to Washington, a fifth-round draft entrant in 2022. 

Extra attention may be afforded to him considering he's wearing the No. 80 most famously repped in blue by Victor Cruz, who moved his heroics from the preseason to the Super Bowl during a fleeting, if not most memorable, metropolitan tenure.

Originally chosen by the Denver Broncos (where he worked with current Giants thrower Russell Wilson), Washington was in the top 10 in average punt return (8.5) among qualified men in his rookie season but was usurped by touted second-round choice Marvin Mims the following season. 

Washington primarily spent the last two seasons on the Chiefs' practice squad, earning a Super Bowl ring after the 2023 campaign.

Wide receiver Montrell Washington, shown during his days with the Chiefs, is trying to make the New York Giants 53-man roster. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

This time around, Washington has entered with a "whole new mindset," focusing only on his own, controllable roster case rather than extracurriculars like the fact he's catching balls from touted talents like Dart and Russell Wilson.

"I can be honest with you. I came in kind of young-minded, I wasn't studying enough, wasn't taking advantage of my opportunities," Washington said of his first days in the NFL. 

"Going over the years, being with Denver, first year, leaving there, somebody took my job, I left, went somewhere different, was able to play a little bit there, didn't get to what I wanted, but played enough.

"But now, I see what it takes, I feel like, and I'm ready. I'm ready to attack each day like it's my last. I want to be that starter, I want to be that guy to make the play, which I know I can, you know what I mean? So, I'm just trying to do whatever I can to be out there on Sundays with the 53." 

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