Pro Football Focus Named this Player as Its Giants "Secret Superstar" from 2022
Pro Football Focus recently selected its choices for each team's "Secret Superstars" following the 2022 season, and for the Giants, they went with a player from a position group that was under question for the majority of the 2022 season.
Their choice is receiver Isaiah Hodgins, the mid-year pickup who came in with a solid fundamental knowledge of the offense, having been in it during his time in Buffalo when Giants head coach Brian Daboll was the offensive coordinator.
The Giants struggled to find competent wide receiver play for most of the year, but it appears they have found a diamond in the rough they can build. Hodgins finished the season as the team's third-highest-graded offensive player (76.1), behind only Andrew Thomas and Saquon Barkley. In the final five games of the regular season, Hodgins totaled 250 yards and four touchdowns. He also had a monster game against the Vikings in the wild-card round, catching eight passes for 105 yards and a touchdown. Hodgins doesn’t completely solve their WR need, but he is a nice piece to have moving forward.
Not only did Hodgins hit the ground running, but he also developed the kind of instant rapport with quarterback Daniel Jones that usually takes months to develop.
What was the secret? Communication.
"I think he’s smart, tough, dependable," head coach Brian Daboll said during the season. "He works extremely hard. In between periods, he’s usually throwing there with Daniel on a variety of routes, or they’re talking about things that we’ve installed and make sure that he sees it through the eyes of a quarterback. So, he’s done a good job for us since he’s been here."
Hodgins admitted that his release from the Bills and subsequent landing with the Giants was a whirlwind.
"I was just at home kind of relaxing thinking, ‘Dang. I just got cut. Hopefully, I get brought back onto the active in a couple of weeks. And I got to work my way back up.’ And then I started getting all the Facetime calls and texts from (Head Coach Brian) Daboll like I was coming over here. And a couple of hours later, I was on the flight, getting the playbook and learning any of the new stuff," he recalled.
But Hodgins, the son of former NFL fullback James Hodgins, a Super Bowl champion with the St. Louis Rams's "Greatest Show on Turf," embraced the challenge of getting himself up to speed as quickly as possible.
"If anything, I think it helped just because of how Daboll brought me in. I just knew that he was going to give me the opportunity. He wasn’t going to hand me a job, but he was going to give me an opportunity and let me see what I could do with it. I think week by week and practice by practice, he continued to do that. I went out there and worked hard every day and tried to show my best of like, ‘Hey, I want to be here, and I want to stay here.’"
He certainly made a case. Hodgins recorded at least one receiving touchdown in five of his last seven games, including the playoffs. With two exceptions, he was targeted at least five times on offense, and with one exception (the divisional playoff game against the Eagles), Hodgins hauled in at least 66 percent of the pass targets he was given.
An exclusive rights free agent, Hodgins certainly appears to have earned a chance to return to the Giants, where he can get even better with a full off-season, including OTAs and training camp.
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