How the Giants Can Work Golden Tate and Sterling Shepard into the Mix
How can receivers Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate coexist on the field?
This question popped up not long after the Giants signed Tate as a free agent in March, and with good reason.
Over the last two seasons, Tate, per Pro Football Focus, has worked from the slot on 1,092 of his 1,362 (80%) offensive snaps while Shepard, over that same period, has worked from the slot on 1,028 of his 1,630 (63%) offensive snaps, and 127 of his 196 snaps (65%) thus far in 2019.
From a scheming perspective, it’s going to be intriguing to see not only who gets the slot snaps, but under what circumstances.
Shepard has been one of the best slot receivers in the NFL since entering the league in 2016. While the Giants have moved him around the offensive formation some throughout his career, the vast majority of his production has come from the slot.
For the most part, Shepard has been a receiver relied upon to make quick catches over the middle, keeping the chains moving, and taking advantage of the attention paid to Odell Beckham Jr.
That has been true of Tate as well (except for the part about Beckham). For most of his career, Tate has been a slot receiver who specializes in catching a (very) high volume of passes close to the line of scrimmage and racking up yards after the catch.
Neither receiver has been “The Guy” at the NFL level, and both have played similar roles in their respective offenses. So how then can the Giants use them at the same time?
This question was put to offensive coordinator Mike Shula Thursday, who said the plan would likely consist of rotating both receivers through different spots.
"They are interchangeable. Whether or not we just keep Shep in one spot now or Golden, the good thing is that both of them can play in several spots, and I think that helps us for a lot of reasons," he said.
Here are are few other ways the Giants could deploy both Shepard and Tate at the same time.
Transition Shepard To The Outside
When the Giants welcomed Tate back from suspension, they cut receiver Bennie Fowler as the corresponding roster move.
That was a necessary move, but it creates something of a void on the outside. With Darius Slayton finally healthy and carving a role for himself in the offense, Fowler wasn’t needed anymore, but it also created an opening for Shepard to play the X or flanker position.
Though not typically thought of as an outside receiver, Shepard is capable of playing there.
Per Matt Harmon’s “Reception Perception,” which breaks down how often receivers were able to beat coverage on various routes, Shepard was nigh-uncoverable at the college level from the slot and as a wide receiver.
Shepard hasn’t played as well outside as he has in the slot, but there is the argument that since that hasn’t been his role in the NFL, the lack of practice time there has limited him.
However, he has also historically been better further down the field than Tate. Per AirYards.com, Tate’s highest catch rate is right around six yards downfield, with that also being his highest average depth of target.
His production falls off quickly as he gets to 10 yards downfield, and he has never been a deep threat.
Shepard, meanwhile, maintains a high catch rate out to 15 yards downfield and has a catch rate well above league-average beyond 35 yards downfield.
A full-time outside role might not be ideal for Shepard, who has run nearly 80 percent of his routes from the slot this year, but he can do it.
And if the team is going to have both Shepard and Tate on the field at the same time, Shepard fits better outside and catching the ball further downfield than Tate does, who should be in the slot and working the short area of the field.
Play Two Slot Receivers
Yes, this suggestion is out of step with the Giants’ historically “Old School” team philosophy. But if the team is trying to find snaps for two players who both excel in the slot and also happen to be their best receivers, well, necessity is the mother of invention.
If both Shepard and Tate are most comfortable and productive in the slot, then the easy solution is to play a spread offense with two slots.
Now, this doesn’t mean that the Giants have to go full “Kliff Kingsbury” and field a 10-personnel (one running back, four receivers) set on nearly every play.
The team could make use of Evan Engram’s athleticism and versatility and field their standard 11-personnel (one back, one tight end) set.
However, instead of lining Engram up as a standard tight end, they could motion him out to the wide receiver position, creating a spread look and room for two slot receivers.
This option has the added benefit of potentially creating some advantageous mismatches for the offense. Typically a linebacker or box safety will be matched up on Engram.
But with him motioning out wide, it would either pull that defender out to a place where he is not comfortable and expose a one-on-one match-up against a player at an athletic disadvantage, or it would expose that the defense is in zone coverage and put Engram against a defender at a definite size disadvantage.
Once Saquon Barkley comes back, the Giants could take the idea a step further and play an empty set, keeping Engram at tight end and moving Barkley to wide receiver. Not only would that expose similar mismatches, it typically puts an extreme amount of stress on the defense to cover the full field.
This wouldn’t be anything like a base set for the Giants, who want to run a (much) more traditional ball-control offense. But it is a wrinkle that can get their best players on the field while putting defenders in something of a nightmare match-up situation.
Don’t Make Tate A Starter
The fact that Tate’s contract is among the top-20 in guarantees among receivers suggests that they view him as a starter. However, we should also bear in mind that he is 31 years old, going into his tenth NFL season in the NFL, and coming off his worst season as a professional.
For Tate to be his most productive, perhaps he shouldn’t be playing every snap.
Cody Latimer hasn’t been the free agent gem the Giants hoped when they signed him last year, but he is a serviceable receiver and able to win contested catches.
Darius Slayton is a rookie, but he brings a level of explosiveness and field-stretching speed that the Giants lack elsewhere in their receiving corps.
There is the idea in some of the more pass-heavy and explosive offenses in college and the NFL that a “balanced offense” has less to do with the ratio of runs to passes.
Instead, these teams think “balance” has more to do with the offense having the ability to attack both short and deep, to stress the defense horizontally and vertically, and force it to defend every blade of grass on the field.
Again, this is a departure from the philosophy for which the Giants have shown a preference, but it bears considering.
It is possible that to keep Tate fresh through the season (and the life of his contract) and maximize his effectiveness, the Giants should reserve him for situations and match-ups in which he can have the biggest impact.
Perhaps if the opposing defense is using more zone coverage, the Giants can employ Tate’s route running and run after catch ability to turn quick passes into longer gains.
Or if the team is having difficulty dealing with a pass rush, the team can use Tate as a weapon in the screen game. This doesn’t mean that he would only be on the field rarely, but rather that the Giants make judicious use of his talents when they are most effective.
The Giants get Tate back at a tough point in their schedule. This week they face a tough test against a good Minnesota Vikings defense, which knows Pat Shurmur and the Giants’ offense.
Then the Giants will need to make a quick turnaround to face the always-formidable New England Patriots on a short week. The Giants’ offense should benefit from not only getting a savvy veteran back on their offense but also being able to add dynamics and wrinkles which their upcoming opponents simply haven’t seen before.
How they do so will be one of the major storylines to watch over the next week.
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