Giants Elevate WR Austin Mack to 53-man Roster: Why He'll Be Ready to Play

The Giants elevated Austin Mack to their receiver corps. Here's a look into why Mack, like any other practice squad player, will be ready to go on such short notice.

The Giants elevated receiver Austin Mack from the practice squad to the roster for this weekend's game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Mack is an undrafted free agent out of Ohio State who has been on the Giants practice squad since the start of the season.  

LFG! https://t.co/XUYxiijrv4

— Austin Mack (@Austin__Mack11) October 3, 2020

The 6'2", 215-pound Mack has talent, but thanks to nagging injuries that affected the consistency of his play for the Buckeyes, he ended up going undrafted.

Mack is not the fastest receiver out there. Still, he's a reliable possession type with good hands and a better than average catch radius, including an impressive high point, which gives him an advantage over shorter corners.  

In four seasons for the Buckeyes, Mack caught 79 balls for 1,050 yards and six touchdowns.

Giants receivers coach Tyke Tolbert recently explained how the coaching staff has been keeping the young receivers on the practice squad ready in the event they receive the call up to the "varsity" team. 

Tolbert revealed that head coach Joe Judge has a "basic period" in which at the end of the practice, the young players (who otherwise provide the scout team looks for the offense and defense) remain to run through some of the plays the offense and defense just ran in either the seven-on-seven or the team part of the practice. 

"They're doing a good job of that, of repping that stuff," Tolbert said. "So they're staying in the loop with everything that we do all offensively because they never know when that time is going to be called to come up. And when they do, I felt confident they'll be ready to go."