Giants WR Kenny Golladay Looking to Build Chemistry with Daniel Jones

If the Giants offense is to be productive, receiver Kenny Golladay knows he will have to quickly get on the same page as QB Daniel Jones.

Author:
Gene Clemons
Publish date:
Aug 2, 2022 9:00 AM EDT

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New York Giants

With the expectations heaped on by a large contract, no player on the New York Giants comes into 2022 with a larger microscope on him than receiver Kenny Golladay. After the five-year veteran established himself as the No. 1 receiver in Detroit, he signed a four-year, $72 million deal with the Giants.

Unfortunately, his first season with the Giants was a big disappointment. He recorded career lows in yards per reception and finished the season without a touchdown. Despite the struggles in 2021 and the scrutiny to begin 2022, Golladay comes into training camp feeling positive about the offense and how it does not resemble anything he saw last season.

“First off, the offense is totally different. A lot of moving parts, as you can see. Coach is putting people in different positions at all times, keeping the defense guessing. (It’s) very receiver friendly,” Golladay said when asked about the difference he sees in the new offense.

“Now, we are just working on getting on the same page as receivers, running backs, and then (quarterback Daniel Jones). Right now, we are having fun out there.”

Fun seems to be a familiar refrain for many players on offense during the first week of training camp. Golladay referred to the offense as “friendly,” but he seemed to point to a more freeing offense with opportunities as a receiver to bring one’s special skills and nuance to a route instead of being required to be so robotic.

“It just gives you a lot of freedom," he said. "You don’t have to be so cookie-cutter or do what’s on the paper. You can go out there and make the route your own.”

Golladay understands that comments like those come with trepidation from observers who saw that there seemed to be a disconnect last season in the offense. When fielding questions about why he believed the chemistry would be better this season, he spoke to the different factors that led to many of the offensive woes in 2021.

“Last year, there were a lot of injuries involved,” Golladay said, referring to the many injuries they suffered along the offensive line and at the skill positions.

“I think this year is a little bit better as far as just the training staff, strength staff, and the coaching staff taking care of our bodies and then us as players doing the right things on and off the field, and extremely well on the field.”

Golladay also pushed away the notion that he may have been overwhelmed by the weight of the big offseason contract. He attributed the poor offensive output last season personally and as a unit to many moving parts.

He also said that not finding the end zone last season was disappointing but returned to the fact that a lot played a role in that outcome.

One of those factors was the chemistry--or lack thereof--with quarterback Daniel Jones. Golladay opined that the relationship was growing last season and has continued this year.

To ensure the relationship continued to grow, the receiver decided to stay in town this off-season to train with Jones, even though Golladay was recovering from an undisclosed ailment and was limited.

“That’s just how much it means to me, to be honest. Just going in the training room doing little stuff, working out here as far as in the weight room, and then just throwing with DJ.

"Of course, you take your time off during the week or the weekend to go do your things as far as travel and everything, but I just made a point to myself that I wanted to be up here and just focus on my body a little bit more.”

Golladay still recognizes that all the individual work he and Jones put together during the spring and summer does not immediately correlate to the field during training camp. He spoke about the differences when practicing on air versus practicing against a live defense.

“There’s a difference when it’s me and DJ just throwing, and we are calling the play, and then when we’re out there during training camp practice, and there is a defense in front of us, and there are moving parts. It’s a little bit different.”

Early in training camp, Golladay feels good and describes himself as “in a good spot.”

Although he is coy about why he was worked back in slowly during the offseason, he credits the training staff and Coach Daboll with his health and fitness at this point in the season.

“I feel like they are putting together a good plan. They are easing us into it, not so much easing into it as far as reps and everything, not trying to put everything on you right away,” Golladay said.

"I think just being smart. It’s a long season, and then on top of that, with training camp coming up, I guess they just wanted to make sure I was ready for training camp.”