Why Kenny Golladay’s First Season as a Giant Fell Off the Rails

Injuries, coaching, quarterback play, and yes, even the player himself, made for a disappointing concoction that has made Giants receiver Kenny Golladay's first season in New York a colossal disappointment.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Jan 8, 2022 11:25 AM EST

In this story:

New York Giants

Thirty-four receptions and no touchdowns.

That stat line doesn’t belong to some fourth or fifth receiver on the Giants roster; instead, it belongs to their No. 1 receiver, Kenny Golladay, who was signed to a lucrative three-year, $72 million deal in the off-season to provide the Giants offense with some missing firepower.

Instead, Golladay’s first season as a Giant has seen him battle through injuries, inconsistent quarterback play, and yes, even some questionable play-calling that has resulted in weeks where he’s barely gotten a look from the quarterbacks at all.

“I came into the season saying that the expectations were high,” Golladay said this week. “The ‘what ifs,’ that’s always valid, pretty much. That’s all you can say is ‘what if.’“

Let’s take a look back at Golladay’s first season and the elements that have contributed to his woeful stat line.

Injuries

Right from the get-go, injuries were a problem for Golladay. He strained his hamstring in training camp and ended up missing the entire preseason as well as weeks of practice.

That missed practice time was critical because Jones has never been blessed to have a tallish skyscraper receiver like Golladay. And while to the naked eye, simply throwing the ball and expecting the receiver to catch it is elementary, one of Golladay’s best traits has been his wide catch radius, which apparently can take a quarterback some getting used to.

As a result of that missed practice time, starting quarterback Daniel Jones and Golladay never really got on the same page when it counted.

“That’s something else I kind of said early on, pretty much gaining his trust,” Golladay said. “If I’m not out there on the field or he’s not out there on the field, there’s only so much trust you can get without him actually trying to force the ball to me. It’s going to make him look bad.”

“We don’t have that same type of chemistry and him knowing and the coaches knowing that I would go up and make that play. It’s easy to look and say, ‘Yeah, he made a lot of those catches in Detroit,’ but if I haven’t made one here, then that’s not a good play, and you shouldn’t do it.”

Golladay also missed three games with a knee injury suffered in Week 5. And he has also been on the injury report for other ailments, including a hip issue he dearly with in the first half of the season (though not an injury believed to be related to what ended his season early last year).

Coaching

Golladay has often had to bite his tongue when the topic of coaching has come up, but at times he’s slipped. He famously was caught on camera yelling at then offensive coordinator Jason Garrett during the Week 2 loss at Washington. Golladay was targeted a season-high eight times (one of three games in which he was targeted that much) but only managed to snag three catches.

But here’s the odd thing. In his first five games, including the injury-shortened contest against Dallas, Golladay averaged 6.0 targets per game. When he returned from injury, that average dropped to a head-scratching 4.9 targets per game.

The opportunities have been there for Golladay, who, through Week 17, Golladay leads the Giants receivers with 70 targets. But in terms of receptions, his 34 catches are behind team leader Evan Engram (45), oft-injured rookie Kadarius Toney (39), running backs Devontae Booker and Saquon Barkley 938 each) and receiver Sterling Shepard (36).

The biggest surprise, though, is Golladay's lack of red-zone targets. He’s been targeted just nine times and has one catch. He received zero red-zone targets from Weeks 2 through 11 (keeping in mind he missed half of Week 5 and then Weeks 6-8).

Quarterback Play

The lack of practice time with the quarterbacks has meant no chance to get a feel for where or if Golladay can snag off-target balls that are at least in his catch radius.

Throughout the weeks, we’ve seen instances where Mike Glennon, for example, has put the ball just on the outside of Golladay’s catch radius, which means the receiver has had to work for whatever receptions he’s managed to haul in. In doing so, that’s taken away a fair number of those contested-catch situations that Golladay is known for winning.

This year, Golladay has 14 contested catch opportunities, a season-low (not counting his 2017 and 2020 injury-shortened seasons)

Those stats would further support Golladay’s assertion that there isn’t a strong enough trust between himself and the quarterbacks on the field.

Out it all together, and it’s been a frustrating season for Golladay, who came into the year expecting so much more of himself.

“To be honest, me just looking back, I would just say just not good enough on my part,” Golladay said. “Not saying I was playing terrible or anything, but I expect more.”