Can Kalil Pimpleton Make the Giants' Roster as a Return Specialist?

Kalil Pimpleton, Receiver/Return Specialist

Height: 5-foot-9 | Weight: 172 pounds
2022 Stats: Practice squad

Kalil Pimpleton spent the 2022 season on the New York Giants practice squad after being cut by the Detroit Lions during the last round of preseason roster cuts in August.

Pimpleton was one of the Hard Knocks darlings last preseason with the Lions. He was a local player who initially went away for college at Virginia Tech before transferring to be closer to home and was now trying to play for his hometown NFL team.

As a senior at Central Michigan, Pimpleton had 62 receptions for 960 yards and four touchdowns while also picking up 84 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. Central Michigan head coach Jim McElwain helped Pimpleton show the dynamic playmaker he was underneath and overtop in 2021, which he could still do in the NFL.

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Best Case Scenario

Part of the reason why Pimpleton is thought of as a gadget player is that he played multiple positions in high school before moving to wide receiver in college. Players that do that tend to be used as jet sweep carriers, screen receivers, and trick play maestros. (See: Kadarius Toney, Randall Cobb, and Greg Dortch.)

This isn’t to put the (unrealistic) expectation on Pimpleton to become any of those players. Still, if he can be used similarly in 2023, he could carve out a small role in an offense that will likely need to be tricky to hide deficiencies.

Special teams ability could also play a role in Pimpleton’s ability to stick with an NFL team, and he could help juice up the Giants' return game.

Worst Case Scenario

With a few years under his belt now learning how to play wide receiver, perhaps we’re getting to the point in Pimpleton’s career where it no longer becomes a matter of when he breaks through but more of an “if.”

If Pimpleton can’t impress during preseason this year with a Giants receiver group with plenty of room for improvement, then I wouldn’t expect the Giants to keep him on the roster, and he would likely wind up being an August cut again.

What to Expect in 2023

There’s a role for Pimpleton in the NFL; it’s just a matter of how teams value that role and if they’re willing to put him in a position to succeed. He still has room to grow as a receiver. Still, he does have physical limitations that will always lower his ceiling - first-percentile height and third-percentile weight automatically hold Pimpleton back.

If this coaching staff sees enough in him to warrant keeping him on the roster, expect him to be used more like a gadget player than anything else. Still, it’s very possible Pimpleton is also looking at being a practice squad player for 2023.

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