New York Giants Receivers & Tight Ends Breakdown from Preseason Week 1

The New York Giants, as expected, sat receivers Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton, both of whom have been nicked up of late. But it was surprising to see that Jalin Hyatt, whom we were looking forward to seeing in the preseason, was also held out due to an undisclosed medical issue.

Of interest this week was the distribution of balls to the abundance of receivers, which might offer a clue as to how the bottom of the depth chart at wide receiver is taking shape.

Meanwhile, at tight end, things might just have become a lot more interesting.

Let’s get into it.

Receivers

Wan’Dale Robinson

Getting one series with the starters, Robinson was given a rare boundary route to run. He pushed his man deep, opened up some space for the comeback, and hauled in his lone target of the game for 11 yards.

Are Robinson’s slot-only days behind him? He did say earlier in the offseason that he hoped that he’d be moved around a bit more, and we have to say that he sure looked good attacking that defender with those lightning-quick feet of his.

Montrell Washington

This week’s big play leader, Washington, produced gains of 29, 18, and 13 yards (his only catches of the day). Two of them came on good patterns and good throws.

The 29-yarder was the result of Washington turning a short flat throw into a big play by making two defenders miss with those explosive feet of his.

Enjoying an exciting summer camp, Washington has opened some eyes, which is why the coaches did everything they could today to get the ball in his hands.

There was an end-around for 3 yards, a punt return, and several other first option patterns that Washington did not haul in, to his discredit. He has to be stronger at the catch point if he’s going to be trusted.

Lil’Jordan Humphrey

This young vet with the big body had two catches. The big one came in the second quarter when he beat press coverage on the outside on a go route, and Jaxson Dart put the ball right into his hands for a 28-yard touchdown. It was the offense’s best play of the day.

Humphrey’s other catch came when he ran a short slant and had the ball in his hands two yards short of the first down marker. He never got there. Humphrey has to finish a lot tougher than he did on this play and get that first down.

Ihmir Smith-Marsette

This return specialist is attempting to work his way into the wideout room, and unfortunately, he had a less-than-stellar game at receiver this week on his only targets.

On a 3rd-and-5, he ran his route a yard short of the marker, forcing the team to punt from its own end zone. There should be zero excuse in this situation not to run to the first-down marker, especially when it’s just a yard away.

On the Jameis Winston interception that was thankfully nullified by a defensive penalty, Smith-Marsette was the intended target, but he didn’t seem to get into his pattern fast enough.

Zach Pascal

This veteran possession receiver’s one catch came early, going for 9 yards. Five of those yards came after contact, when Pascal overpowered the smallish defensive back trying to stop him.

Pascal received a lot of snaps early on, and his physicality is a big positive.

Antwane “Juice” Wells

This UDFA received very few snaps, with both of his pass targets going uncaught.

Da’Quan Felton

This big-bodied UDFA got a smattering of snaps and zero balls thrown his way.

Dalen Cambre

Another UDFA vying for a job, Cambre is the special-teams specialist who excelled on special teams but struggled to secure the two balls thrown in his direction. Cambre is very raw as a receiver, but is very comfortable playing special teams, where he got one of the punt gunner starts (with Nic Jones getting the other). Cambre also did well with his double-team blocking of the Bills’ gunners.

Jordan Bly

This smallish UDFA caught his lone target late in the game for 8 yards.

Gunner Olszewski

This young veteran came to camp late after Bryce Ford-Wheaton went down with a season-ending injury, and suddenly, Olszewski is getting a lot of attention. He led the offense in targets this week with eight.

Though he caught five of them, including a touchdown from Jameis Winston from 7 yards out, several of the diving variety, those he didn’t haul in came when he couldn’t finish against contact.

Like Montrell Washington, Olszewski has to be stronger at the catch point. The good news is that the quarterbacks not only like him, but they also trust him. He runs reliable routes, and he comes back for the ball. We’re not sure where he fits on this team, but his special-teams skills are legit as well.

Tight Ends

Chris Manhertz

Getting one of the starts at tight end, Manhertz looked big and moved well blocking in his lone series.

Theo Johnson

This second-year player blocked well in limited snaps. He also caught both of his targets off short crossing routes, for a total of 10 yards.

Greg Dulcich

Getting lots of playing time, this young veteran caught both of his short targets and blocked well on the edges.

Thomas Fidone II

Despite an early false start, this talented rookie played a positive game. On a 2-point conversion pass, he made a great, leaping snatch against contact that could not be appreciated until seen on replay. It was a spectacular snatch.

He followed that up with a juggling catch of an off-target throw in the flat, and another leaping snatch over the middle for 16 yards.

This kid presents himself as a great target with big and reliable hands. His size and hands are weapons that are currently absent from this roster.

This offense is short on weapons, which is why this kid has a big leg up on making this team. He also blocks with effort, though his lack of upper body makes him too easy to shrug off, but the effort is there.

He’s not afraid to get in the way and stick his nose into traffic, as he did on the Jameis Winston play-action touchdown throw. We don’t know how Fidone will hold up against regular-season competition, but this week, he stood out among the backups.

Daniel Bellinger

In limited snaps, Bellinger had several good edge blocks, one not-so-good in space, and one short catch.

Jermaine Terry II

Lined up at fullback, Terry threw an aggressive block on the edge, but he held onto his man too long and was called for the hold. We liked the way this prospect attacked this play with physicality.

Terry did not have any balls thrown his way, and seemed to line up in the backfield, and not in line at tight end.

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