PFF Names Giants' Receiver Corps as One of Most Improved Post-draft

A good Giants receiving corps gets better thanks to the addition of two rookies.

New York Giants wide receivers Isaiah Hodgins (18), Wan'Dale Robinson (17), and Darius Slayton (86). / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

New York Giants first-round draft pick Malik Nabers has yet to play a regular-season down. Still, the mere arrival of the former LSU receiver has already profoundly affected how the Giants’ receiver corps is being perceived.

Bradley Locker of Pro Football Focus named the Giants’ receivers as one of five receiving units in the league that are the most improved post-draft.  

Last season, the Giants’ receiving corps, which included the running backs and tight ends in addition to the wide receivers, finished with 3,351 yards, 17th in the league. 

No one receiver recorded over 1,000 yards, the closest being Darius Slayton, whose single-season career-high 770 yards helped him finish as the team’s receiving yardage leader for the fourth time in the last five years.

 Some will point to the play of the team’s quarterbacks—the Giants went through all three quarterbacks (Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor, and Tommy DeVito) due to injuries—as a reason for the receivers underperforming last season.

However, the unit showed some promise as the season went on, particularly Wan’Dale Robinson, who spent the early part of the season finishing his recovery from a  torn ACL, and Jalin Hyatt, who showed deep speed ability.

That said, having a No. 1 receiver like Nabers should help take what was an otherwise solid wideout unit to new heights. 

“A staple of Nabers’ game is slipperiness after the catch, as reflected by his 30 missed tackles forced last year,” Locker wrote. 

Nabers isn’t the only one the Giants are counting on to add juice to the passing game. Their fourth-round pick, tight end Theo Johnson, could be in for a significant role on the offense if veteran Darren Waller retires.

“Not only did Johnson test incredibly well — with a 9.93 Relative Athletic Score — but he was also a red-zone weapon for the Nittany Lions,” Locker wrote. “His seven touchdowns in 2023 tied for a team-high.”

If Waller does indeed call it a career—and that appears to be the direction his situation is heading—third-year pro Daniel Bellinger will move to TE1. Johnson would then likely be the second tight end in the team’s 12-personnel package, which, as Locker noted, the Giants ran on 23% of plays in 2023, the 12th-highest rate in the NFL.

Locker’s conclusion that Jones, of whom the team’s brass has said the expectation is for him to start once he is cleared from the latter stages of his ACL rehab, will benefit from the talent added to the passing game is not particularly farfetched. 

That said, the success of the passing game will depend not only on Jones but also on the offensive line's consistency in pass protection. 

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