New York Giants Bring Back Tight End Larry Donnell

The New York Giants placed an original round tender on tight end Larry Donnell, essentially guaranteeing his return to Big Blue for 2016.

The New York Giants will be bringing back a familiar face, as tight end Larry Donnell was given the original round tender of $1.671 million on Thursday. According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, that essentially means that Donnell will be back with the Giants for at least the 2016 season. By giving Donnell the original round tender, the Giants now have the right to match any deal that Donnell may sign with another team.

It is a long shot that will happen though, as teams will rarely go after other team’s restricted free agents in the NFL. Also, Donnell is currently recovering from a neck injury that forced him to miss half of the 2015 season. He is still rehabbing, so it is tough to imagine a team investing any money in him without knowing when he will be back on the field.

Donnell has yet to be medically cleared for football activities, but the neck injury is not expected to be career threatening, which was reported by New York Daily News’ Ebenezer Samuel. “He’s coming back and hopefully he’ll be able to continue to play. We’re expecting him to be back, but necks can be tricky, so we’ll have to wait and see where that goes. Hopefully he can get healthy and come back and continue his career,” Giants’ general manager Jerry Reese said last week while attending the NFL Scouting Combine.

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Like many positions on the Giants last season, tight end was hit hard by injuries. In addition to Donnell’s, the Giants also lost blocking tight end Daniel Fells to a MRSA infection, which has effectively ended his playing career. He underwent numerous surgeries to keep the infection from spreading, but he will not be able to play football again.

With those two players sidelined, the Giants were forced to go to youngsters Will Tye and Jerome Cunningham. They have zero combined receptions prior to the 2015 season, so to say the Giants were undermanned at tight end with Donnell and Fells sidelined would be an understatement.

They did gain valuable experience though, as they were forced into playing time last season. But, the Giants would be smart to still pursue other options in free agency. They could use a blocking tight end to replace Fells to give some insurance in case the younger players do not continue developing in that area. Also, adding competition in general wouldn’t be bad for the Giants as they could use a talent upgrade at a position that Eli Manning makes the most out of no matter who is lining up there.

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Donnell showed promise in 2014 as a pass catching threat up the seams for the Giants, but with the neck injury clouding his future they cannot count on him returning to that level of play. He also didn’t look like the same player in 2015 even when he was healthy enough to get on the field and play.

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