New York Giants countdown to camp: Challenges for WR corps
By Ed Stein
It’s 2019 and NFL offenses are wide open. That could be a challenge for the New York Giants as their receiver group without OBJ is average at best.
New York Giants fans will face a hard reality this summer. There is no Odell Beckham Jr. to anchor the receiving corps. It’s been talked about since he was traded to Cleveland on March 14. When camp opens in less than three weeks, and players pad up, the hard reality will set in.
Big Blue’s offense has been OBJ driven since he came into the league in 2014. Over the past two seasons, however, the star receiver only played in 16 of 32 possible games. Eli Manning and company have experience playing without him, but the fact he’s not available to the team at all is glaring.
What the New York Giants have left is unimpressive. As a group, the receivers are not highly thought of in football circles. The highest-ranking is from Sports Illustrated, who had the G-Men’s pass catchers 18th among their peers across the league, Bleacher Report ranks them 25th, and SB Nation puts the group at 26th.
Slightly more in-depth, Pro Football Focus ranks two of the three expected starters, Golden Tate, and Cody Latimer as average by a hair (literally a hair) based on their respective 2018 season. Sterling Shepard, the third member, is considered below average. That doesn’t exactly inspire optimism heading into camp.
The Eli factor
An important element when taking into consideration the receivers is the man getting them the ball, quarterback Eli Manning. No doubt number 11 will be inducted into the New York Giants Ring of Honor as well as the NFL Hall of Fame as a two time Super Bowl winner. Now at 39, he isn’t able to do some of the things he did in his younger years.
According to Pro Football Focus, Manning is the biggest weakness on the Giants roster. His ability to succeed with the deep ball has gone downhill. Last season, he completed only 39.2% of his passes thrown 20 yards or longer. The G-Men run a version of the “West Coast Offense” which features short passing, but at times it looks like the offense is just spinning its wheels between the 20’s. The receivers won’t be able to count on him to make plays and throw receivers open.