New York Giants: 5 top questions heading into training camp

Who will take OBJ’s targets in 2019?

The loss of Odell Beckham, Jr. may not end up being much of a loss at all. Beckham has been injured in each of the past two seasons, playing in only 16 of the Giants’ last 32 games. He added very little value to the Giants’ overall offensive output when it came to scoring points. Yards was not a problem, but points, well…..

To Beckham’s credit when he was in the lineup, he dominated the targets in the passing game. In just 12 games last year, Beckham drew 124 targets, 17 more than the next wide receiver – Sterling Shepard – who played in all 16 games. Of course, the Giants had a new wrinkle to their offense in the form of rookie running back Saquon Barkley, who was targeted 121 times last year.

But the Giants will need receivers to be respected by defenses. OBJ was a player that teams had to game plan for.  The group they have now does not possess a player who has the explosiveness of Beckham. Shepard is more of a slot receiver as is free agent signee Golden Tate. One of those players will have to shift to the wing this year and try to convince the world they can replace Beckham on the outside.

When Beckham injured his quad and missed the final four games last season, the Giants used a workaround that consisted of Shepard, Barkley and tight end Evan Engram, Barkley and tight end Evan Engram. In Week 14, the Giants threw the ball just 22 times. The Giants basically featured those three players in the passing game the remainder of the season.

They’ll need to do more than that this season. Sure they scored 40, 27 and 35 points in three of their last four, but without a stud receiver – or one stepping up, like Shepard and Engram did – the Giants’ passing game could flounder. They’ll have to spread the football around and with Tate now on board, and rookie Darius Slayton, they just might be able to not miss Beckham this year.