Amani Toomer: Wideouts won’t be NY Giants’ offenses main attraction

The NY Giants receiving corps has the potential to complement the offense in 2020, but the group doesn’t need to be elite for the offense to thrive.

When management decided to prioritize their flawed offensive line and hole-riddled defense through free agency spending and the draft, they neglected to significantly address their “lacking” receiving corps, as former NY Giants WR Amani Toomer told The New York Post in a recent interview.

However, “lacking” may not be the most accurate description of the team’s current crop of receivers. In fact, looking at the three athletes topping their depth chart, it’s hard to disagree with Management’s assessment that this area was not a top priority given their offensive line and defensive secondary woes that had to be (and were) heavily addressed this offseason.

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Heading into the 2020 season, the Giants’ starting receivers will most likely feature the same cast of Sterling Shepard, Golden Tate, and Darius Slayton.

As a result, I think the team’s decision to forgo upgrading their receiving corps shouldn’t prevent them from scoring on offense.

If healthy, I expect Shepard to play well in the slot where he’s difficult to cover one on one. “My dad always used to tell me, ‘He’s hell when he’s well, he’s just sick all the time,’” Toomer said when speaking about him.

Shepard demonstrated his first-rate catching ability in 2016 and 2018, starting all 16 games while making 65 and 66 receptions in each season. What’s more impressive is that even when injuries sidelined him in 2017 and 2019 (limiting his play to only 11 and 10 games respectively), he still managed to catch 57 and 59 passes.

Similarly, the veteran Tate is another dependable receiver who (despite missing the first 4 games of last season due to a PED suspension) managed to reign in 49 catches for almost 700 yards and 6 TDs.

However, the most exciting receiver in this group to watch out for is Slayton, who emerged as a bonafide receiving threat in his rookie season. In 14 games last season, he hauled in 48 catches for 740 yards and 8 TDs (which tied-1st among all rookie receivers next to Tennessee Titan A.J. Brown who accomplished the same feat, but in 16 games).

Aside from being the tallest of these three starters at 6’1, he’s also proven his ability to successfully locate the football and make contested catches while burning speed on the sideline. Even Toomer acknowledged in his comments, “he’s the guy who has the most upside.”

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But Slayton alone can’t transform this group into a fearsome threesome. Neither Shepard nor Tate has breakout speed or towering height (both are 5’10). Plus, they’re relatively the same type of receiver in terms of their playing styles.

Still, apart from this serviceable starting three, GM Dave Gettleman did re-sign Cody Core and Corey Coleman from last year’s squad retained Da’Mari Scott’s contract after signing him off of their Practice Squad last November and inked 6 UDFA wide receivers to include: Rysen John, David Sills V, Alex Bachman, Derrick Dillon, Binjimen Victor, and Austin Mack.

With the theme of this year’s NY Giants’ Training Camp being ‘Competition,’ the amount of raw talent spread among these young receivers should be enough for Management to work with in order to transform their receiving corps into a strength moving forward rather than the complement they will be for their now protected running game and dynamic tight end unit.

In terms of what we should expect from Core and Coleman, both players are likely to compete in Training Camp with the intention that head coach, Joe Judge sees both receivers as essential pieces to their revamped special teams unit.

Conversely, Coleman (a former 2016 first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns) is aware that his one-year deal is his last chance to shine on the field after several underwhelming seasons that were cut short by injury and inconsistent play. However, he has the potential to be an explosive outside receiver as well as an asset on special teams.

Out of the undrafted bunch, I expect LSU’s Derrick Dillon (who can shed coverage and take the top off defenses), along with Ohio State’s Austin Mack (an excellent route runner) and Binjimen Victor (whose slim, 6’4 frame and competitive speed give him all the pieces to bloom relatively quickly) to make the most noise in Training Camp.

In retrospect, however, this is far from being the best group of wide receivers in the NFC East. In fact, they’re probably third behind Dallas and Philadelphia; as both teams selected two of the top receivers in the Draft as the third (CeeDee Lamb from Oklahoma – Dallas 17th overall) and fourth (Jalen Reagor from Texas Christian University – Eagles 21st overall), receivers taken in a draft deep in this position.

To put it in perspective: Six WRs were taken in the first round alone.

I still don’t think the NY Giants receivers are anything to scoff at when you look at who they’re playing next to, in addition to the fresh schemes that will be designed by new offensive coordinator, Jason Garret. After all, the former Cowboys head coach is credited with running a successful ground game that ranked in the top 10 in rushing for the last six seasons.

Also, if we look at the other weapons QB Daniel Jones will have, the team’s absence of a superstar receiver will hardly hold them back from scoring touchdowns this season. Jones can also rely upon TE Evan Engram as a star-caliber receiver in addition to TE Kaden Smith who emerged as a reliable receiving end last season.

So while Toomer’s recent criticisms of the team’s lack of a true #1 receiver since dealing Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns prior to last season is valid, the underlying notion that it will hold this offense back this year should not weigh too heavily on the hopes of NY Giants fans for a more competitive season than we’ve endured over these last four years.

Instead, we should expect our wideouts to complement a run-first offense that derives its protection from a rebuilt O-line and utilizes its tight ends as dual blocking and receiving threats. A healthy, and protected, Saquon Barkley can do the rest for this NY Giants offense.

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That’s how the offense is built; our talent is spread across the field, and not limited to one breakout receiver – like OBJ.

For now, though, that position can be earmarked as an area of interest next offseason whether via Trade, the Draft, or through Free Agency.

After all, this NY Giants franchise is still rebuilding, and addressing the most pressing areas of their roster should be of the utmost concern; and it clearly wasn’t the receiving corps this offseason.