Making the case for the NY Giants bringing back Corey Coleman

The NY Giants have a hole at the wideout position after Sterling Shepard went down with an injury; could bringing back Corey Coleman be the answer?

To say that former NY Giants’ WR Corey Coleman’s NFL career has not gone down as he had planned would be a massive understatement, as the former #15 overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft has failed to come anywhere near to live up top to expectations.

After winning the Biletnikoff Award (given to NCAA football’s best wideout) during his junior season at Baylor that saw him haul in 20 TD’s, Coleman decided to forego his senior campaign and test the NFL waters.

Unfortunately for him, he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns during a time period where most draft picks went to die. Coleman’s fate was no different as he lasted just two seasons with the team, most of which were dominated by injuries.

Coleman broke the same hand twice in a matter of two seasons, and although he showed signs of being an explosive player, the dumpster fire or an organization that is the Browns released him after the 2017 season.

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The low point came during his last game as a Brown, as Cleveland was 0-15 and taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers looking to avoid the embarrassment that comes with being an 0-16 football team.

Coleman dropped a crucial fourth-down pass late in the game that would have set the Browns up deep in the red zone with a chance to win and apparently that was too much for the team to stomach.

After briefly signing on with the Patriots, the NY Giants swooped in and nabbed him off of New England’s practice squad and he wound up having a very productive season as the team’s kick returner.

Although he wasn’t much of a factor in the passing game, reeling in just 5 balls for 71 yards in eight games, Dave Gettleman liked enough of what he was to retain Coleman via a restricted free-agent tender.

Unfortunately, the injury bug struck again in 2019 as Coleman tore his ACL on the first day of training camp.

Still, the NY Giants decided to bring him back for 2020 and by all accounts, he was looking as good as he ever had and seemed due for a breakout campaign at just 26-years-old.

That was why it was so puzzling to see the franchise cut him at the end of camp in favor of the unknown Damion Ratley. That move infuriated the fanbase and so far through two games, the fans have every right to still be upset about the move.

Ratley has been on the field for 45 snaps in 2020 with the NY Giants and has made 0 receptions on 3 targets.

For what it’s worth, NY Giants fans still are in favor of giving Coleman another shot as we ran a poll on our @GMENHQ Twitter page today asking who they would like to see step up and take Sterling Shepard’s spot.

What are the chances the NY Giants give Corey Coleman another look?

I, for one, am very high on a few of the wideouts the NY Giants have stashed on the practice squad, but as of right now the coaching staff hasn’t seemed willing to entertain bringing them up to the active roster.

That will likely change this week after the injury to Sterling Shepard, and if I had my way 6’4” UDFA Binjimen Victor out of Ohio State would get the first crack at showing what he can do as this team needs a big-bodied red-zone threat for Daniel Jones to work with in the worst way.

But, if Victor isn’t the guy, I can’t see why Corey Coleman wouldn’t be at the top of the team’s list to replace Shep’ for the time being.

He’s had been with the team for 2+ years, including this entire training camp, so he knows the system and is in shape. He also possesses game-breaking speed and could surely help the NY Giants wideout group improve on their dead-last rankings in terms of average separation yardage.

As it’s already Thursday and we’re less than 72 hours away from Sunday’s game against the 49ers it doesn’t seem likely that Coleman will be brought in this week. But, if the young WR’s on the roster continue to struggle the NY Giants’ brass needs to take a serious look at bringing Coleman back.

The bottom line, this offense is going to continue to struggle to score points (they are 32nd in the league at this juncture) if they keep trotting out C.J Board and Damion Ratley at their WR3/WR4.