The NY Giants filled the most glaring need on the roster, and made the most significant upgrade of the offseason to bolster quarterback Daniel Jones’ supporting cast, signing Kenny Golladay, the premier wide receiver available in free agency.
NFL Network first reported Golladay’s agreement with the Giants.
Golladay is coming off an injury-riddled 2020 campaign, where suffered through hip and hamstring injuries that held him to just five games, catching 20 passes for 338 yards and two touchdowns.
However, for his career, Golladay averages 16.8 yards per reception and has caught 21 touchdown passes through 47 games.
Arriving in East Rutherford, Golladay emerges as Jones’ most prolific weapon in the passing game. Golladay sits atop a depth chart that also includes new free agent addition, John Ross, in what promises to be an overhauled position group by the time the season kicks off this fall.
Here’s a look at the good, the bad, and the grade for the NY Giants’ signing of Kenny Golladay:
The good:
Golladay is an ideal fit for what the NY Giants so desperately needed to infuse into a listless offense and to shepherd Jones’ development to the next level.
In 2019, the last season that Golladay was fully healthy, he caught 65 of his 113 targets for 1,190 yards and 1ll touchdowns, while averaging 18.3 yards per reception. According to Pro Football Focus, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford had a 107.9 passer rating when targeting Golladay, who averaged 4.7 yards after contact per reception.
At 6-foot-4 and 213 pounds, Golladay has the ideal frame to be a lethal red-zone target, which could jumpstart the Giants’ mediocre offense inside the 20 yard-line. The NY Giants ranked 31st in red-zone efficiency, scoring touchdowns on just 46% of trips inside the 20. Meanwhile, in 2019, Golladay caught 14 passes for 100 yards and 19 touchdowns in the red-zone.
Golladay’s addition has the potential to be the most impactful acquisition to Jones developing into a franchise quarterback, and the NY Giants’ offense becoming more prolific that Dave Gettleman has made in his tenure as general manager.
The bad
For as prolific and productive as Golladay has been on the field throughout his career, the NY Giants clearly had significant concerns, if they preferred to bring him in for a visit prior to signing him.
As sources told GMenHQ Wednesday, Golladay’s visit to the Garden State began with a medical physical prior to the two sides meeting. As if this were a 1990s free agent courtship, rather than a transaction made in 2021, when the parameters of agreements are typically hammered out in the weeks leading up to free agency officially beginning … wink, wink.
Obviously, the Giants wanted their own medical team to get a look at Golladay’s hip, and it is always a bit of a risk to pay a premium for a player coming off a significant injury.
Likewise, there have been whispers that it was a bitter end last season for Golladay and his relationship with former Lions head coach Matt Patricia, who likely sealed his fate among Lions players when he frequently made them practice outdoors in snowy conditions late in seasons. Golladay is far from alone in issues with Patricia, who rubbed several Lions players the wrong way.
Judge and Patricia previously being on Bill Belichick’s staff together might have colored the Giants’ head coach’s views of what happened in Detroit.
Between injuries and perceived character concerns, it seems the Giants viewed some risk to committing to Golladay long-term.
The grade
This was a move that the NY Giants needed to make if the organization is serious about surrounding Jones with weapons and making significant strides to a return to the postseason for the first time since 2016.
Across the NFL, it is becoming obvious that the most dominant offenses are built by dynamic talent at the wide receiver position — the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns have all surrounded their young quarterbacks with electrifying pass-catchers. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just won a Super Bowl with a receiving corps that includes Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, and Antonio Brown. It would have been malpractice to send Jones onto the field this September again with a receiving corps of Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton, and Dante Pettis.
Golladay, and to a lesser-degree Ross, level-up the talent of the Giants’ receiving corps. Golladay also gives Jones a legitimate No. 1 wide receiver, for the first time in his career.
With Golladay in the fold, a healthy Saquon Barkley in the backfield, and perhaps a wide receiver chosen in Round 1 or 2 of next month’s NFL Draft, Jones has one of the most dynamic collections of pass-catchers in the NFC, and no longer has the excuse of mediocre weapons for his mediocre play.
Golladay is the No. 1 receiver the Giants desperately needed, and the organization deserves credit for filling its most glaring need with the best available player available.
Grade: A
Matt Lombardo is the site expert for GMenHQ, and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday for FanSided. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLombardoNFL.