The NY Giants are tied with the Jets for the worst record in football at 22-58 over the last five seasons. While a part of the Giants horrendous record is poor play (while for the Jets it’s just all around ineptitude), injuries have plagued the franchise for last half decade.
Whether it was the fireworks incident that claimed part of Jason Pierre-Paul’s hand in 2015, the ankle\quad injuries that ultimately led to the demise of Odell Beckham Jr.’s Giants career, or the countless injuries Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley have suffered in their short NFL careers, the Giants stars just cannot stay away from the injuries.
The present Giants are no different than NY teams of the past. With training camp starting soon, there are multiple Giants injuries to watch over the next six weeks before the games start to matter. The best ability is availability and without star players being on the field, there is no chance for a successful NFL season. Here are the four New York Giants injury concerns to watch as training camp is almost here.
4. WR Sterling Shepard
No player better illustrates the Giants injury issues than Sterling Shepard. Shepard, the longest tenured New York Giant since being drafted in the second round in 2016, has racked up an astonishing 13 different injuries in his seven-year career, including four injuries a season ago.
When on the field, Shepard has proven his worth as a productive receiver, serving as the offense’s No. 1 option since the Giants controversial trade of Beckham Jr. in 2018. Shepard seems to represent the majority of Giants players, productive when on the field, just never healthy enough to be on the field. Last season was his most serious injury as he tore his Achilles in Week 15.
The typical injury recovery time for a torn Achilles is nine months and, since the injury happened in the middle of December 2021, Shepard should be on track to return right around the first game of the season. It would be important for this offense to have Shepard back, he and Jones have elite chemistry, but don’t count on him staying healthy all season as he has proven to have significant durability issues.
3. WR Kenny Golladay
Last offseason, in a major spending spree that turned out to be fool’s gold, Dave Gettleman handed Kenny Golladay a four-year, $72 million contract. Year 1 of that contract was an unmitigated disaster, as Golladay had zero touchdowns, one less than Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas.
Golladay battled through four injuries a season ago including a hamstring pull that held him out for the majority of training camp. In fairness to Golladay, he was likely never healthy a season ago, and missing training camp put him behind the eight-ball in developing chemistry with Jones. Also, Golladay is a deep ball receiver who makes a lot of contested catches, but he wasn’t given the chance to use this skill in Joe Judge and Jason Garrett’s highly conservative offense.
Golladay does not enter training camp injured this season which gives him plenty of time to take reps with the first team offense. While he is likely to have improved numbers this season, Golladay has missed games in every year of his NFL career. Draftsharks predicts he has a 90 percent chance of injury this season and will miss 3.3 games. For the sake of the offense, let’s hope Golladay can be injury free for the first time since his days at Northern Illinois.
2. WR Kadarius Toney
In his rookie season a year ago, Kadarius Toney suffered an unfathomable seven injuries. His injury troubles started in rookie minicamp and carried over to training camp which he missed most of due to a hamstring injury. Toney suffered injuries to his hamstring, ankle, quad, abdomen and shoulder a season ago.
While there is no denying his electric ability with the ball in his hands, the Giants need to find a way to keep Toney on the field. Draftsharks appears to have little faith in him staying healthy, projecting Toney to miss 4.4 games next season, while having just a 15 percent chance to stay healthy all year.
It is hard to believe Toney could be as be as banged up as he was a season ago and, with Judge’s overly rigorous physical practices going out the window, it is likely there will be less injuries this season. With Shepard and Golladay both having significant track records of injuries, it’s pivotal that Toney stays healthy.
1. LB Blake Martinez
Unlike Toney, Shepard, and Golladay, Blake Martinez does not have a significant injury list. Last season, Martinez tore his ACL in September against the Falcons, though. The recovery time for the average NFL player who tears his ACL is around 7-9 months, which would definitely put Martinez back in time for the start of the season and likely in time to participate in the majority of training camp.
Martinez has played four straight seasons at inside linebacker, one of the most physical positions in the NFL, without injury so Giants fans do not need to be overly worried about another freak injury.
However, his health is clearly pivotal to the Giants success as the defense suffered during his absence – especially since Martinez was the Giants defensive signal-caller. Martinez is top five in the NFL in tackles every season, so adding him back into the fold under Wink Martindale and his blitz heavy defense will be a massive gain.