For all the moves the New York Giants made at the wide receiver position this offseason, most of them have started to pay off in training camp. Malachi Fields and Odell Beckham Jr. have dazzled, but one of the wideouts the Giants signed back in free agency has started to fade into the background.
New York brought in a bunch of receivers to bring in some competition behind Malik Nabers, but the least consequential of those moves has been signing Calvin Austin III away from the Pittsburgh Steelers, as, despite his strong showing during OTAs, he's been a non-factor during training camp.
Austin hasn't made waves in the way fans expected from such a high-upside deep threat--and while the entire offense hasn't fared well, at least Fields and OBJ have had their moments. Right now, he threatens to fall behind in the pecking order in this pass game--and he already wasn't a priority.
Calvin Austin has faded into the background a bit at Giants training camp
While going over how the WR room has fared this summer, The Athletic's Dan Duggan reported that Austin is still the Giants' top option in the slot. However, he made it clear that the slot won't have as much of a role in the John Harbaugh and Matt Nagy offense than it did with Brian Daboll calling plays.
"Austin was the most impressive wide receiver in the spring," Duggan wrote. "That hasn’t carried over to the start of camp, but he’s still the team’s top slot option. The slot receiver won’t be featured nearly as much in this offense as it was when Wan’Dale Robinson was racking up 140 targets per season.”
As Duggan mentioned, going from Wan'Dale Robinson to Austin out of the slot is a major downgrade. It's not like Big Blue is going to funnel 140 targets to a guy they signed to a prove-it deal. The slot role will be less prevalent in this offense, especially with Nabers and Fields likely starting on the outside.
Besides, with the amount the Giants are going to run 12-personnel, how much will they really have three receivers on the field? Darnell Mooney and the injured Darius Slayton can also operate from the slot, so his downfield connection with Jaxson Dart is really gonna have to pop for his status to stay.
It's not like Calvin Austin's roster spot is in jeopardy or anything, but it certainly isn't a good sign that he's struggling to pull away in a receiver room this desperate for contributors. This is a storyline Giants fans ought to monitor as training camp continues, because a scenery change can unlock him.
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