The New York Giants didn't exactly light up the box score on their way to a 13-10 preseason defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday. It surely wasn't the result anyone was hoping for, but I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it's better to get the bad play out now when the games don't matter.
Part of the reason why they flopped so hard is because of a lack of explosive plays. Aside from a Devin Singletary 40-yard dink-and-dunk screen play on third-and-23, the G-Men only had three other plays go for more than 10 yards. At the heart of the issue is still the lack of weapons on offense.
New head coach John Harbaugh looked to rectify that problem this offseason, bringing in Darnell Mooney and Calvin Austin III, among others. Those two, along with veteran Darius Slayton, were supposed to be the ones to step up and provide the offense with more explosive help. To say they failed on Saturday would be a major understatement.
The not-so-dynamic trio finished the game with 35 combined snaps, 16 routes run, and zero targets to show for it. That is straight-up unacceptable, even in the preseason.
Giants’ WR trio couldn’t buy a target against the Minnesota Vikings
If you want to blame their lack of production on a lack of targets, then it's finger-pointing at the quarterback and offensive play-calling time.
In all fairness, the G-Men opted to lean more into the ground game than the passing game -- 27 rushing attempts to 21 passing -- but with every receiver spot up for grabs behind Malik Nabers, you’d think one of them would’ve found a way to make his presence felt.
According to Pro Football Focus, none of the three were graded above a 56.0:
Stats and advanced analytics won't paint the whole picture, but if you saw it in an art gallery, you wouldn't exactly spend $16.5 million on it (the cumulative AAV of their deals entering 2026).
What doesn't help any of their cases is rookie receiver Malachi Fields coming away as the star of the game, catching all three of his targets for 34 yards and a touchdown. No player helped raise their stock more than the young wideout. He’s coming for the vets, and if they continue disappearing from the offense like this, there’s nothing they can do about it.
It's just a bad look for a team that desperately needs to figure out its offense before Week 1 rolls around. And the disappearing act didn't stop with the receivers. Even the Giants’ top free-agent addition on offense, Isaiah Likely, managed just 11 yards on two catches.
The next opportunity for Mooney, Slayton, and Austin comes Saturday against the Miami Dolphins. One quiet preseason game isn’t going to bury any of them, but with Fields breathing down their necks, another one certainly won’t help.
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