A Closer Look: New York Giants Wide Receivers (2022 Fantasy Football)

As we get more and more into draft season, there are some teams that seem to present value as far as skill positions go, but due to a bunch of factors we don’t know how to rank/where to draft them. The Giants fall squarely into this category due to:

• New coaching staff (again)
• Question marks about the QB
• Lack of chemistry with each other
• Unknown role
• Offensive line play
• Health

If there are more positives than negatives with these question marks (as a Giants fan, man do I hope this is true…), we could see insane value out of the Giants’ WRs, so let’s take a closer look at what to expect from each individual one.

• A Closer Look at the Chiefs Wide Receivers
• A Closer Look at the Falcons Running Backs
• A Closer Look at the Cardinals Wide Receivers
• A Closer Look at the Dolphins Running Backs
• A Closer Look at the Patriots Running Backs
• A Closer Look at the Broncos Wide Receivers
• A Closer Look at the Patriots Wide Receivers
• A Closer Look at the  Jaguars Wide Receivers
• A Closer Look at the Texans Running Backs
• A Closer Look at the Jets Wide Receivers
• A Closer Look at the Packers Wide Receivers

Kenny Golladay (WR – NYG)

Ah, the $72M man. Giants fans everywhere rejoiced when they went out and got the top WR on the market, only to see him fail as epically as one can, averaging 6.4 FPPG (en route to a WR79 finish in PPR formats). Was it a bad signing, or was he just another casualty of a royally inept coaching staff? I’m inclined to think (hope?) that it’s the latter, as there were some good signs even in a lost year in 2021. Golladay was top25 in both YPC (14.1) and air yards share (30.2%), and actually finished tenth in aDOT with a fairly elite 13.3 mark.

Golladay’s size should continue to make him a huge end zone target and his 54% contested catch rate in 2019 proves as much, but the Giants also simply refused to exploit this last year. He only received nine red zone targets the whole season, and only caught one. Even though I’m not ready to put Golladay back to his 2019 form (where he finished WR9 in PPR), I have faith that Daboll and company will understand what they have in Kenny Golladay, and he’ll vastly outstrip his ADP.

Kadarius Toney (WR – NYG)

Another polarizing Giant whose name was in the news quite a bit this offseason. It almost looked like the 2021 first-rounder would be packing his bags, but he stayed with the Giants and now we get to see if his talent can be unlocked in a year free of injuries and COVID (hopefully). Even in a limited season, Toney ranked seventh in target rate and led all WRs in juke rate, thoroughly showing off the athleticism that caused the G-Men to take him in the first round.

When Toney finally started being used as a starter last year in week four, he went 6-78-0 (nine targets) and 10-189-1 (13 targets). The next week he was targeted on three of Daniel Jones’ first four passes before going down with an ankle injury, and when he came back it didn’t matter because the Giants were in Glennon/Fromm purgatory at QB by then. Toney has a Tyreek-like ability to take it to the house every time he touches the ball, so I’m buying in completely at his ADP.

Wan’Dale Robinson (WR – NYG)

A curious pick to many in the 2022 NFL draft, but the selection of Robinson makes it look as though the new regime is surrounding Daniel Jones with as many weapons as possible in what will be his make-or-break year. Robinson seemed an odd selection as the eighth WR off the board, especially since his profile is a lot like Kadarius Toney’s, but there is a lot to be excited about with Wan’Dale. In his only season with Kentucky, Robinson was fifth in the nation in targets, third in receptions, third in yards per route run and first in target share (40%!). He also ran a very respectable 40 time in the combine (4.44), which was ahead of Jalen Tolbert and George Pickens.

That being said, it’s tough to get on board with him in redraft this year (dynasty you can go nuts). Wan’Dale’s size and lack of strength could be a concern this year against much bigger and faster defenders than he’s used to, meaning he could need time to adapt to the NFL game. I’m OK with him as a late flier in deep leagues with his explosiveness (and certainly in best ball drafts), but temper expectations in year one.

Sterling Shepard (WR – NYG)

Old reliable Shep is back for the Giants after taking a pretty massive pay cut to remain with the team. Shepard finished as the WR96 in PPR formats last year, succumbing to a ruptured Achilles tendon at the end of the year (and just adding to a long laundry list of injuries the guy has gone through). Shepard has missed 20 games over the past three years, which is too bad given the fact that he’s been Jones’ security blanket (he finished as the WR29 in Jones’ rookie year, the last time Shep played a full season). Given his age and injury history (and possible place on the depth chart), it’s virtually impossible to trust Shepard to come up with any kind of production this year, but he’s also free in drafts, and I have no issue at all taking him in the last couple of rounds.

Darius Slayton (WR – NYG)

Slayton’s numbers have declined each and every year with the Giants, and there’s a chance he’s not even on the roster once the final cuts are made. He’s going to be a wait-and-see player for me during the month of July because his status on the team will depend squarely on both Sterling Shepard’s injury recovery and Wan’Dale Robinson’s camp outlook. If those two aren’t a factor at the beginning of the season, Slayton should start as the WR3 for New York and his 11.3 aDOT gives him some appeal as a deep threat. For drafts right now though, I’m not taking him, and it’ll take a lot for me to look his way even in August drafts.