The competition at wide receiver is on in New York. The bottom half of the depth chart for the Giants has stepped up and shown that they have a lot of talent at the position. One of the standouts of this training camp had been Collin Johnson, who unfortunately went down with a torn Achilles tendon on Wednesday. Johnson had racked up 123 yards on 10 catches through the first two weeks of the preseason. But it is a next-man-up mentality for this wide receiver group, which is still loaded with talent. And there are several wide receivers that could make the New York Giants 53-man roster.
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New York Giants Wide Receivers Battling For Final Roster Spots
Some Spots Are Already Taken
Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney, Sterling Shepard, and 2nd-round rookie Wan’Dale Robinson have guaranteed spots on this team. The question is, how many more are available? Shepard has recently come off of the PUP list and is ready to go for the season, but all of the returning wideouts have had availability issues due to injuries. The Giants may be wise to carry an extra receiver or two. It’s one of many tough decisions that first-year head coach Brian Daboll and the Giants staff are going to have to face.
Alex Bachman
Bachman was incredible against the Bengals in this week’s game. He may have started camp as a bit of an afterthought but he now finds himself fighting for a spot on this team. He gashed the Bengals defense with 11 catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Bachman caught every ball that was thrown at him. He broke tackles and even made a huge tackle on special teams. A performance like this is a great start to cracking this roster.
Alex Bachman proved why deserves a spot on the @Giants roster in week 2 of the preseason racking up 11 catches for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns 🔥#TogetherBlue
pic.twitter.com/ObRXFT2vzc— NFL Football Everything (@nflfootballeve1) August 24, 2022
David Sills V
It appears that Sills has some chemistry with starting quarterback Daniel Jones. Jones has only played a little bit in these preseason games but has connected with Sills multiple times for first downs including a beautiful back shoulder pass for 20 yards. He had an efficient game receiving, ending with 56 yards on five catches including three first downs. Sills also did a great job in run blocking which is a fail-safe way to fire the coaches up.
C.J. Board
Board has not caught a pass throughout the first two games of preseason. On top of that, he left in the second quarter of Sunday’s game with a rib injury. He has played in 24 NFL games over the last three years, including 20 with the Giants in the last two seasons. The thing that Board brings to the table is his special teams ability. He is slotted in the #1 spot for both kick returner and punt returner on the teams unofficial depth chart. That may or may not be enough to earn him a spot on the opening day roster, as there are several better receivers on this list.
Richie James
James differs from the rest of these players because he is a veteran. He has the advantage of experience over these young kids. That experience has come from playing in 40 games over three years with the San Fransisco 49ers. He is a small and quick receiver that is effective with short routes. In the past, he has been a good returner but hasn’t showed that yet with the Giants.
Darius Slayton
In Slayton’s rookie season in 2019, he had eight touchdown catches and 740 yards receiving despite only starting nine games. At that point, he was probably the number 1 target for Daniel Jones. But as the team has added talent to the room, his numbers have dropped significantly. He now finds himself fighting for one of the last spots on the roster. Logistically, it doesn’t make sense to stash him as a 5th or 6th receiver because he doesn’t play on special teams and he is not an effective run blocker. The unfortunate truth for the young player is that he will likely be traded or cut from this team.
There are a couple of other outside chances to make the team in Keelan Doss and Markus Kemp but are unlikely. The Giants have two, maybe three spots left, and there is a strong chance they are choosing between the players listed above. It’s not a bad problem to have, but a strong group of talented wide receivers leaves the Giants with a tough decision.
