The New York Giants were one of the NFL’s best feel-good stories last season.
Very few people outside of New York and New Jersey expected them to do anything notable, but they won six of their first seven games and made the playoffs, where they defeated the Minnesota Vikings 13-4 in the wild card round.
But if their fans are counting on the team to build on that success this fall and winter, they may be setting themselves up for some disappointment.
The Giants’ wide receiving corps is pretty weak, and analyst Warren Sharp illustrated this fact by pointing out how they had four different receiving yards leaders in their nine regular-season wins.
this is disgusting
2022 NYG Win Leading Receiver
Week 1: 71 yards – Sterling Shepard
Week 2: 51 yards – Richie James
Week 4: 23 yards – Daniel Bellinger
Week 5: 79 yards – Darius Slayton
Week 6: 38 yards – Daniel Bellinger
Week 7: 58 yards – Darius Slayton
Week 10: 95 yards – Darius Slayton
week…—Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) June 26, 2023
Overall, their most productive wide receiver in 2022 was Darius Slayton, who had 724 yards and two touchdowns, which were anemic numbers for a WR1 of a playoff team.
There isn’t much reason to expect New York to be much more productive when it comes to their passing game next season.
The only ray of hope lies within new tight end Darren Waller, whom they acquired in a March trade with the Los Vegas Raiders.
His production has declined over the past two seasons, but in 2019 and 2020 he topped 1,100 receiving yards and made the Pro Bowl in the second of those two seasons.
It may be too much to expect Waller to even get close to 1,000 yards in 2023, but maybe he can give New York a boost.
However, such a boost probably won’t be enough to put the team in the ranks of the elite teams throughout the league, especially in what should be a very competitive NFC East.
NEXT:
Giants Star comments on being an underdog in 2023
