Darius Slayton has been the fastest receiver on the Giants for most of the past few seasons and generally their only true deep threat. Ask him, and he’ll say he’s still the fastest receiver on the roster.
He just knows there’s a lot more competition now.
“I think, kind of selfishly as a speed guy, I lean towards other speed guys. I like watching people flying around fast,” Slayton said recently. “We’ve got a lot of them now. You turn on the film, it’s a whole lot of flying.”
That’s exactly what the Giants are counting on, because when they looked at their offensive issues from last season it was clear they had a need for speed. So they reconstructed what was one of the NFL’s worst receiving corps in 2022 with an eclectic mix of old and young, new and familiar — all of whom have the potential to move fast.
There are injury questions hovering over many of them, and it remains to be seen just how much better this group is. But even Giants coach Brian Daboll, who rarely says anything about anything, won’t hide from the fact that “Obviously, there’s some faster guys that we have out here.”
“Yeah, this is definitely probably the fastest total complete group that I’ve played with in my career,” said one of those speedy newcomers, Parris Campbell. “I mean, we’ve got speed all across the board. It’s speed that can do a lot of different things. It’s not just guys running in a straight line fast, it’s ball in the hands fast, in their routes fast. We complement each other. I’m excited for what’s to come.”
So are the Giants, especially after seeing quarterback Daniel Jones throw for 3,205 yards last season with a receiving corps that looked nothing like the one they expected to have. They lost Sterling Shepard and promising rookie Wan’Dale Robinson to injuries. Kadarius Toney was such a bust (and problem) they had to trade him. Kenny Golladay was such a bust they couldn’t have traded him if they tried.
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They were left with Slayton (46 catches, 724 yards, 2 touchdowns), who barely made the team coming out of training camp, and a bunch of journeymen and roster fill-ins. It says a lot that Richie James, their leading receiver last season (57-569-4), wasn’t even brought back.
They did bring back Slayton and Isaiah Hodgins (33-351-4). Then they signed Campbell, who once ran a 4.3 in the 40 and had his breakout year last season (63-623-3 with the Indianapolis Colts). They also added veterans Jeff Smith and Jamison Crowder, who both had 4.3 speed (though Crowder is now 29, so probably not anymore). The shifty Shepard is working his way back from a torn ACL and is expected to be ready for the start of the season. And the same is true of Robinson, too.
They also traded for Darren Waller, a fast and electric weapon at tight end. And in the third round they drafted Jalin Hyatt, one of the fastest receivers in this year’s draft.
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With the exception of Waller, none of them is likely a Pro Bowl candidate. No one will confuse any of them with top 10 NFL receivers, and no one is going to call this group elite. Even if everything works out and everyone is healthy, it’s still probably the fourth-best group of passing game weapons in the four-team NFC East.
But they’re fast. Really, really fast. And the Giants, and their $160 million quarterback, can work with that.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who have played a lot of football, have really good experience in this league, making a lot of plays, who can do different things,” Jones said. “Yeah, speed is certainly part of that.”
It really was the priority for Daboll and the front office. They weren’t looking to add size. In fact, unless the 6-foot-6 Collin Johnson makes the roster, Hodgins (at 6-foot-3) will be their tallest receiver. They have two guys who are 5-foot-8 (Robinson and Crowder). Shepard is 5-foot-10.
What Daboll wanted, according to a team sources, were receivers who are fast enough and, maybe more importantly, quick enough to separate from defenders and get open. The rest didn’t necessarily matter. As long as they could get open, he and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka could figure out how to get them the ball.
And that’s especially true with Waller being what Giants assistant GM Brandon Brown called “a problem creator” for opposing defenses.
“You look at what he can do in terms of opening up the field for the rest of our guys,” Brown said. “I call it stretching a defense, whether it’s vertically and laterally. He adds to that. I think it’s one of those things where he’s a force multiplier, right? He just doesn’t make himself or our offense better, but he makes other players better.”
The key, of course, is if the Giants think they now have players capable of being better, capable of taking advantage of whatever openings Waller creates. In theory, with Waller drawing attention from secondaries and running back Saquon Barkley drawing attention from the front seven, there could be a lot of single coverage and one-on-one battles the Giants think they finally have the speed at receiver to win.
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“I love the fact that we added more playmakers,” Shepard said. “It’s not just on one person to make all the plays. We’ve got a lot of guys that can do it.”
At least they think so. They know there’s no guarantee that speed will translate into offense. And it’s far from guaranteed that everyone will heal and stay healthy and things will go exactly as planned.
If it does work out, though, the speed they’ve added gives Jones and the passing game a whole new dimension. Who knows how far the new-look receiving corps can take the Giants? But wherever it is, they are determined to get there fast.
Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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