If there was one glaring deficiency with the Giants in 2022, it was their wide receiver corps – although not necessarily because of any one particular reason.
Once Sterling Shepard and then Wan’Dale Robinson got hurt, Kadarius Toney got traded, and Kenny Golladay proved to be persona non grata, the team’s top three wideouts ended up being a guy who was inactive Week 1 (Darius Slayton), a pickup off another team’s practice squad (Isaiah Hodgins), and a guy signed to be a kick returner (Richie James).
It stands to reason that wide receiver should be THE focus for Big Blue this offseason, especially if Daniel Jones ends up coming back (and double-especially if Saquon Barkley doesn’t), but as Joe Schoen cautioned Monday, a WR1 alone isn’t a cure-all.
“I never believe you’re one player away, so I think we want to continue to build the entire team. A No. 1 wide receiver can be important, but there are some really good ones who are at home right now, so that doesn’t guarantee you anything,” Schoen said. “I think it’s important to build the team, and we want to upgrade multiple positions. We have to place value on everything we do, and we’ll look into something if it makes sense.”
Schoen praised his wide receiver group, noting that Robinson “was really coming along and he’d have been a big-time contributor,” and Shepard especially was a key to the team’s morale down the stretch, even though he couldn’t contribute on the field.
“Love Shep, he’s awesome. Juice guy all the time,” Schoen said. “We’ll continue to monitor his rehab. He’s been a tremendous resource for us, and he’s a guy we’ll talk about, and communicate with the training staff about where he is and when he’ll be healthy enough to play.”
However, neither of those guys may be ready for Week 1 and Slayton and James are free agents, so even if it’s not a huge name like 1 or 2, the Giants will have to make some moves – and that’s the case up and down the roster, where a lot of key players in certain spots will be heading into free agency.
It seems they will be the priority, at least at the outset, based on the Giants’ desire to keep a good culture going.
“We have some good players who are unrestricted free agents, known commodities in-house we know intimately, and we’ll see who we want to bring back and what their market value will be,” Schoen said. “We’ll look in and out of house, but the known commodities will be the priority and then we’ll look outside the building to supplement our roster.”
That doesn’t mean, though, that they won’t be looking for incremental upgrades everywhere, although the Giants will have to do some serious homework when they look outside the building.
“Free agency can be a tool to build, if you get the right guys who are durable,” Schoen said. “If you draft and develop, and have players in the system, you already you know them, but you might not know everything about players outside the building, so there’s less margin for error in house.”
Whatever happens, and whomever the Giants covet either outside the organization or inside their own building, Schoen repeatedly made one thing clear: even with much more cap space, the Giants will be smart about how they divide resources, and they won’t have any regrets if a free agent is lost simply because he gets a better monetary offer somewhere else.
“You can look at the board today but it’ll constantly change, because a lot of good players end up staying with their teams, so we’ll start our free agent meetings next week and devise a plan,” Schoen said. “There are guys who can help us, but it’s important to come up with a proper value and where it fits in, and it’s smart to have a walkaway number.”
And that’s because, in what should seem like an obvious logical leap, the Giants can’t just look at 2023 when compiling their roster and how the salary cap looks – especially with players like Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence coming up to free agency next year and possibly looking at extensions.
“The unrestricted free agents will be a priority early, but we will also look down the road,” Schoen said. “We’re not just planning for this year, we’re looking down the road at 2024, 2025, and beyond to see what’s ahead.”
Oh, and if you’re thinking that maybe Odell Beckham Jr. could be part of the plans?
“Our dinner was good,” Schoen smiled, “but we’ll consider every position, all players who are available, and devise the plan from there.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
Listen live to WFAN via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker
Follow WFAN on Social Media:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
