Giants wide receivers' red jerseys at practice are starting to look like big red flags

It’s only June. It’s way too early to worry. At least that’s what the Giants kept saying. That’s why it was no big deal that so many of their receivers weren’t out on the field this week, or even this spring.

That’s all true, but time moves fast and June quickly turns into July, which isn’t far from September. And the only people not concerned that Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney and Sterling Shepard are still unable to practice are those who ignore how injuries have helped destroy the Giants over the last few years.

Those are the Giants’ top three receivers and all of them were sidelined during the team’s mandatory minicamp this week, mostly working out on the sidelines in their red “injury” jerseys. Shepard is rehabbing the torn Achilles he suffered last December. Toney is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. And Golladay, who at least ran through some individual drills, has been in and out of the injury area all spring with an undisclosed ailment.

New Giants head coach Brian Daboll was purposely vague on everyone’s status, which only serves to leave the possibilities open wide. Maybe the Giants are just being overly cautious. Maybe all three will be ready for the start of training camp. Or maybe not. It’s impossible to know since Daboll wasn’t telling, and especially since the Giants didn’t make any of them available to talk.

Why does it matter now and not just in September? Because of the Giants’ circumstances. They have a new coach installing a new offense that, from early observations, looks nothing like the old one. They have a quarterback trying to work on his timing again after missing the last six games of last season with a neck injury.

Yes, there’s still plenty of time for everything to come together. There’s always plenty of time.

Until there’s not.

“I think those guys have done a great job working in meetings,” said quarterback Daniel Jones. “I think they built a good foundation of understanding this offense, and obviously the reps are extremely valuable and we'll need to get those.”

They will because actual reps are always better than “mental reps” – which is something all three of those receivers are extremely familiar with. Last year was a mess for all of them. 

Shepard missed seven games with quad, calf and hamstring injuries before he tore his Achilles late in the season. Golladay missed three games last year with a knee injury and was bothered late by an injury to his ribs. And Toney was limited to just 10 games in his rookie season by injuries to his shoulder, oblique, quad, ankle, hamstring, thumb and two bouts with COVID-19.

Toney is still young and who knows what his future holds? The 23-year-old could always shake that “injury-prone” label. But Shepard is 29 and has been battered by injuries the last few years. He hasn’t played a full season since 2018. Golladay, 28, has played in only 19 games the last two years, and hasn’t been the same since he suffered a hip-flexor injury in 2020 when he was still with the Lions. So all three are already working against their own personal injury histories.

And unfortunately, former Giants GM Dave Gettleman was right when he once said, “Hurt guys get hurt.”

Add in the fact that left tackle Andrew Thomas is still wearing red as he recovers from ankle surgery. Add the lingering concerns about Saquon Barkley, who is coming off three seasons essentially ruined by injuries. Add in uncertainty about Jones coming off a neck injury that has never fully been explained. Add it all up and that might be the biggest impediment to the program Daboll and GM Joe Schoen are trying to build here. 

Yes, they inherited a bad roster, but they also have far too many “hurt guys” in important spots.

The three receivers right now are the biggest and most worrisome problem. As Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka work to install a much more modern passing attack, they surely know the dropoff from the Big 3 is steep. For most of the spring, and for both days of the Giants’ minicamp, Jones was throwing to only one receiver who figures to have a big role in the Giants’ offense – Wan’Dale Robinson, their 5-foot-8 rookie second-round pick.

The rest of his arsenal was made up of borderline roster players like David Sills, C.J. Board and Travis Toivonen. He also had Richie James, the 5-foot-9 ex-49er who’s more likely to be a fifth receiver and return man. And there was also Darius Slayton, though he was notably running mostly with the second team.

That’s great for those guys, getting all those extra reps, but the only way to really install and improve the offense is for Jones to start throwing to the players he’s most likely to throw to during games. Or at least the ones he hopes he’ll be throwing to in the regular season. Because the longer Toney, Golladay and Shepard linger on the sidelines, the longer that will be a question, too.

“You would love for everybody to be out here, particularly the skill guys to get reps with the quarterback,” Daboll said. “But that doesn't happen usually in most places. There is always some guy dinged up or you're giving them an off day. We'll get plenty in the summer here.”

Maybe they will, and everything will be fine and go smoothly until September when all three will line up with Jones and Barkley and a healthy offensive line on opening day. That’s just not how things have gone with the Giants the last few years, and that’s not how things have gone recently with those three receivers.

So sure, it’s too early to panic. But at the moment, those red jerseys feel like three big red flags.