PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Giants paid $72 million for a wide receiver last year and all they got to show for it was 521 yards and no touchdowns. To say Kenny Golladay was a disappointment in his first year with the Giants would be an understatement.
He was paid to be their No. 1 receiver, and instead he was often an afterthought in the offense. Golladay expressed his frustration with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett on multiple occasions both publicly and privately, which included a blow-up on the sideline in Week 2.
The reason: Golladay came to the Giants best known for his skills on 50/50 balls, deep passes down the sideline and for his red zone presence — and that’s not really how he was being used. He often was ignored in big moments (like on third down) and rarely was targeted downfield.
Assuming Golladay can stay healthy in 2022 — no guarantee — misusing a $72 million receiver shouldn’t be as much of an issue with the Giants’ new coaching staff led by Brian Daboll.
“He’s a big bodied guy that makes contested catches,” Daboll said at the NFL Annual Meeting on Tuesday morning.
Daboll led one of the best offenses in the NFL the last few years with the Bills, and he’s inheriting arguably the worst offense in the league over the last two years. Daboll’s approach to putting players like Golladay, Kadarius Toney and Saquon Barkley in position to make plays is a simple, but smart, concept: Figure out what they do best, then put them in position to do those things.
Garrett struggled to do that — and before Joe Judge fired him last season, he publicly admitted that the Giants needed to do a better job of featuring their playmakers. It still didn’t happen after that.
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