Hakeem Nicks is a former star, but coming off a couple of lesser seasons and with a long track record of injury issues, he looks unlikely to land a blockbuster deal when he hits the free agent market.
Hakeem Nicks has hired a new agent, and he’s a lock to test his worth on the free market. But after a pair of crappy seasons, how much is any team willing to pay for him? And would he have much of a chance of putting up viable numbers for any team?
In 2012, Nicks caught 53 passes for 692 yards and 3 TDs. He missed three games that year with foot and knee injuries.
And he was even worse last season. In 15 games, he caught only 56 passes for 896 yards, with no touchdowns.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride (now retired) ripped him, and there were reports that Nicks was fined for being late to practices. Tom Coughlin grumbled about Nicks’ unwillingness to practice at one point.
It certainly looked last year like he had slipped some. He seemed to lose a half step of speed, and there were 50-50 balls where you’d figured a better receiver would simply take it away from the defender. With Nicks, those tended to always get slapped away.
And very little playmaking ability. Nicks didn’t score a touchdown all year. If he’d played all 16 games and had he played just a little better, Nicks might have become the first receiver ever to reach 1,000 yards without scoring a touchdown.
By my count, only 10 other receivers in the last 30 years have had over 600 yards and not scored. Only one of them – Al Toon back in 1991 – had even more yards than Nicks.
| 600-plus receiving yards with no TDs (since 1984) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pos | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 1991 | WR | Al Toon, NYJ | 74 | 963 | 13.0 | 0 |
| 2013 | WR | Hakeem Nicks, NYG | 56 | 896 | 16.0 | 0 |
| 1996 | WR | Michael Timpson, Chi. | 62 | 802 | 12.9 | 0 |
| 1985 | TE | Steve Jordan, Minn. | 68 | 795 | 11.7 | 0 |
| 1990 | WR | Kelvin Martin, Dall. | 64 | 732 | 11.4 | 0 |
| 1989 | RB | Keith Byars, Phil. | 68 | 721 | 10.6 | 0 |
| 1990 | RB | John L. Williams, Sea. | 73 | 699 | 9.6 | 0 |
| 1984 | RB | James Wilder, T.B. | 85 | 685 | 8.1 | 0 |
| 1986 | RB | Roger Craig, S.F. | 81 | 624 | 7.7 | 0 |
| 1989 | TE | Eric Sievers, N.E. | 54 | 615 | 11.4 | 0 |
| 1987 | WR | Perry Kemp, G.B. | 48 | 620 | 12.9 | 0 |
I expect nominal interest for Nicks. Either he’ll sign with a team where he’s expected to compete for a starting job, or some team will sign him as a No. 3. There are just too many other free agents out there – Eric Decker leads the way. I think he’ll eventually go for not much a whole bunch more than the veteran minimum, probably with his performance bonuses worked in.
Is Nicks even one of the half dozen best wide receivers available? Some teams will prefer Julian Edelman, Riley Cooper, Anquan Boldin, Jeremy Maclin, Golden Tate, James Jones, Brandon LaFell, Emmanuel Sanders – maybe even guys like Jerricho Cotchery, Dexter McCluster and Jacoby Jones.
—Ian Allan