There's a roulette-wheel flavor to the early days of training camp; which players are going to go down with injury, and how bad? When also factoring in suspension news, no team got off to a worse start than the New York Giants.
Sterling Shepard fractured his thumb on the first day of practice. Corey Coleman tore his ACL. And a day later we got word of Golden Tate being hit with a four-game suspension for using a banned substance. Those were the projected top 3 wideouts. You may have heard the Giants shipped off Odell Beckham in the offseason for first- and third-round picks, so it's an area of some concern for the team.
With Shepard, there's been some conflicting information. One report said broken, another said dislocated. He's apparently practicing, running routes while wearing a protective splint on one hand. Hey, OBJ can catch with one hand, so why not Shepard. For fantasy purposes, though, I believe it's reasonable to think he'll be on the field when the team opens its season five weeks from now.
Tate is appealing his suspension. Everybody appeals suspension. Maybe Tate has a good case (it was supposedly due to a substance in a fertility drug), but off the top of my head I can't think of any cases where a PED suspension was overturned. Please let me know if I'm mistaken. Odds are Tate will need to sit the first four games.
With Coleman out of the picture, Cody Latimer looks like the favorite for No. 2 duties. A former second-round pick of the Broncos, Latimer caught 11 balls in six games for the Giants last year, so he's got the advantage over fifth-rounder Darius Slayton of a year of experience in the offense, and having been rated more highly coming out of college.
The Giants also signed TJ Jones yesterday. There was a story saying they had Kelvin Benjamin in for a workout, but apparently that didn't actually happen -- and Benjamin was so bad with Buffalo a year ago, and a non-factor in Kansas City, that no one should get excited about him joining a roster anyway. Nice rookie season way back when, but not the same after tearing his ACL the following summer. Anyway, Jones got on the fantasy radar with some production in Detroit as a slot receiver, and if we were guessing right now as to who their top 3 wideouts will be in Week 1, I'd say Shepard, Latimer and Jones are the guys who will be out there. I don't think Latimer or Jones merits a roster spot, but let's see what the exhibitions hold -- maybe one starts to look like a viable No. 2, at least while Tate is sidelined.
The player to really get excited about, though, is Evan Engram. Engram has been in a similar situation before, as a rookie in 2017. The Giants were set to have Beckham and Brandon Marshall as their top wideouts, but Marshall got hurt early on and Beckham was lost for the season in Week 5. Engram caught at least 5 passes in seven of his 13 full games that year, with 6 TDs. Only five tight ends accounted for a larger percentage of their team's yards, and only four had a larger share of their team's touchdowns.
| TIGHT ENDS, PERCENT OF TEAM, 2017 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Yds | TD | TmYds | TmTD | %Yds | %TD |
| Rob Gronkowski, N.E. | 1084 | 8 | 4334 | 23 | 25% | 35% |
| Travis Kelce, K.C. | 1038 | 8 | 4326 | 26 | 24% | 31% |
| Delanie Walker, Tenn. | 807 | 3 | 3394 | 14 | 24% | 21% |
| Jack Doyle, Ind. | 690 | 4 | 3226 | 13 | 21% | 31% |
| Zach Ertz, Phil. | 824 | 8 | 3967 | 38 | 21% | 21% |
| Evan Engram, NYG | 722 | 6 | 3680 | 20 | 20% | 30% |
| Jared Cook, Oak. | 688 | 2 | 3761 | 23 | 18% | 9% |
| Charles Clay, Buff. | 558 | 2 | 3086 | 16 | 18% | 13% |
| Jason Witten, Dall. | 560 | 5 | 3326 | 22 | 17% | 23% |
| Benjamin Watson, Balt. | 522 | 4 | 3235 | 20 | 16% | 20% |
| Vernon Davis, Wash. | 648 | 3 | 4093 | 27 | 16% | 11% |
| Kyle Rudolph, Minn. | 532 | 8 | 3929 | 25 | 14% | 32% |
| Ed Dickson, Car. | 437 | 1 | 3319 | 22 | 13% | 5% |
| Jimmy Graham, Sea. | 520 | 10 | 3979 | 34 | 13% | 29% |
| Eric Ebron, Det. | 574 | 4 | 4470 | 29 | 13% | 14% |
| Cameron Brate, T.B. | 591 | 6 | 4607 | 26 | 13% | 23% |
| Hunter Henry, LAC | 579 | 4 | 4551 | 28 | 13% | 14% |
| Austin Hooper, Atl. | 526 | 3 | 4146 | 21 | 13% | 14% |
| George Kittle, S.F. | 515 | 2 | 4235 | 15 | 12% | 13% |
| Tyler Kroft, Cin. | 404 | 7 | 3386 | 25 | 12% | 28% |
| Seth Devalve, Clev. | 395 | 1 | 3537 | 15 | 11% | 7% |
| David Njoku, Clev. | 386 | 4 | 3537 | 15 | 11% | 27% |
| Nick O'Leary, Buff. | 322 | 2 | 3086 | 16 | 10% | 13% |
| Julius Thomas, Mia. | 388 | 3 | 3792 | 24 | 10% | 13% |
| Austin Seferian-Jenkins, NYJ | 357 | 3 | 3501 | 19 | 10% | 16% |
Table shows all tight ends who accounted for at least 10 percent of their team's yards in 2017. Last year Engram wasn't as productive, accounting for just 13 percent of the Giants' yards and touchdowns. But Beckham played in 12 games last year, Shepard 16. Far from certain New York's top 2 wideouts will be available that often this season. Definitely interested in Engram right now.
--Andy Richardson