The New York Giants no longer employ Odell Beckham Jr., but the Big Blue pass-catching options are far from dire.
The Giants signed Golden Tate, gave youngster Sterling Shepard a raise, boast dynamic tight end Evan Engram, used a fifth-round pick on Darius Slayton, took a flyer on Corey Coleman, and still have Cody Latimer, Russell Shepard, Bennie Fowler, and others to fill out the depth chart.
While Big Blue will miss Beckham's field-tilting presence, they are confident the corps can make enough plays to compensate. The belief is that the whole is greater than any one part.
"Anybody can get the ball," Latimer said recently, via the New York Post. "You're open, you don't get it, that means somebody else is getting it and you're hoping they make a play. We got an unselfish room in there. We don't really care or actually don't talk about it at all, who's getting the ball.
"It's a group effort. The group can be dominant, period."
Beckham generated 10.3 targets per game in 12 regular season games in 2018, as the Giants rightfully force-fed their best player. Sterling Shepard figures to be the biggest beneficiary of Beckham's departure. In the final four games last season sans Beckham, Shepard's targets went from 6.69 per tilt to 7.75. He might see an even bigger spike in 2019.
"I feel like last season with Odell going out for those last [four] games kind of prepared me for what I was going to get into," Shepard said. "The season before that as well with him going down with an ankle injury. I feel like it prepared me for this moment."
The success of the Giants receiver corps will boil down to quarterback play, as it usually does. Whether Eli Manning or Daniel Jones helps the Beckham-less crew reach its potential is the biggest question mark surrounding the Giants' offense this season.
