Assessing The New York Giants' Wide Receiver Issues

(Photo by: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

About a month has passed since free agency opened up, and without a doubt, one of the biggest winners so far has been the New York Giants. Making their stout defense even scarier with the additions of LB Michael Boley, DT Rocky Bernard, and DE Chris Canty, the Giants look to be the team to beat on paper.

Yet, there is still one glaring weakness that could very well prevent the Giants from continuing their recent success, and that is the mess that is the wide receiver depth chart.

While the team has been awaiting word on what will become of team idiot Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer has been quietly sitting on the free agent market waiting for someone to snatch him up. This leaves the Giants' receiving corps with Steve Smith, Domenik Hixon, Mario Manningham, and Sinorice Moss—or a combined career total of 151 receptions, 1667 yards, and six touchdowns.

Yeah. Not quite Super Bowl-caliber numbers.

Now, don't get me wrong: Steve Smith has shown phenomenal growth since his rookie season in 2007 and will be able to comfortably fill the possession receiver role that Toomer once had. It's the situation with Burress that has fans of Big Blue asking who Eli's go-to guy will be this year.

They could hope for one of the young members on their current roster to step up. After all, that's what they tried with Hixon last year. However, the stats tell otherwise: After the Giants lost Burress last year in Week 12, Eli threw for 200 or more yards only twice, and had a 63.6 QB rating. Compare that with his 89.0 QB rating and four (nearly seven) 200+ yard games before the Burress fiasco.

They could also wait for Burress' legal proceedings to finish up and hope he comes back. However, the chance of that happening are quite slim, regardless of what the Giants say publicly.

So who will the Giants call upon now?

Rumor has it that the Giants have inquired about disgruntled Cardinals receiver Anquan Boldin and Browns wideout Braylon Edwards—two young, talented receivers who could instantly come in and make an impact.

Problem is, the asking price for either pass-catcher is too high for Giants brass; Arizona wants the Giants' first and third-round draft picks this year, as well as next year's first round, and Cleveland has demanded that young DE Mathias Kiwanuka and Steve Smith be included in any talks for Edwards.

The simplest option—which this writer also feels is the best—is to address the issue in the draft. Fortunately for the G-Men, the bottom of the first round has a plethora of young receiver talent. They could go with the sure-handed Hakeem Nicks out of North Carolina, the tall speedster Darrius Heyward-Bey from Maryland, or local product Kenny Britt of Rutgers.

The main issue with rookie receivers, however, is the immense learning curve they face. The average rookie wideout takes about two to three years to adopt to a pro offense.

In addition, the Giants have drafted a wideout in each of the past three years; drafting another would be taking a page out of the Detroit Lions' textbook. However, any of the rookies mentioned above would be considered an upgrade to the Giants' current situation.

The Giants could be one receiver away from playing in Miami on Feb. 7, 2010. The question is: Who will it be?

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