Hakeem Nicks to Giants: Latest Contract Details, Comments and Reaction

In the space of four years, Hakeem Nicks went from key piece of a Super Bowl-winning team to complete afterthought in the NFL. Perhaps the 27-year-old wide receiver will be able to put it all together after reuniting with the New York Giants on Tuesday, per the team.

Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports and Conor Orr of NFL.com first reported that Nicks and the Giants agreed to a deal after Victor Cruz went down for the season.

"I knew I could help a lot of teams. I knew once Nov./Dec. came around I was going to be getting a call. I wanted it to be from here, Nicks said, per Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. 

The Giants have a bye this week, but Nicks will be taking the time to study his playbook, saying, "It’s just going to take some studying, hard work and determination," per Paul Schwartz of the New York Post.

The 2009 first-round draft pick spent last year with the Indianapolis Colts, catching 38 passes for 405 yards and four touchdowns. Nicks appeared in all 16 regular-season games and three playoff outings for the Colts, making six starts.

That wasn't enough for him to remain in Indianapolis, but he stayed in the AFC South after signing with the Tennessee Titans. However, his stay in Nashville was short-lived, as the team cut him in early September.

This tweet from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport didn't offer an encouraging sign for Nicks' future NFL prospects:

It's difficult to pinpoint just how and when everything went so wrong for Nicks.

He had 1,000-plus receiving yards in 2010 and 2011 and was the Giants' leading receiver (10 receptions, 109 yards) in their Super Bowl XLVI win. But Eli Manning seemed to trust Nicks less and less over the next couple of seasons before his move to Indy, which is evidenced by the numbers below:

Season	Team	Rec.	Targets	Yards	AVG	TD
2009	New York Giants	47	74	790	16.8	6
2010	New York Giants	79	128	1,052	13.3	11
2011	New York Giants	76	133	1,192	15.7	7
2012	New York Giants	53	100	692	13.1	3
2013	New York Giants	56	101	896	16.0	0
2014	Indianapolis Colts	38	68	405	10.7	4

In August, Nicks chalked up the lackluster conclusion to his time with the Giants to health issues.

"I still had to heal up on some injuries (in New York)," he said in August, per John Glennon of the Tennessean. "I had that foot injury, and no matter how bad your mentality is that you want to shake it, it's just something you have to overcome. But I think that's where it went wrong in New York, just rushing some injuries."

That doesn't, however, explain his brutal season with the Colts or his failure to make the Titans' roster. Getting cut by Tennessee is a particularly damning indictment of his current status considering how the Titans could have used veteran help in the passing game to aid in Marcus Mariota's development.

Maybe Nicks can have a career renaissance in familiar surroundings. “This is home.You know what they say, ‘Let a dog roam, he’ll find his way home.’ They left the backdoor open for me," Nicks explained, via Kimberley Jones of NFL.com.

That might be necessary for him to continue his NFL career because it's hard to see how he'll get many more chances after this if moving to New York doesn't work out.

Unless otherwise noted, stats are courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com.