Evans had been called up from the practice squad three times by the Cowboys, meaning he needed to be added to the 53-man roster this week to continue suiting up. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports “several teams” attempted to poach the veteran off the taxi squad, but his decision to remain with Dallas has culminated in today’s move. Evans has logged 74 combined defensive and special teams snaps with the Cowboys so far, recording three tackles.
James was out of the lineup for one game after being designated for return, but he will be eligible to suit up for the upcoming Super Bowl rematch against the Eagles. Mentioned as a trade candidate earlier this year, he will be able to add depth to a WR corps which has underperformed to date, and add to his single catch recorded in his two Kansas City games at the start of the campaign.
JaMycal Hasty was waived by the Jaguars this past weekend following a year-plus with the organization. The running back had 320 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns during his first season in Jacksonville but was limited to only three games and zero touches this year. He’ll be hard pressed to carve out a role in New England with Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott leading the depth chart.
Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs and Raiders moves are noted below.
Most of the headlines concerning the Giants came this summer as the team came to a long-term deal with quarterback Daniel Jones and a short-term solution to satisfy running back Saquon Barkley. Still, the team made the necessary moves today to get towards a 53-man roster. Here are the cuts from today:
Ximines is potentially the biggest name here. A former third-round pick in 2019, Ximines has failed to live up to his draft stock, only starting nine games during the first four years of his career. He was re-signed on a cheap, one-year deal at the start of free agency, but ultimately, it seems like New York decided to move on.
The sixth-round rookie draft pick Beavers had a strong chance not only at a roster spot but at a starting spot. A torn ACL in the preseason ended any hopes of a starting role as a rookie for Beavers.
On offense, Phillips was a top contender for the swing tackle job after filling in for Evan Neal in four starts at right tackle last year. It appears he lost out on the role to Matt Peart.
Lastly, the undrafted rookie quarterback DeVito did his best over the preseason to earn a roster spot, drawing praise from many of his coaches. Ultimately, he proved unable to convince the Giants to keep a third passer behind Jones and Tyrod Taylor.
DECEMBER 31: It only took two days into the 21-day practice window for the Giants to activate McKinney. McKinney should resume his starting role next to Love, sending Pinnock back to the bench after five weeks of substitute responsibilities. It’s unclear, though, whether or not McKinney will also resume his signal-calling duties on defense for New York, duties Love took over when McKinney was placed on IR.
To make room for McKinney on the active roster, the Giants waived wide receiver David Sills. Sills has started five games this year at wideout for New York but only contributed 11 catches for 106 yards in nine total games. In addition to those corresponding roster moves, the Giants promoted tight end Chris Myarick and cornerback Zyon Gilbert from the practice squad as standard gameday elevations for tomorrow’s matchup against the Colts.
DECEMBER 29: Xavier McKinney may make a late-season return for the Giants, after all. The young safety will return to practice Thursday, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post tweets.
The Giants have been without McKinney since their Week 9 bye, during which the starter suffered a broken hand in an ATV accident. McKinney is not expected to play against the Colts this week, but the Giants will get a look to see if he can contribute in Week 18 and/or in the playoffs. In designating McKinney to return from the reserve/NFI list, the Giants will have three weeks to activate him.
A 2020 second-round pick out of Alabama, McKinney has dealt with injuries during his first and third NFL seasons. He missed most of his rookie year because of a broken foot suffered that August. The ATV accident this year has sidelined him for the Giants’ past seven games. With the team being without top cornerback Adoree’ Jackson for much of that span, the Giants’ secondary has faced tall tasks weekly.
Jason Pinnock is expected to remain the starter alongside Julian Love against the Colts. If the Giants beat the Colts, they are assured of a playoff berth — which would be the franchise’s first in six years. Brian Daboll did not guarantee McKinney would miss this matchup, but it sounds like Week 18 is a better bet for a return to action. McKinney’s accident occurred in Mexico. He had pins removed from his fingers earlier this month but will wear a contraption (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Dan Duggan) upon returning.
McKinney has made 28 career starts, breaking through last season with a five-interception campaign. Pro Football Focus has not viewed his 2022 work on that level, slotting him 74th among safeties — behind Pinnock — but the former No. 36 overall pick remains a key part of a Giants secondary that already looked thin before this season’s run of injuries. The team rostered Jabrill Peppers and Logan Ryan alongside McKinney over the past two years; both are now elsewhere.
September 26th, 2022 at 6:52pm CST by Sam Robinson
A Kenny Golladay-Giants divorce will almost certainly take place before the 2023 season, but the team’s new regime appears open to severing ties with the high-priced Dave Gettleman-era pickup earlier.
The Giants trading Golladay before the Nov. 1 deadline is not off the table, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes. This would be a financially difficult transaction for the Giants, but Rapoport adds the team taking on most of Golladay’s contract would be the only way a trade would go down. The former Lions Pro Bowler has fallen well out of favor with the Giants, leading to some notable developments leading up to Big Blue’s Week 3 tilt tonight.
After Golladay played extensively in the Giants’ Week 1 game in Tennessee, Brian Dabolldrastically reduced his workload. The sixth-year receiver played just two snaps in Week 2, leading Golladay to say he is confused by the situation and “should be playing regardless.” The two-time Detroit 1,000-yard pass catcher underwhelmed in his Giants debut. He might be with a third team before this season ends, but this would be an unusual trade to complete.
Golladay signed a four-year, $72MM contract during the 2021 free agency period; that deal was by far the most lucrative pact given to a wide receiver on last year’s COVID-19-affected market. The 28-year-old pass catcher saw the downward momentum created by an injury-plagued 2020 slate follow him to New York; he finished with just 37 receptions for 521 yards and no touchdowns in 2021. The outside receiver joined other Giants in a poor passing attack, with coaching and quarterback play undoubtedly lowering wideouts’ ceilings on last season’s woeful squad. But Golladay has not turned his career around under Daboll.
Last year’s big-ticket accord featured $10MM of Golladay’s 2022 salary being guaranteed at signing. An additional $4.5MM of that salary became locked in on Day 1 of the 2022 league year. Golladay is attached to a $13MM base salary this season. Based on where his career has gone since a 2019 Pro Bowl slate, the 6-foot-4 target does not carry much trade value.
Golladay’s $21.5MM cap number tops the Giants’ payroll by a considerable margin. An in-season release would tag the team with a $25MM dead-money charge. The team making it work with Golladay, whom Rapoport adds has not been a problem in the locker room, until 2023 would lead to just $7.9MM in dead money — if designated as a post-June 1 cut.
It will be interesting to see if Golladay can create some semblance of trade value with on-field contributions for the Giants in the coming weeks. For now, he is behind career practice squad player David Sills, whom the Giants view as a player who can create more separation than Golladay at this juncture. Sills and veteran slot Richie James have played ahead of Golladay and Kadarius Toney this season. Both Toney and second-round rookie Wan’Dale Robinson are inactive for tonight’s Cowboys matchup.
September 20th, 2022 at 10:10pm CST by Sam Robinson
Although the Giants’ setup was not exactly conducive to impressive receiving statistics last season, Kenny Golladay has not rebounded from his disappointing 2021 slate. The Giants have reduced the high-priced veteran’s playing time significantly.
The former two-time 1,000-yard receiver played just two snaps in the Giants’ Week 2 win over the Panthers, seeing his usage plummet drastically from a 46-snap opener in Tennessee. With the Giants’ new regime not being the staff that authorized Golladay’s four-year, $72MM contract, the ex-Lions standout faces an uncertain Big Apple future.
Golladay, 28, joins Darius Slayton in failing to impress Brian Daboll‘s coaching staff. Long a trade candidate, Slayton has played four offensive snaps this season. The Giants’ 2019 and 2020 receiving leader took a pay cut, one that essentially negated his proven performance escalator contract-year bump, to stay on the team. But a Giants team seemingly flush with receiving talent has not seen too much from that contingent, beyond Sterling Shepard bouncing back early from his 2021 Achilles tear.
The team appears interested in shaking up the situation. Daboll has FaceTimed with free agent wideouts, according to ProFootballNetwork.com’s Aaron Wilson. Help is limited at this point on the NFL calendar, and the Giants do have a highly touted player acquired by their current regime — second-round pick Wan’Dale Robinson — preparing to make his debut. Robinson has missed the team’s first two games due to injury. Daboll passed on a Cole Beasley reunion; the ex-Bills slot joined the Buccaneers on Tuesday. Will Fuller and Odell Beckham Jr., an unrealistic Big Apple return candidate, headline the available receivers. As it stands, Big Blue’s wideout situation has produced some interesting on-field configurations early in Daboll’s run.
Daboll informed Golladay last week the team was effectively benching him for David Sills, a 2019 Bills UDFA who landed with the Giants later that year. Despite Daboll’s former team not having room for the Delaware product three years ago, this reunion has led to the most work of the young player’s career. Sills played 67 offensive snaps against the Panthers, catching three passes for 37 yards. Sills primarily worked alongside Shepard and Richie James, who led the Giants in receiving with five catches for 51 yards last week.
“I told him during the week that we were going to go with Sills,” Daboll said of Golladay’s demotion. “He acted like a pro. I said, ‘Be ready to go.’ Does that mean it’s going to be next week? No. It takes a lot of mental toughness, too. That’s not an easy thing to hear. I appreciate them being professional.”
A 2019 Pro Bowler, Golladay is known more for his contested-catch abilities than separation skills. The 6-foot-4 target drew interest from the Bears, Ravens, Dolphins and Bengals during the 2021 free agency period — one overshadowed by the COVID-19-induced salary cap drop — and signed with the Giants on a deal that included $28MM fully guaranteed and doubled as the top contract given to a UFA wideout last year. In an offense that saw both an OC change (from Jason Garrett to Freddie Kitchens) and Daniel Jones‘ injury give way to overmatched backups Mike Glennon and Jake Fromm, Golladay caught 37 passes for 521 yards and no touchdowns.
He did not put together a good offseason this year — one that featured an unspecified surgery — and is an obvious 2023 release candidate. For now, Golladay’s contract makes such a move prohibitive. The Giants can get out of the deal with a $7.9MM 2023 dead-money hit, should they designate Golladay as a post-June 1 cut. Golladay’s $21.2MM cap hit is not only tops among Giants; it ranks as the league’s eighth-highest 2022 cap number.
Golladay’s swift decline comes as the Giants are barely using 2021 first-rounder Kadarius Toney. The oft-injured wideout played seven snaps in the team’s opener and caught two passes for zero yards in Week 2. The Giants hoped to involve Toney more in Week 2, per Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, but a hamstring tweak changed those plans. Toney still played more against the Panthers (28 snaps), however. Trade rumors encircled Toney this spring, and though those quieted quickly, the Dave Gettleman-era draftee’s status rounds out one of the league’s more interesting position groups through two weeks.
