When the New York Giants traded All-Pro wide receiver, Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns this offseason many joked that running back, Saquon Barkley was now the team’s best wide receiver. Just three days into training camp that might be true.
On the first day, the Giants lost starting wide receiver Sterling Shepard for a few weeks after he fractured his thumb. The team officially lists him as day-to-day but the expectation is that he could miss Week 1 of the 2019 NFL season.
Next, speedster Corey Coleman—who was supposed to serve as the team’s deep threat with Beckham now in the AFC—went down in the team’s second practice. The former Baylor standout suffered a torn ACL in New York’s second training camp practice.
That left Golden Tate (who the team signed in the offseason to replace OBJ) as the last healthy potential starter available. However, news broke today that Tate is facing a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. The suspension hasn’t been announced by the league yet but Tate has let it be known that he plans to appeal the suspension.
Without Tate, Shepard, and Coleman these are the players left at wide receiver for the Giants: Benny Fowler, Cody Latimer, Russell Shepard, Darius Slayton, Alonzo Russell, Brittan Golden, Reggie White Jr., Alex Wesley, and Da’Mari Scott.
The preseason will now give those 10 players a bigger opportunity to make their mark with this team. Fowler and Latimer both started their NFL careers in 2014 with the Denver Broncos and Shepard is a seven-year veteran.
Even before the injuries and suspensions, there was intrigue surrounding how the franchise would replace a talent like Beckham Jr. and now the question reverberates even larger for the Giants.
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