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Kenny Golladay 2022 Outlook: Low-Risk, High-Reward Option in New Look Giants Offense
3 years agoKenny Golladay was flat-out bad in his first season with the New York Giants. He averaged just 2.6 receptions for 37.2 yards on 5.4 targets per game. He didn't catch a single touchdown all season, but that's not unusual for a guy who sees just two targets inside the 10-yard line. His 6.9 yards per target and 14.1 yards per catch were also both career lows. However, luckily for Golladay, there's nowhere to go but up. To start, the Giants replaced Joe Judge and Jason Garrett with Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka. Daboll was the offensive coordinator in Buffalo, while Kafka was the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator in Kansas City. Both the Bills (66.3) and Chiefs (67) were top-6 in the league in plays per game in 2021, while the Giants have been one of the slowest-paced teams the last two seasons, averaging just 61.1 plays per game. New York was also dead last in offensive touchdowns scored per game last season (1.4), compared to Buffalo, who led all teams with 3.6 offensive touchdowns per game. Daboll and Kafka might not have the superpowers to make Daniel Jones a franchise quarterback, but the offense should be much better than it was the last two seasons. They selected arguably the best tackle in college football with the No. 7 pick Alabama's Evan Neal and equipped Jones with yet another weapon in Kentucky's Wan'Dale Robinson. Positive regression is coming for everybody, and that includes Golladay. Whether that's enough to make him a viable weekly starter in fantasy football is to be determined, but his ADP is low enough this season that he's worth a shot. Recall, he was a low-end WR1 just three short years ago in Detroit when he caught 65 balls for 1,190 yards and 11 touchdowns. The skills are there, and now a coaching staff is in place to help him get back to that level of production. But for Golladay to get back to that level, Jones is going to have to be better. Looking at the efficiency metrics (per PlayerProfiler), Golladay had a catchable target rate of just 66.2% in 2021, 87th amongst all receivers, and a target quality rating of 4.64, 79th amongst all receivers. He's a low-risk, high-reward target this season compared to 2021 when he was drafted as a top-30 wide receiver.
