The New York Giants came into their first preseason game looking to evaluate players rather than focus on a win, and one player who made a strong mark is one of the under the radar receiving targets for Daniel Jones this season. David Sills V is one of a number of receivers competing for playing time in an expanded and competitive lineup, but set himself apart in the receiving game despite his low profile status heading into this offseason.
Sills had 49 yards and 3 receptions, which led all receivers for the Giants in their loss to the Jets. He was also targeted 5 times, which was more than any other player, and had the longest reception of the game at 37 yards. In other words, Sills was a bright spot in an offensive performance where the Giants only put up 7 points overall.
Impressively, this performance comes in Sills’ first appearance since the 2019 preseason after spending 2020 on the injured reserve following a training camp injury.
“It was awesome being out there. That was my first time being in a game since preseason of 2019. So, it was really good and exciting to get out there. It was nice to kind of get that first catch, first hit, kind of got the nerves going a little bit, but after that, it’s kind of like, all right, let’s go, let’s go have some fun,” Sills told reporters after the loss.
Sills speaks on big catch
Sills also gave a description of what was going through his head during the big reception that turned out to be the biggest chunk of yardage the Giants offense produced.
“We got man coverage, we checked into a fade and I thought Clayton threw me a great ball, gave me a chance on it, so it’s something I think my teammates, the quarterback and my coaches expect me to make that play. It was nice to be able to make that play, but still didn’t come out with outcome we wanted, winning the game,” Sills elaborated.
The Giants might not have gotten the outcome they wanted, but the individual performance is encouraging nonetheless. Especially when the quarterback play was largely lacking for the Giants as they chose to rest Daniel Jones and instead exclusively rely on their backups.
A point of interest in the future will likely be the chemistry between Jones and Sills, as if Sills keeps it up he may just end up being one of Jones’ targets in the lineup of regular season receivers.