The New York Giants, for the most part, haven’t had all of their weapons on the field at one time this season. While Saquon Barkley was able to come back in week 1, the Giants have dealt with a number of other injuries and names such as Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney, and Evan Engram have either missed time or been at risk of doing so.
The big absence in the receiving game for the first two games of the season was Evan Engram. In a situation that will be familiar to Giants fans due to past experiences with Engram, the tight end entered the season with a calf injury and wasn’t present in either of their two losses. That is set to change in today’s game against Atlanta.
This will be Engram’s season debut, while Golladay and Toney on the other hand played in the first two games but ended up on the injury report after the Washington loss. Also appearing at tight end will be Kaden Smith, who was limited in practice earlier in the week but is expected to play.
The Giants weapons, not all at 100% but all playing:
RB: Saquon Barkley
WR: Kenny Golladay, Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton Kadarius Toney
TE: Evan Engram, Kyle Rudolph, Kaden Smith
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) September 26, 2021
The expectations may be a bit higher for the Giants on offense, as this is the first game where Jason Garrett will have all of his major weapons to work with. But not everyone on the field may be ready to go 100%.
With Kenny Golladay (hip) expected to play (per @RapSheet) Giants have all their weapons for first time. Still, WR coach Tyke Tolbert said this week reducing Golladay’s snaps probably best considering injuries. KG missed month this summer w/hammy and isn’t where he wants to be.
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) September 26, 2021
Kenny Golladay may have to play with reduced snaps, which doesn’t look good for his numbers that are already considered low this season. The strong possibility that Golladay is limited combined with the fact that Kadarius Toney appears to be outside of the team’s immediate plans raises some questions about who will receive the bulk of the attention in the pass game.
But one thing is certain – the Giants will have more options in this department than they did in either opening game of the season.