For longtime Giants fans, I'm raising the question of what Giants WRs and TEs have become significantly better at catching the ball during their careers?
I'm always amazed at the number of drops that some NFL receivers make, given that most of them have been plying their trade for 5-10 years before turning pro. I'm even more amazed that teams hire them just because they're big and fast, or quick and shifty, if they're unreliable when the ball arrives.
Slayton improved noticeably.
Evan Engram probably pops in people's minds a lot where 2020 was horrendous, and 2021 wasn't very good either, but his first two seasons were okay. His ADOT in 2023 was barely 5 yards. He has the same number on 2021, the great Jason Garrett trying to use him on stick routes - not to his strengths whatsoever. Jags use him on a lot of short crossers or flat routes and try to use his speed in space.
PFR: Giants All-time Receiving Leaders - ( New Window )
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Seriously. Worked on it last offseason. It helped.
Slayton improved noticeably.
I would argue that Slayton hands havent improved at all. He's especially inconsistent when catching the ball over his shoulder. Even when he catches the ball, his hand placement is wrong. I believe whatever improvement he had last year was due to them changing the routes he was running. I think Hyatt took on the role of running verticals routes. Slayton can catch the ball when running horizontally, and it seems he gets most of his targets running crossing routes.
His hands are still terrible and always will be - thats why he's not playing on a bigger contract right now.
I can't catch but I remember:
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While here, he couldn't do much right, it seemed (except for a spectacular play, now-and- then). Then he went to Carolina and they figured out what he couldn't do - track the ball over his head.
Toth, you nailed it, the Panthers started throwing the ball on crossers, and his career took off.
Sometimes it's about putting people in positions where THEY can succeed.