New York Giants: Eric Decker a realistic target at wide receiver

The New York Giants could find some needed depth for the wide receiver position in veteran Eric Decker, but only at the right price.

Veteran wide receiver Eric Decker is still a free agent as of the second day of May. It’s not a huge story worthy of generating headlines for major outlets, but it’s a little weird in the modern NFL that emphasis passing attacks more with each season. Decker, who turned 31 years old in March, caught 54 passes while with the Tennessee Titans in 2017, and he’s visited with the Oakland Raiders and Baltimore Ravens this offseason. Nevertheless, he remains available and on the market.

Decker is no longer the player of old capable of finding the end zone 11 or more times in a campaign. That doesn’t mean he can’t contribute for a team with multiple proven weapons on the depth chart and a solid, if not great, quarterback under center. Per Fox Sports, he dropped only two of the 83 passes thrown his way in regular-season games last year, and he’s known to have solid hands even though he’s been guilty of the occasional blunder.

So much about the Giants back in late winter 2017 remains true of the team as of the first week of the current month. Odell Beckham Jr. and Sterling Shepard sit atop the depth chart at the position. This time, Cody Latimer and not Brandon Marshall could compete for a starting gig and also red-zone snaps. There remains an open spot for a player such as Decker at the right price.

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By all accounts, the Giants are not interested in signing former Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant. Situations change, of course, and general manager Dave Gettleman may warm to this idea depending on future conversations that are unknown to those not working within the club’s front office. The Giants aren’t trading for somebody like Josh Gordon ahead of training camp. New York didn’t draft a receiver. The previously mentioned Marshall has been released.

Decker isn’t an exciting acquisition. He won’t sell jerseys. He may, however, be what the Giants needed Marshall to be last year had an injury bug not infected the locker room starting in August. That isn’t a knock on Marshall, as he did nothing wrong during his brief tenure with the team. Both Beckham and Shepard went down to injury before Marshall’s season ended in early October following ankle surgery. No one thing doomed that offense or the Giants as a whole. The entire fall was a disastrous and, in some ways, unavoidable dumpster fire for Big Blue.

Gettleman and his staff unofficially declared the team is trying to win now by using the second overall selection of this year’s draft on running back Saquon Barkley. As polarizing as that decision remains among fans who can’t stop talking about it via social media platforms, what’s done is done. Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur want to give two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning every possible chance to ride off into the sunset as a winner and, hopefully, a champion.

Decker checks the same boxes Marshall checked after the ink signed on his New York contract in March 2017. Decker could be a positive force in a locker room that features multiple younger playmakers who haven’t yet won anything of note in the NFL. At 6-foot-3, Decker gives Manning a big target to look for inside the 20-yard line. So long as others ahead of him remain healthy, he should see favorable match-ups.

Perhaps best of all about this potential union is the money. The Denver Broncos, the team that drafted Decker, haven’t brought him back. Neither the Raiders nor Ravens signed him. Decker may dream of a Rocky Mountain homecoming, but he’s familiar with the New York area thanks to spending a couple of seasons with the New York Jets. MetLife Stadium is a second home for him at this rate. Another plus is that current New York wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert worked with Decker when he held that position with the Broncos earlier this decade. In all, the Giants could get him at quite the discount.

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It’s easy to blame New York’s offensive woes from a season ago on much-maligned left tackle Ereck Flowers and the rest of an offensive line that hung Manning out to dry early and often. Beckham probably wasn’t ever 100 percent after injuring his ankle during a preseason game against the Cleveland Browns, and Shepard experienced multiple setbacks. Decker is insurance, a “just in case.” Unless the Giants are secretly plotting a move for Bryant, the team could do worse than kicking the tires on Decker before summer arrives.

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