The New York Giants made little to no effort to retain wide receiver Hakeem Nicks in the offseason. The let the dynamic wide receiver walk away in favor of Rueben Randle who is entering his third season with the Giants. However, the receiver has some competition after New York drafted Odell Beckham Jr to help with the wide receiver group. With three strong options for quarterback Eli Manning, it might be time to make a few fantasy football roster adjustments.
The Giants are putting a lot of stock into Randle, hoping that he can improve in his third year with the team. Last season he put up 611 yards and six touchdowns, excelling over Nicks who failed to put up one score on the season. However, Randle has struggled with consistency during his first two years with the Giants and wide receivers coach Sean Ryan simply needs to see more from him with competition in the grouping.
"For me, the battle with him is consistency, and I think he's addressed it in this offseason in the way he approaches his job," Ryan said, via ESPNNewYork.com. "I've seen a difference in his seriousness towards his work. This spring, I thought he was locked in. I thought he did a good job learning the new offense. Like I said, he's got some football intelligence to him. Things come to him. He sees things pretty well. But I thought he really worked hard at being locked into the meetings and on the field as well. I noticed a difference in him."
The Giants need offensive improvement from everyone. The team brought in new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo to help with the unit struggles and inconsistencies. Last season, Manning appeared to not be on the same page with any of his wide receivers. Now he has three options after the addition of Beckham who is expected to make an impact immediately. Ryan believes that Randle should improve, but he also notes that this is a make-or-break season for the wide receiver and there are red flags from the past that could haunt him.
"Yeah, I think maybe that is oversimplifying, because you're always going to face route adjustments versus certain coverages," Ryan said. "Maybe this offense doesn't have as many, but he's still going to have to face those same decisions. In terms of the volume of route adjustments, there's probably a little less in this offense. But there's always going to be certain routes that we're going to run versus certain coverages, and post-snap they're still going to have to see it just like the quarterback sees it and be on the same page. So it's still going to be a part of the game, just probably not as much."
Randle and Beckham will likely be in a competition for Manning's attention. Cruz returns as the No. 1 threat and then it is up to the two other receivers as to who gets the second look down the field.
