Giants WR Sterling Shepard (Achilles) was limited in practice all week but isn’t listed on the final injury report. He’ll play in Sunday’s opener vs. the Titans, a little less than 9 months after tearing his Achilles. We’ll see exactly how big a role Shepard is ready for, but he shouldn’t be in Week 1 fantasy lineups. His availability does make WR Wan’Dale Robinson a riskier bet.
Giants WR Sterling Shepard (Achilles) said Tuesday that he's "ready to go" for this weekend's opener vs. the Titans. ESPN's Jordan Raanan confirms that Shepard "fully plans on playing" on Sunday. It's a remarkably quick turnaround for Shepard, who tore his Achilles last December and was just activated from the PUP list 2 weeks ago. Shepard shouldn't be in Week 1 fantasy lineups, but he's worth stashing on benches and complicates the outlooks of WRs Kadarius Toney, Wan'Dale Robinson and Kenny Golladay.
Giants WR Wan'Dale Robinson lined up "almost exclusively" in the slot at rookie minicamp on Friday, according to NJ Advance Media's Zack Rosenblatt. That "will be his long-term role in this offense," Rosenblatt adds. Robinson played inside and out at Kentucky last year. But, at 5'8 and 178 pounds, he was always destined for the slot in the NFL. New HC Brian Daboll's Bills led the league in percentage of offensive snaps with 3+ WRs on the field last year (84.5%). So, if Robinson wins the starting slot job, he'll be on the field plenty. It also means that WR Kadarius Toney will be playing primarily on the outside after spending 59% of his snaps in the slot as a rookie last season.
The Giants selected Kentucky WR Wan’Dale Robinson with the 43rd overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft. Robinson is a fun watch. He’s quick, elusive and explosive with the ball in his hands. And he has the acceleration and speed to win deep. Robinson is a raw route runner, though, at least in part because he’s relatively inexperienced at WR. He played RB in high school and spent about 50% of his snaps in the backfield as a freshman at Nebraska. Robinson played more WR than RB for the Huskers in 2020. But it wasn’t until he transferred to Kentucky this past year that he really broke out. Under OC Liam Coen, who worked under Sean McVay in Los Angeles from 2018 to 2020, Robinson finished 3rd in the country in receptions (104) and 11th in receiving yards (1,334). He ranked top 5 among 251 qualifying WRs in both yards per route run and Pro Football Focus receiving grade. Robinson played about two-thirds of his snaps in the slot but was actually slightly more effective in terms of yards per route run on the outside (3.82 vs. 3.45). The concern with Robinson is size. He’s just 5’8, 178 pounds and has the shortest arm length and wingspan of all WRs in the MockDraftable.com database. Robinson’s skill set overlaps a bit with WR Kadarius Toney, who might still be on thin ice with the new Giants regime. We’ll see how the situation shakes out.
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