Sunday, March 17, 2013
How TE Myers fits with Giants
By Tom Carpenter
The New York Giants had a busy day on the free-agent market Saturday, as they locked up wide receiver Louis Murphy and middle linebacker Dan Connor earlier in the day before agreeing to terms with tight end Brandon Myers later on.
"[Myers] was one of the Giants’ top targets from the start of free agency, according to one team source, but they had to wait for the market to settle before making their move," wrote Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News.
Details of Myers' contract weren't immediately announced, but Murphy and Connor inked one-year deals. Connor and Murphy will give the Giants some depth, while Myers will give the team a new look at tight end following Martellus Bennett's departure via free agency. Myers was a bit of a revelation for the Oakland Raiders in 2012, catching 79 passes for 806 yards and 4 touchdowns. He displayed enticing fantasy upside in particular when he torched the Cleveland Browns for 14 catches, 130 yards and 1 touchdown in Week 13. However, as ESPN NFC East blogger Dan Graziano notes, the Giants ended up securing a tight end who is an awful blocker:
Dan Graziano
Giants nab tight end Brandon Myers"Myers was a pass-catching tight end in Oakland. He graded out as the worst blocking tight end in the league according to Pro Football Focus (by quite a wide margin), and it's surprising that the Giants decided to go with a tight end who's more of a receiver than a blocker. It makes you wonder if we can expect to see Myers used differently than Bennett and Jake Ballard were used the past two years. Those guys were blockers primarily, and the Giants picked their spots for using them as receivers in the passing game. If Myers doesn't show improvement as a blocker this spring and summer over what he showed in Oakland, that might mean more playing time for someone like Bear Pascoe in the Giants' offense, especially on running downs. But it seems clear that they have added a nice passing-game weapon for Eli Manning with their latest pickup."
