Giants fans are sick and tired of Kenny Golladay’s failures.
They made that much clear late in the first half of Sunday’s 24-16 win over the Texans, after Golladay had an absolutely brutal drop that resulted in his benching for the remainder of the game.
Boos rained down on Golladay. But he insisted after the game that he didn’t have any emotional reaction to being ripped apart by the MetLife Stadium crowd. The boos didn’t frustrate him or even light a fire under him, he said.
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“It don’t do nothing for me,” he said. “It don’t make me feel no type of way or nothing.”
So what, then, would he say to fans who are annoyed about him not living up to his lucrative contract?
“I don’t say nothing to ‘em,” Golladay said.
Nothing — that’s a fitting word for Golladay’s time with the Giants.
He has accomplished next to nothing. He has been nothing short of one of the NFL’s worst free agency signings in recent memory. And for the most part, he’s had no explanation for any of it.
Because, really, there’s nothing he can say that might make sense of his underwhelming performance over the past season and a half.
Golladay on Sunday was targeted twice. He had one obvious drop and one borderline drop. After his obvious drop, with 1:41 remaining in the first half, he was benched. He didn’t return to the game.
For Golladay, this was a rough return after he missed the previous four games with a knee injury. In 19 games with the Giants, he now has 39 catches for 543 yards and zero touchdowns. This season, in five games, he has two catches (on eight targets) for 22 yards. He also has two drops.
The first of those two came in Week 3 against the Cowboys, right after he complained about getting just two snaps in Week 2 (following 46 snaps in Week 1). Golladay played 24 snaps against Dallas, then got hurt while playing 27 snaps the next week against the Bears. He hadn’t played since, until Sunday.
After this game, and this latest dud, there were no bold proclamations from Golladay about how much he should be playing. While reporters peppered him with questions at his locker, he responded calmly with one-sentence (or even one-word) answers.
At halftime, receivers coach Mike Groh told Golladay that recent waiver claim Isaiah Hodgins would replace him at the X receiver spot in the second half.
Golladay said he didn’t expect to be benched. Did he agree with the move?
“It really don’t matter,” he said.
So how did he feel about it?
“Yeah, I’m going to just keep that to myself,” he said.
Does he believe — after crowing earlier this season about how much he deserved playing time — that he should’ve been on the field in the second half Sunday?
“I’m going to keep that comment to myself,” he said.
As for his drop, he wasn’t sure why it happened and said he needed to examine the film.
“It was just a drop,” he said. “Stuff like that happens in football. It’s definitely unacceptable. I take pride in catching the ball.”
And so far this season, it has happened on exactly 25% of Golladay’s eight targets. So why has 2022 been such an unproductive year for him? At this point, he’s out of answers.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s tough. I’m going to keep pushing through, though. Just me knowing what type of player I can be and what I want to put out there on the field and what’s been going on this year, I think that’s the hard part.”
Does Golladay believe he can still be a dominant No. 1 receiver?
“Yes,” he said.
And why is that?
“Because I do,” he said.
OK, well, why haven’t things worked with the Giants, who gave him a four-year, $72 million contract last offseason?
“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s frustrating.”
Giants fans agree.
And while many might have opinions about what Golladay must do to improve in this season’s final eight games — as the 7-2 Giants push for their first playoff appearance since 2016 — Golladay shed little light on what he needs to do better.
“Just go to work each week,” he said. “Of course I didn’t expect what’s going on right now [with on-field struggles]. Just got to push through.”
Does he expect to be involved in this offense for the rest of the season?
“We’ll see,” he said.
Golladay said he’s back to 100% health, so that seemingly shouldn’t be a factor in his performance.
As for whether the expectations — given the lucrative contract — wear on Golladay, he offered just a one-word answer.
“Nah,” he said.
Bottom line: Golladay is a goner after this season.
General manager Joe Schoen would free up $6.7 million of his $21.4 million salary cap hit for 2023 by cutting him. Golladay will head out of East Rutherford having pocketed about $40.5 million for two terrible seasons. He should send former Giants GM Dave Gettleman a cut, as a thank you for flushing the Giants’ money into his bank account.
Golladay’s contract might be Gettleman’s worst move — and plenty of candidates for that dubious distinction piled up during Gettleman’s four roster-wrecking seasons.
Even Golladay seems to know that his end is near with the Giants. When asked if he envisions a future for himself with this franchise beyond 2022, he managed a two-word answer.
“Who knows?” he said.
Schoen does. And when the time comes, it’ll be a no-brainer move to send Golladay packing.
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But before then, the Giants host Golladay’s former team, the Lions, next week. Detroit is a historically miserable franchise that has made dozens upon dozens of idiotic decisions, for many years.
Letting Golladay leave in free agency was not one of them.
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Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com.
