Starter: Will Tye
Will Tye’s coming out party onto the NFL landscape was not devoid of a couple growing pains along the way.
The Stony Brook product’s first professional pass target resulted in a cringe worthy third and short drop on a wide open arrow route against the Buffalo Bills.
Tye rebounded with a solid outing against the San Francisco 49ers, catching all four of his pass targets for 48 yards but followed that up with a rough stretch of games in the middle of the season.
Will Tye looking smooth so far is pass receiving drills. Ditto Will Johnson.
— Patricia Traina (@Patricia_Traina) June 14, 2016
He put up two catches for 22 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles, no catches against the Dallas Cowboys, two catches for seven yards against the New Orleans Saints, and 2 catches out of six targets for 19 yards against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Tye slowly gained traction though as the season went on, he broke the 70 yard receiving mark twice and fell below 30 yards in a game just once during the Giants’ final seven games of the season.
During that seven game stretch he also produced two huge highlight real worthy catches, one coming late in the second quarter against the New England Patriots as he caught a pass over the middle and dragged several Pats with him just short of the goal line on a 31 yard catch and run that set up a Giants score just before the half.
Will Tye 5 yard TD pass from Eli Manning. #MNF #NYGvsMIA pic.twitter.com/c8PN9pf0H7
— NFL (@NFLonLive) December 15, 2015
The second came against the New York Jets, with the Giants facing a third and long Tye extended to make a leaping acrobatic grab over the linebacker on a quick seam route for 25 yards. Tye also turned in a huge 45 yard catch and run previously in that same game with time winding down in the second quarter.
He ended up finishing his 2015 campaign with 42 catches for 464 yards and three touchdowns over 13 games played; becoming a reliable target for Eli Manning, and played great once he got his footing in the league. He should be the starter in 2016 if he can build off where he left off a year ago.
