New York Giants 2023 UFA Primer: WR Richie James

Richie James had the best year of his career with the Giants. But will he be back for an encore?

Richie James, Wide Receiver

Height: 5-foot-9
Weight: 185 lbs.
Age: 27
NFL Exp: 5 Years
College: Middle Tennessee

If there is one player in the New York Giants’ current free agent class that has drawn either the praise or ire of the fanbase on any given Sunday, it’s undoubtedly wide receiver Richie James.

A Sarasota, Florida native and fifth-year pro, James arrived in East Rutherford on March 25, 2022, when he signed with the Giants as a free agent. Before that, he spent his first three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, who drafted him in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL Draft, and was an occasional contributor to their receiving corps and special teams return unit.

James redshirted his freshman year at the collegiate level before playing three seasons at Middle Tennessee University in the Conference USA. He amassed 243 receptions for 3,249 yards (13.4 average) and 23 touchdowns in his career, and his best outing came in his sophomore season with 105 receptions for over 1,600 yards and 12 scores. James was named to numerous accolades in the same span, including two All-Conference First-Teams and Middle Tennessee’s career leader in receiving yards and touchdowns.

Joining San Francisco in 2018, the 27-year-old earned some time on the 49ers offense but spent most of his snaps returning kicks for the special teams unit. At the end of his rookie year, James had only 130 receiving yards and one touchdown but tallied an immense 655 yards and one score in the kickoff return game. He doubled down on those efforts in his second season with the team, earning 165 receiving yards and one touchdown while reaching a career-high 53 returns for 692 yards on the ground.

The 2020 season saw James play his least amount of games with the 49ers (11 contests) due to bouts with COVID-19 and a hamstring injury sustained in the season opener. He eventually had his then career-high receiving year at 23 catches for 394 yards and one touchdown. Still, he was waived by the organization in August 2021 after undergoing knee surgery in the offseason.

2022 Recap

Richie James’ debut with the New York Giants got off to a fairly active start before tapering off towards the middle of the season to the displeasure of many in the MetLife Stadium bleachers.

In the Giants’ first two games of the year against Tennessee and Carolina, James caught a combined 11 receptions for 110 yards and an average of 11 yards per catch, stat lines that finished second or better on the team’s postgame receiving leaderboard. Yet, in the following six contests, he notched just ten receptions for 81 yards and stills held zero touchdowns as the Giants’ desperately searched for answers to supplement the rushing attack on offense.

To make matters worse, James nearly became public enemy No. 1 in the Big Apple when the issue of turnovers entered into his struggles. During the six-game stretch of inadequate production, the 27-year-old muffed three balls in two games against Chicago and Seattle and lost all of them, with the miscues helping the Seahawks defeat New York and send them off on a 1-4-1 stretch to come.

Luckily for James, his production would kick back into gear at just the right time as the Giants were chasing their first playoff berth in six years down the stretch of the season. Playing in seven of the final eight games before the postseason, he accumulated 37 receptions for 378 yards and four touchdowns.

His best performance came in Week 16 against the Vikings, where he had eight catches for 90 yards (11.3 average) to lead all Giants’ pass catchers, and he followed that up with another seven receptions for 76 yards (10.9 average) and a touchdown in the Week 17 win over the Colts.

In the end, James had reached his new career-high outing at 57 receptions for 569 yards (10.0 average), four touchdowns, and added 24 punt returns for 174 yards.

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GIANTS UFA PRIMERS: QB Daniel Jones | IOL Nick Gates | RB Saquon Barkley | C Jon Feliciano | IDL Justin Ellis | RB Matt Breida | LS Casey Kreiter | OLB Jihad Ward | Sterling Shepard | IDL Nicholas Williams | DB Tony Jefferson | S/ILB Landon Collins

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Why the Giants Should Keep Him

It might not be as obvious from his weekly production this past season, but James is a reliable receiver when he’s targeted on Sundays. Per PFF, he has an average 77.2% reception percentage in his career, and none of his four seasons finished below the 60% mark. The number reached its peak in 2022 as James caught 57 of his 67 targets for a strong 85.1% rating that was one of the best in the Giants’ receiving corps.

As a product of his proficient hands, James had one of the lowest drop rates in the entire league. Of his 57 on-target looks, only three were lost for a career-low 5.0% drop percentage to bring his average NFL average down to 7.8%. Contested catches made up for a couple of those drops despite James posting a record 6/9 contested catch percentage in that same span.

Playing from the slot or the outside receiver spot, James knows how to establish good separation off the ball, stretch the field with his routes and create yardage after the catch. He averaged 7.0 yards on his depth of the target, and that number has climbed as high as 12.3 yards in his four seasons. Along with the 8.2 average for his career, the wide receiver holds 584 yards after the catch, including 183 yards this past fall with an average extra distance of 3.2 yards per reception.

When the football is directed at him, the Middle Tennessee product won’t mind getting involved in lead blocking for his teammates and has been efficient in that department. This facet of James’ game has grown with the Giants, who got the receiver to notch a respectable 68.1 grade for pass blocking after posting a 79.4 score one year prior with the 49ers. He’s also rarely penalized, holding just six infractions to his name since 2018.

Why the Giants Shouldn’t Keep Him

For the first time in his NFL tenure, Richie James ran into trouble protecting the pigskin during his important reps on special teams. On three occasions this season, the Giants’ punt returner had the ball jarred loose from his chest while working to gain field position for the offense, and it led to a full-on scrum that ended in a turnover pinned deep in their own territory.

The first instance of his lackluster protection came in Week 4 against the Chicago Bears when James muffed a punt return from the Giants’ 35-yard line and handed it over to the Bears’ offense in prime field position. Fortunately, the opposing team could only manage a field goal from James’ favor, and New York pulled away with an eight-point victory in the end.

However, in Week 8 against the Seattle Seahawks, the Giants weren’t as lucky with James’ mishaps, which contributed to a contest they let get away. Two more fumbles by the returner in both halves led to 10 of the Seahawks’ 27 points on the scoreboard, and Big Blue’s offense could never recover from the two-score deficit.

James’ fumbles forced the Giants into experimenting with other players returning punts down the stretch of the year, and the results were even more damaging. One such name that came under scrutiny was Adoree Jackson, whom the team sent out for punts and sprained his MCL against the Lions during one of those reps. Jackson missed significant time with the ailment, and the Giants’ secondary depth cratered at the most important run of their campaign.

The Giants cannot afford to have this issue linger next season if they want to provide an edge to their offense in the quest to become a higher-scoring, competitive unit. Muffed balls during drives will risk pinning the defense in a bad spot and expecting them to carry the winning effort, something that hasn’t always worked out in the Giants’ favor.

Nor can they afford to put important players on either side of the ball in danger of injury to discover that edge in special teams. The front office must find a more polished and experienced returner to carry the load of their returns in 2023 because James doesn’t appear to be that guy.

Keep or Dump?

Based on his 2022 outlook alone, there may be more pros than cons to resigning Richie James. The wide receiver reached his best campaign with the Giants this year, and he offers the offense a fairly dynamic and stable set of hands for Daniel Jones to rely on.

The Giants don’t appear destined to spend an absurd amount of money on the wide receiver position in free agency. Instead, they will look to bring back some of their current UFAs and then supplement that with a modest upgrade from the outside market. That is where James could enter the fold even though he won’t be the No. 1 target or the most athletic pass catcher in the huddle for Big Blue.

New York signed James to a one-year, veteran minimum deal near the area of $1 million last offseason. It’s expected the former side will look to lock in the receiver at a similar rate for 2023 as he looks to continue a comeback story with the franchise. 

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