Draft Prospect Profile | WR Antonio Gandy-Golden, Liberty
Antonio Gandy-Golden, Wide Receiver
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 220 lbs
Grade: Senior
School: Liberty
With this year's draft historically deep for wide receivers, Antonio Gandy-Golden is buried beneath bigger-school talent in the prospect rankings. But a combination of height and one-handed catching ability might make Gandy-Golden a buried treasure for teams looking to add wideout depth in the later rounds.
Gandy-Golden most-recently got a taste of some local one-handed limelight on October 26, when he snagged a 29-yard touchdown catch against Rutgers at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey, just 36 miles away from Metlife Stadium. The catch didn't go viral to the extent that some other one-handed catches Giants fans are familiar with have, but it did make ESPN's highlights.
Draft analysts have praised Gandy-Golden's ability to attack the ball at the height of his jump and his strength to rip it away from contact. It's a combination that might put opposing NFC East defensive backs at risk of ending up on the wrong side of some viral highlights in the red zone.
But don't expect the smaller-school product to get behind those defensive backs. Gandy-Golden is considerably slower than the other wide receivers in this year's draft class, evident in a 4.6-second 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine. Some experts have questioned whether Gandy-Golden is even fast enough to play in the NFL.
The greatest knocks against Gandy-Golden are his route running, YAC ability, and deep threat ability. While lack of speed didn't hinder Gandy-Golden's ability to tally 33 career touchdowns at Liberty, the competition those touchdowns came against doesn't provide much eminence. Only the last 20 of those touchdowns even came at the FBS level, as Liberty played in the FCS ranks before 2018.
Playing in the Big South Conference as a freshman and sophomore in 2016 and 2017, then in the FBS Independent conference as a junior and senior in 2018 and 2019, didn't give Gandy-Golden much competition against future NFL defensive backs. But if anything, the shift in competitive levels, and Gandy-Golden's subsequent improvement, proves that he can elevate his game against improved competition.
The jump from FBS Independent to the NFL will undoubtedly be a much harsher test than the jump from FCS to FBS, and how Gandy-Golden handles the speed of NFL defenses will ultimately define his success as a professional.
Why He's A Fit
If general manager Dave Gettleman believes that the Giants should be Gandy-Golden's vessel to testing his abilities in the NFL, then quarterback Daniel Jones will be getting the tallest target he's had as a professional, that includes tight ends.
The Giants wide receiver core is one of the deeper units on the roster, as Gettleman bolstered the core last offseason with the signing of Golden Tate, Corey Coleman, and the drafting of Darius Slayton.
Each of those wide receivers fit similar molds. Tate, Slayton, Coleman, and Sterling Shepherd lead the Giants receiving core as a tandem of small, speedy wide receivers that specialize in route running. Still, Gandy-Golden would provide a contrast to those skillsets and a different option for Jones on the perimeter.
Jones flashed accuracy as a rookie in 2019. Pairing that accuracy with Gandy-Golden's catch radius could create a passing combination that leaves shorter defensive backs with few answers against the Giants in the red zone.
