The New York Giants have had a tough season no matter what angle you look at and one reason has been the play of wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, as the star has not lived up to his potential in 2013 and now that he is set to become a free agent, it is increasingly likely that he will play elsewhere in 2014, with teams like Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers possibly destinations.
The Giants have been terrible on offense this season and the interceptions from Eli Manning has not been a help, but neither has the effort from Nicks, who has been increasingly disappointing this season. There are a ton of factors playing into the fact that Nicks has zero touchdowns this season: the offensive line, the bad plays by Manning, the lack of a running game, but one that has had a big effect and is something that troubles Giants fans is the perceived lack of effort on the part of Nicks. There have been too many times this season where Nicks has visibly not been playing his hardest and that, coupled with the money he wants and the season he has had leads to the increasing possibility that he will be gone after the season.
Nicks was a game changer for the Giants during their Super Bowl run two years ago, but after being injured last season and lazing his way through this season, a divorce is likely. The Giants have Rueben Randle to take over and they are very high on him and now his five catch, 135 yards performance from Nicks against the Chargers seems like years ago even though it was just two weeks ago. He made just one catch for five yards last week and he has been shutout in other games and while Manning had some bad throws on Sunday, one interception he had clearly could have been knocked away by Nicks, but he gave up on the play and that is not the first time that has happened this season.
Perhaps its injuries, but the explosiveness and big play ability of Nicks seems to have disappeared and while he is injured now, the Giants may actually have made the right move by signing Victor Cruz first and letting Nicks hit the market. Two years ago Nicks had an amazing season and fans couldn't see the future of the Giants without him, now it looks like he will get the Robinson Cano treatment from fans: they would love to sign him at the right price, but if he wants to go, good riddance.
This season Nicks has 50 catches for 794 yards and zero scores on 91 targets and there are plenty of teams that will try and sign him and even with his bad stats, he should cash in. The Raiders will have a ton of money to spend, while the 49ers lacked a big play receiver without Michael Crabtree in the lineup and the Eagles could be an option with Jeremy Maclin coming off a serious injury. The Panthers are a nice fit as well, as Nicks played in North Carolina in college and the team has not had a solid compliment for Steve Smith in years.
