Make or break: Can Daniel Bellinger be more than an afterthought in 2025?

Can Bellinger be the mortar as the Giants rebuild their offense?

The sixth pick of the New York Giants’ 2022 draft class has become something of a forgotten man in the offensive conversation.

Few Giants fans knew Daniel Bellinger when he was selected in the fourth round (112th overall) out of San Diego State. He was expected to be, at best, a depth piece and blocking tight end in 12-personnel packages.

Instead, Bellinger emerged as an important piece as a rookie, starting 11 of 12 games his first year. Of course, that year was interrupted by an eye injury, but Bellinger picked up where he left off after returning. Not only was his blocking an important piece of the Giants’ run game, but he proved to be a weapon in their RPO-based offense early in the year.

Since then, however, Bellinger has slipped down the depth chart. He’s become something of an afterthought on the Giants’ offense and could be viewed as expendable.

So is he just a mediocre player who only managed to start for an undermanned offense? Or is there more there? Could he be a potential building block — if not a focal point — going forward?

Why he can make it

Bellinger is the type of player that teams always need more of and rarely regret having on their roster. He’s a tough, well-rounded, and versatile tight end who can contribute on any down and distance.

The Giants have used Bellinger all over their offensive formation, lining him up as an in-line and detached tight end, as a wide receiver, and as an H-back. He’s a capable blocker in the run and pass game, a good safety blanket in the underneath area of the field and dangerous when he catches the ball in-stride.

Blocking is often the first thing discussed with Bellinger. He was, quietly, a key part of the Giants’ success in 2022. The Giants often took the air out of the ball at the end of games, and Bellinger’s blocking often made life easier for Saquon Barkley. He isn’t a dominant blocker — which could count against him — but he often does enough for the play to succeed and his absence was noticed when he was injured as a rookie.

For example, here is Bellinger leading the way to a touchdown as a fullback against the Bengals.

Bellinger doesn’t blow linebacker Germaine Pratt up, but he does enough to prevent him from filling the gap and creates a hole for Tyrone Tracy.

He also has a good feel for delivering chip blocks as he releases into routes. He’s able to disrupt opponents’ rushes while also staying on time.

Here, Bellinger isn’t the target of the play, but he disrupts the rush, executes his own route well, and buys enough time for Daniel Jones to get the ball to Theo Johnson. Bellinger’s chip allows Jermaine Eluemunor to get into position and prevents Dallas Turner from engaging the right tackle with great form.

The assumption has been that the Giants want to incorporate more vertical elements into their offense. If that is indeed the case, the passing offense could evolve in a way that plays to Bellinger’s strengths.

Part of the reason why blocking is always the first topic with Bellinger is that he’s surprisingly underrated as an athlete. Even going back to his days as at San Diego State, Bellinger never really got the credit he deserves for his athleticism. However, he is actually one of the more athletic tight ends in the NFL.

Kent Lee Platte | RAS.football

The Giants made good use of those athletic traits in Bellinger’s rookie year, often looking to get him the ball in-stride on levels concepts or on crossing routes where he could bend his path upfield after making the catch.

Bellinger has also emerged as a surprisingly savvy route runner who understands how to find voids in coverage as well as how to use misdirection in his routes to help create separation.

Bellinger starts the play in the slot, and initially fakes as though he’s going to block for Devin Singletary on a screen pass. Instead, he accelerates into his route and settling in the void in the Ravens’ coverage. He then makes a good catch then turns upfield to get as many yards as he can.

Why he might not

The dynamic around Bellinger is fascinating. He’s seen his role shrink over the last two years, and the “Why” might be the biggest question regarding his future as a Giant.

The Giants first (seemingly) tried to get their return on investment on Darren Waller in 2023. Bellinger took a back seat to the former Pro Bowler and settled into the TE2 role. Then, it seemed as though the Giants made a concerted effort to get Theo Johnson onto the field. The Giants played a relatively high rate of two- and three-tight end sets early in the season, with Bellinger and Chris Manhertz splitting time with Johnson.

Interestingly, and perhaps tellingly, Bellinger never really managed to retake the starting job despite Johnson struggling early in the year.

From a traits perspective, there’s only one real flaw in Bellinger’s profile: His stop-start quickness isn’t in line with his overall athleticism. That makes him relatively limited on the stick, or quick hook and curl, routes the Giants tight ends are often asked to execute.

As noted above, Bellinger is quick to find voids in coverage and good at making himself available. Unfortunately, he isn’t quick to get moving again after he catches the pass.

But as we see here, Bellinger quickly recognizes that he’s open and there’s a pretty massive void into which he can settle. He presents a great target to Drew Lock, who expands it further with a small scramble forward. But despite that big void, Bellinger is only able to pick up a couple yards before he’s tackled.

The Giants’ offense has been tailored around quick passes over the last few years, and Bellinger has limited upside on those concepts.

As we saw above, Bellinger is much better catching the ball in-stride further down the field. He has run-after-catch upside, but not from a standing start.

And that hints, a bit, at the other problem with Bellinger’s projection into 2025 and beyond: What is he great at?

Theo Johnson is a better athlete and Chris Manhertz is a better blocker.

Bellinger can deliver great chip blocks, and he does enough as a pure blocker, but he isn’t dominant.

He’s able to do enough to lose slow — easier said than done against an NFL edge defender — and is able to buy time for Jones to scramble. But pure blocking tight ends are usually going to be better than Bellinger. Extended blocking assignments could be an issue if the Giants want to look further down the field or use more roll-outs.

Back to the receiving side of things, Malik Nabers is a budding superstar, Wan’Dale Robinson is better suited for the underneath passes. Daniel Jones had a long-standing rapport with Darius Slayton. So while Bellinger is very rarely a bad option, he was rarely a great one.

And the cold, hard calculus of it all is that with limited roster spots and limited cap space, being a Jack Of All Trades could also make you expendable. If team thinks they can get roughly equivalent performance from someone else for less, a good-but-not-great player could find himself replaced.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, whether or not Bellinger gets a second contract might not be up to him, but rather how the Giants’ offense evolves around him.

If the Giants make a point of looking further down the field to their tight ends, it could put Bellinger in a better position to show off his athletic upside. Likewise, a greater focus on passing — as opposed to running — could allow him to do more chip blocks and increase the number of receptions to go around.

Bellinger’s versatility to play out of multiple alignments could also work well in a more fluid offense with a veteran like Russell Wilson at the helm.

On the flip side, if the Giants prefer Theo Johnson’s athletic upside in 11-personnel and Chris Manhertz’s blocking in 12-personnel, Bellinger could continue to fade into the shadows. In that case, the presence of Thomas Fidone II could be ominous for Bellinger, as the team may look at the rookie as a potential replacement.

Ultimately, the Giants could, and have, done worse than Daniel Bellinger. Not just as a second tight end, but as a starter. Whether or not being a potential “glue guy” who can fill in around other offensive players and execute well is enough to keep him around remains to be seen.