Daniel Bellinger has become somewhat like a comfortable old pair of shoes or an old sweater for the New York Giants, something they don’t reach for until they don’t have newer, shinier, sexier things to turn to.
Bellinger caught 30 passes in 35 targets as a rookie, an outstanding 85.7% catch rate, for two touchdowns, 288 yards (7.7 yards per catch) and a passer rating when targeted of 117.6 after being selected out of San Diego State in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
In 2023, though, the Giants traded for two-time 1,000-yard receiving tight end Darren Waller. Bellinger became an afterthought. He had four catches on five targets over the first eight weeks. Then, Waller missed five games and the Giants remembered that reliable guy they drafted the year before. Bellinger caught 21 passes on 23 targets the rest of the season.
In 2024, Waller was gone. Retired. Until he decided to play again and the Giants traded him this offseason to the Miami Dolphins. In Waller’s place, though, the Giants drafted another shiny new toy that head coach Brian Daboll cannot resist playing with.
Theo Johnson, a fourth-round pick, took the starting tight end job immediately in 2024. He started every game until a Week 13 Lisfranc injury ended his season.
Until Johnson’s injury, Bellinger had three catches on three targets for the season and had played more than 30% of the offensive snaps just once in 12 games. Over the final five games, he played less than 60% of the snaps just once and caught nine passes in 14 targets.
This year, Johnson is back as the starter. Bellinger again opened the season as the security blanket, just waiting while all folded up nicely in the back of the closet until he was needed. The most snaps he played over the first three weeks was 19 (28.4%) Week 2 vs. the Dallas Cowboys.
After star wide receiver Malik Nabers was lost for the season with a Week 4 torn ACL the Giants decided they needed to dust Bellinger off. They decided that heavy use of Johnson and Bellinger in 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends) was better than reaching deeper into the wide receiver depth chart on an every-play basis.
Bellinger played 52.1% of the snaps against the New Orleans Saints and had a four-catch, 52-yard game. That was a career high in receiving yardage for the fourth-year pro. Against the Philadelphia Eagles last week, he played a season-high 56.1% of the snaps but did not receive any targets.
In an exclusive interview with Big Blue View this week, Bellinger admitted it would be “easy” to wonder why his opportunities the past few years seem to come due to someone else’s misfortune. He prefers to just stay prepared for whatever happens.
“Ever since I’ve been here, you know, my kind of mindset on it is just stay ready, stay ready, stay ready,” Bellinger said. “Unfortunately, the injury [to Nabers] happened, but it’s not even because of the injury, just always staying ready for that opportunity.
“Whether it’s one play here or there or getting more opportunities now, just the mindset of staying ready no matter what happens, whether I’m getting the targets, not getting the targets, playing, not playing, whatever it is, staying ready for that opportunity has been kind of my process this whole time here.”
Bellinger, 25, and in the final year of his rookie contract, admits that “here and there” thoughts about why he hasn’t been used more consistently will creep into his mind.
“Going back to just the mindset of staying ready because you never know when the opportunity is going to come,” Bellinger said. “Just kind of being ready for whether it is in the pass game or even in the run game, just kind of staying ready for that opportunity and making the most of it.
“My rookie year, I feel like I made the most of opportunities and really every chance I’ve had just trying to take in those opportunities and taking it to the most I can and taking that opportunity for everything I can.”
Bellinger saw the good with the Giants when they made the playoffs in 2022. He was also part of the bad in 2023 and 2024 when the team went a combined 9-25.
This version of the Giants is 2-4, but 2-1 with victories over the previously unbeaten Los Angeles Chargers and Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles since Jaxson Dart became the starting quarterback.
Bellinger acknowledges a different feeling around this team than in the past couple of years.
“I just feel like we’re more connected as a team. We have that team camaraderie and guys are going out there playing for each other, not so much for themselves,” Bellinger said. “And I’m not saying we did that in the past. I just think in the past we didn’t play so much for each other. It was just kind of like, okay, defense is playing well, offense needs to step it up or vice versa.
“I feel like with this team, you know, we really come together on the sideline. When defense isn’t playing well, offense is like, we got your back. Or vice versa, when offense isn’t playing well, defense is like, we got your guys’ back. I think that’s the biggest thing with this team is just playing as a team and being connected as one instead of individual parts of the team.”
Much of the attention has gone to the impact Dart and rookie running back Cam Skattebo are having. Bellinger acknowledged it.
“They bring a lot of energy to the team. I think that’s the energy part of our team is a big aspect from them,” Bellinger said. “And really, a lot of the rookies have come in and kind of bring this energy to us. Skattebo has enough energy for five teams, but their energy and their excitement and really their maturity for rookies is helping us a lot.”
Another thing helping the Giants is remembering that Bellinger is a good, useful player.
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