Giants wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud trying to catch on with Big Blue
Giants wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud at practice at the Quest Diagnostics Giants Training Center. Credit: Brennan Asplen/New York Football Giants
Ray-Ray McCloud’s Giants debut was quiet last Sunday. He started at wide receiver and had one catch for five yards.
It wasn’t the way McCloud hoped to introduce himself. His most notable impact was his brief exchange with former teammate and 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir in the second half. Lenoir got in his face and bumped him after a play — a nod to the two having a beef that was fired up with comments on social media last month.
The Giants’ loss overshadowed that moment. It had been six years since McCloud was a part of coach Brian Daboll’s offense in Buffalo, and he admitted it was a tough readjustment.
“It was a little different because usually I know the playbook like the back of my hand,” McCloud told Newsday this past week. “But I learned it in a week, so it was kind of tough going out there and doing my alignment, my assignments and being on point and playing fast.”
With the Giants facing the Bears on Sunday, McCloud will get another chance to impress. In a way, he could wind up becoming what the team didn’t find as the trade deadline passed last Tuesday.
The Giants made no moves, which meant no extra receiving help for rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart. For all of his promise, Dart has only one game with more than 202 passing yards in his first six starts.
With Malik Nabers out for the year, Dart’s development has been limited by his receivers — save for Wan’Dale Robinson — not being consistent enough. But what if help is hiding in plain sight?
McCloud was signed to the practice squad on Oct. 23, just two days after the Falcons released him. He began the year as a starter in Atlanta but was a healthy scratch for the Falcons’ previous two games against the Bills and 49ers.
Before the 49ers game, he was sent home for what Falcons coach Raheem Morris described as a “personal matter.” McCloud hasn’t said what that situation was.
It abruptly ended a tenure in which he posted career highs in catches (62) and yards (686) last season and scored his second career touchdown. Now he’s trying to regroup with the Giants.
It helps that he and Daboll had a previous relationship. McCloud was a rookie with the Bills in 2018 when Daboll was the offensive coordinator and was on the Bills’ practice squad in 2019 after being waived by the Panthers.
However, McCloud has been on three teams since then. Familiarity with Daboll’s offense didn’t make it any easier for him to pick things up last Sunday despite playing 52 snaps, second-most among the receivers.
“Do I think it slowed me down?” McCloud said about relearning the offense. “Maybe, but I think I played [OK]. I didn’t get the touches and stuff that you would see, but I was ready. If the ball finds me, it is what it is. For now, it’s about being on the field and being available when it’s your turn.”
McCloud might not supplant Robinson or Darius Slayton as the Giants’ top receiver, but if he turns into a reliable veteran, it could help Dart to know he has somebody else who has proved some things in the league.
Dart included McCloud in some post-practice drills recently with Slayton and Robinson. The receivers ran routes to work on timing with Dart and wrapped things up with deep passes.
It didn’t take Dart long to find things to like about his new target.
“He’s explosive. I watched a lot of his tape when I heard that he was coming here,” Dart said. “Then obviously just following his career, seeing the reception numbers that he puts up, how explosive he is, especially when he has the ball in his hands and run-after-catch stuff. So, I think that’s just the word to describe him.”
The Giants could use that explosiveness. Dart has thrown only six completions that went for at least 30 yards. Without Nabers, this offense has been relying on short-to-intermediate throws that Dart thrived on while in college at Mississippi.
It’s played to Dart’s strengths but it also has limited him, as his receivers haven’t made enough plays downfield. That’s where McCloud can come in.
This Sunday, he expects to be more comfortable. If he ends up being a reliable target for the Giants, they’ll take it after not finding anything at the deadline.
But McCloud doesn’t see himself as a ray of hope. He just wants be productive with his latest opportunity, whether the ball comes his way or not.
“I pray it do,” McCloud said. “But whether it do or not, I’m gonna make a play doing something. Blocking. Whatever they need me to do, I’ll do it.”
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
