Lions wide receiver Kenny Golladay

Lions wide receiver Kenny Golladay Credit: Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free/Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press

Kenny Golladay is coming to the Giants… for a visit at least.

The free-agent wide receiver, who has received interest from multiple teams since the start of the negotiating window, on Monday is taking an old-school face-to-face meeting with the Giants in the coming days. While the exact itinerary had not been established as of Wednesday evening, per a source, the fact that travel plans were being made shows strong interest from both sides in finalizing a deal.

Golladay, considered by many to be the best remaining target in the wide receiver free agent pool that had become stagnant, could give the Giants and quarterback Daniel Jones a strong outside weapon. Jones never had a true number-one receiver at his disposal in the first two years of his career and the Giants have made it a priority to get one for him this offseason either in free agency or through the draft.

The 27-year-old Golladay racked up the third-most deep (20-plus-yard target) receiving yards in 2018 and 2019 with 930, and he tied for first in contested catches during that span with 43, per Pro Football Focus. A hip injury slowed his production in 2020, which could be one of the reasons for the in-person meeting, which was first reported by NFL Network. The Giants will want their medical staff to give him a look before committing. The Giants will be very aware of Golladay as a player and a person since their new senior personnel executive, Kyle O’Brien, spent the past five seasons with the Lions.

If he signs with the Giants, Golladay would be the jewel of the team’s free-agent class. In a year when the Giants are shopping on a smaller budget than most, they will not have room to make many splashy acquisitions. Most of their efforts in the offseason so far have been aimed at getting their own house in order before the start of the league year that began on Wednesday afternoon. That included signing defensive lineman Leonard Williams to a three-year, $63 million contract on Tuesday to eliminate the franchise tag the Giants had used to secure his rights, as well as signing offensive lineman Nate Solder to a new contract that lowers his base pay from $10.5 million to about $4 million. Those two maneuvers reduced the impact on the Giants’ salary cap by a combined $14 million or so.

Solder, who opted out from the 2020 season over COVID-19 concerns regarding the health of his family, will compete with second-year player Matt Peart for the starting right tackle job. When the Giants signed Solder as a free agent two years ago to make him the highest paid at the position at the time he was entrenched as their starting left tackle. Andrew Thomas, who played all 16 games at that position in 2020 as a rookie, is expected to remain at left tackle for the Giants.

Even before COVID-19, free agency meetings such as the one planned between Golladay and the Giants were becoming rare. Most of the league’s biggest contracts in free agency are hammered out between execs and agents before the start of the new league year without any official in-person contact between the player and his prospective employers. In an age when free agency has become as mechanical and impersonal as Tinder and Match.com, Golladay and the Giants at least seem willing to get to know each other the old-fashioned way.

Whether or not the meeting with Golladay actually happens (news of his journey to New Jersey could spark other teams to up their offers before he ever embarks on the trip, and he could conceivably agree to terms with the Giants prior to his arrival) and whether the two sides can make a contract-worthy connection during their anticipated summit remains to be seen.

But as of Wednesday, at least, the Giants were in the running for Golladay and closing in on checking off a big item on their offseason to-do list.

Giants getting Odenigbo

The Giants agreed to terms with a potential addition to their pass rush on Wednesday, adding Ifeadi Odenigbo on a one-year deal, according to his agent. The 26-year-old had 10.5 sacks over the past two seasons but was non-tendered as a restricted free agent by the Vikings and able to sign elsewhere.

Notes & quotes: The Giants formally announced the re-signing of wide receiver C.J. Board, defensive tackle Austin Johnson and long snapper Casey Kreiter on Wednesday. All were due to become free agents at the start of the league year … The Giants did not place a tender on restricted free agent LB Devonte Downs, who was their opening day starter at inside linebacker. He becomes an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any team.

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