Tavarres King’s ankle injury sidetracks Giants receiver’s progress
New York Giants wide receiver Tavarres King (12) runs a special teams play during training camp at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, NJ, on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017. Credit: Brad Penner
Tavarres King’s big opportunity lasted one day.
The wide receiver, who seemed poised to take first-team offensive reps and help out on special-teams while Sterling Shepard recovers from a rolled ankle, suffered his own ankle injury in practice on Thursday. Unlike Shepard, who was carted off, King was able to walk off the field on his own, but he did miss the second half of the workout.
“He rolled his ankle covering a punt,” Ben McAdoo said of King.
It’s a hiccup in a summer in which King was hoping to pick up where he left off, and that is as an ascending receiver on the depth chart. While his opportunities were limited last season, he did catch a 44-yard pass in the Week 17 game against Washington. After a total of two catches in the regular season he had three in the playoff loss to the Packers, including a 41-yard touchdown.
“It was tight, it was a long time coming,” King said of his postseason play. “I’ve waited all year for an opportunity and when an opportunity came, I just did what I did all year in practice. I was focused and did what was asked from me and made plays.”
That late production seemed to put the third-year player ahead of Roger Lewis Jr. on the depth chart for the beginning of camp. Not that he noticed.
“It’s not my job to put myself in the pecking order,” he said on Wednesday. “My job is to compete and give 112 percent every day and that’s what I do. If I’m in there, then I’m in there.”
That 112 percent, by the way, comes from his jersey number 12.
King, 27, is a bit unlike the rest of the Giants’ receivers in that he has a quiet, down-to-earth personality. He was the only receiver, you may recall, not to attend the infamous party in Miami the weekend before the playoffs. In a group with very big personas, King is the exception.
“We all know that we’re all different and I think that’s what makes us great,” King said. “I think that’s what makes our room so tight. Everybody’s different and everybody gets to see different things from different guys and it’s fun to be around. High energy, everybody’s high energy, so it’s awesome.”
There is no telling yet how severe King’s ankle injury is, though his ability to walk on it is likely encouraging. As for Shepard, he woke up sore and with some stiffness on Thursday and the Giants sent him for an MRI just to verify that his injury is as tame as they believe it to be.
“Just to make sure we’re looking at it and making our due diligence,” McAdoo said of the tests. “It looks like a rolled basketball ankle right now.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
