Giants’ 90-man roster: WR Brittan Golden trying to restart career

Brittan Golden probably has only a slim chance of making the 53-man roster for the New York Giants. The fact, though, that the 30-year-old wide receiver has any chance at all is a good thing.

Let’s get into why as we continue to profile each of the 90 players the Giants will bring to training camp this summer.

The basics

Height: 5-foot-11
Weight: 186
Age: 30
Position: Wide receiver
Experience: 5

How he got here

After five seasons as a bit player with the Arizona Cardinals, a sometimes wide receiver and sometimes kickoff or punt returner, Golden was just looking for a place to continuer his NFL career when he showed up for a player tryout last August.

Golden got the tryout. He also ended up with something else.

During his pre-workout physical Giants doctors discovered what turned out to be a benign tumor in his mouth.

Golden ended up having surgery to remove the tumor in late August. If you have an Athletic subscription, read Dan Duggan’s piece on what Golden went through after the Giants initially found an “abnormal mass” in his mouth.

Golden was about to become a dad to twins when the discovery was made.

“When they said they think it’s a tumor, it hit hard, like ‘I might have cancer,’ ” Golden said. “I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s one of those things where you’re like, ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’ and ‘Why now, out of all the times?’”

The Giants, though, didn’t just forget about Golden after the tryout. Per Duggan, they helped arrange all of his testing then signed him to a reserve/futures contract in January.

“It’s definitely been one of the most trying years of my life,” Golden said. “When they called me for the futures contract, it was just kind of like a sigh of relief. It’s another opportunity. That’s all I can ask for. I’m going to give everything I have to prove that I can still play.”

2019 outlook

Can Golden still play, and can he do it for the Giants are really two different questions. The Giants have a plethora of experienced receivers already. They have a draft pick in Darius Slayton. They have a couple of intriguing undrafted players in Reggie White Jr. of Monmouth and Alex Wesley of Northern Colorado.

Cracking the 53-man roster isn’t going to be easy for Golden. After the last year, though, it is just exciting to see that he still has the opportunity.