Eli Manning

The Giants have a new starting tight end: Brandon Myers, who is coming off a career year with the Raiders.

Myers agreed to sign with the Giants after a visit today, a person with knowledge of the agreement confirmed.

Myers replaces Martellus Bennett, who left for the Bears on the first day of free agency. The 27-year-old had 79 catches for 806 yards and four touchdowns last season with the Raiders. The Giants liked Myers (6-foot-3, 256 pounds) so much, they didn't let him end his visit without agreeing to a deal.

The Giants sounded like they might move forward at tight end with former fourth-round pick Adrien Robinson or a draft pick, but Myers is an intriguing addition to work with quarterback Eli Manning and veteran tight ends coach Mike Pope.

Add Myers to the long list of semi-reliable TEs that will be available in the middle or late rounds. He was 9th in standard formats (6th in PPR) in 2012 and is heading to a good situation in New York. In the last five seasons, the top Giants tight end has averaged 2.7-36-.33, which isn't bad considering that we're talking about Kevin Boss (2008-2010), Jake Ballard (2011) and Martellus Bennett (2012). That works out to 5.6 fantasy PPG, which would have equated to #14 TE numbers in 2012. Myers is a better receiver than any of those players and his weakness (only 4 TD catches in 2012) should be offset by Eli Manning's propensity to throw to his tight end in the redzone. Giants TEs have averaged 5.0 TDs per season, so Myers should be able to build on that given his skill set. He looks like an upside TE2 in standard formats and a low-end TE1 in PPR formats.