Nicks Struggles as Free Agency Looms Hakeem Nicks, left, missing a pass in Monday's game. He has dropped at least six passes this season. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - This was going to be the year when Hakeem Nicks ran under dozens of Eli Manning passes, snatched them out of the air with his sure hands and ran all the way to the bank. Nicks, a free agent at the end of the season, knows what a top wide receiver can command in the pass-happy N.F.L. In March, Mike Wallace, the premier receiver available last off-season, signed a five-year, $60 million contract with the Miami Dolphins. That was the kind of contract Nicks was figuratively chasing as Manning lofted passes his way in the first seven games. Nicks was reaching high. Then he dropped the ball. And when Manning went back to him with another pass, he dropped that, too. Nicks has 27 receptions. He has also dropped at least six passes, including three during the Giants" victory Monday night on national television, in which Nicks was thrown to 10 times. He caught two passes for 28 yards. The entire country, and the greater N.F.L. community, saw what the Giants have seen for weeks: Nicks does not look like himself. "Quite frankly, he's always gobbled those balls up," Coach Tom Coughlin said Wednesday when asked about Nicks's performance. He's got to improve. He's got to get better. He's got to get to a point where the reliability factor is there as strongly as it always has been. Has it been there up to this point? No, but we're saying, "Let's get back to work and get this done." We count on this guy. Nicks does not have a touchdown reception. He is being outplayed by Victor Cruz, and the third receiver, Rueben Randle, has nearly as many receptions (23) and four touchdowns. Forty-one receivers have more receptions than Nicks. That is no way to make a contract run - and not the kind of contribution a No. 1 receiver needs to make for a struggling team. No wonder he has also been mentioned in trade talks. That would not be the Giants" style, but the trade deadline is six days away. Standing at his locker Wednesday, Nicks was undisturbed and philosophical. "As a receiver, you want to catch every one, but you ain't perfect," he said. Sometimes they're a little out of reach, and sometimes you can't bring them in. You try - you want them all. But I don't really feel like my game is too much different from what it's been in the past. What he does believe, he said, is that people are viewing him differently because he is going to be a free agent. "I think people are just putting more significance on it just due to what kind of year it is for me," said Nicks, who averaged 77.5 receptions and 9 touchdowns during the 2010 and 2011 seasons before injuries limited him last season. It's because of what lies ahead for me and all the outside talk that's going on right now. Asked whether his contract status was affecting his play, Nicks shook his head. "No, that's out of my head," he said. Although he dislocated a finger earlier in the season and appeared to have injured that finger or another one on Monday night, Nicks said he was fit. "The finger ain't nothing to talk about," he said. I feel good. Coughlin said he did not think that Nicks's contract situation was a factor. To attract the best free-agent offers, the coach suggested, you play your best. "Fundamentally, you take care of your business on the field," Coughlin said. You better get your job done to the fullest of your ability. Nicks has the strongest ally possible in the Giants locker room: Manning, who in a radio interview this week called Nicks a friend and said he hoped he had Nicks to throw to for many seasons to come. "I'm not worried about him; he'll be ready this week," Manning said after Wednesday's practice. He'll make all the catches and make all the plays. I'm looking forward to it. Center David Baas, who was has been injured three times this season, was placed on season-ending injured reserve Wednesday. Baas, who strained the medial collateral ligament of his left knee in the preseason, reinjured the knee in the first quarter Monday night. Baas vowed to be ready for next season, but the Giants may not be able to afford him. The team would save more than $7 million on its salary cap over the next two seasons if Baas was cut. Baas, who also had a neck injury this year, played only one full game this season. Jim Cordle, now in his third year, will replace Baas, who signed as a free agent with the Giants in 2011 and started every game of the regular season and the postseason during the Giants" Super Bowl run. Baas joins several other Giants starters on injured reserve; together, they represent about $20 million in salary, or about 16 percent of the 2013 salary cap for the entire roster.