The Giants‘ Plan ‘E’ at quarterback is a doozy.
The scrambling franchise reached agreement Tuesday with veteran quarterback Russell Wilson on a one-year contract worth $10.5 million guaranteed just days after signing veteran Jameis Winston to a two-year, $8 million deal.
Wilson’s contract reportedly could be worth up to $21 million with incentives.
This signing is the result of the L.A. Rams’ Matthew Stafford turning down a trade to New York, free agent Aaron Rodgers preferring other options to the Giants, a draft trade for Miami quarterback Cam Ward becoming an apparent impossibility and even a veteran free agent like Joe Flacco walking out of the Giants’ facility without a contract.
Wilson, 36, a 10-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion, always was the most likely signing for the desperate Giants.
He visited them one year ago before signing in Pittsburgh. And he didn’t have a strong market or the leverage to wait for a contender here in 2025.
It didn’t seem necessary to invest in a veteran like Wilson after the Giants signed Winston. But New York appears to have panicked and signed Winston to avoid being left emptyhanded at QB, only to continue holding out their hands to Rodgers and Wilson if they could find a taker.
Neither Winston’s nor Wilson’s signings resolve the Giants’ need for a franchise quarterback.
They hold the No. 3 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft, so they may have a chance to draft Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders there and team him with veteran mentors in Wilson and Winston. Joe Schoen and a large Giants contingent was in Florida without head coach Brian Daboll on Monday to watch the projected No. 1 overall pick Ward.
The Giants’ persistence on the veteran quarterback market after signing Winston, however, seemed to signal that they recognize two quarterbacks might come off the board before they even get a chance to pick.
Their initial offseason plan to trade for Stafford and pay him a top-of-market contract also seemed to point toward potentially drafting a non-quarterback like Colorado corner Travis Hunter at No. 3 overall.
The Tennessee Titans look poised to select Ward No. 1 overall. And the Cleveland Browns at No. 2 sound “potentially open trading back,” insider Josina Anderson reported Tuesday night.
Maybe the Giants could move up to No. 2 to get their guy. Or perhaps another team will try to leapfrog them for a passer.
Regardless, whether it’s Sanders or Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart or someone else, Schoen and Daboll have to get a rookie quarterback into the building to develop.
Daboll raved about Wilson last fall before the Giants lost to Wilson’s Steelers head-to-head.
“I will say this with Russell: He’s a good football player,” Daboll said last fall of Wilson, who threw for 2482 yards, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions last season. “He’s been a good football player for a long time… Since 2018 [he has been] one of the higher explosive-play quarterbacks… Won a Super Bowl. Was in another Super Bowl. Got a lot of respect for him as a person, as a player.”
Wilson only has a 23-32 record as a starter in his past four seasons, though: one year in Seattle, two in Denver after a blockbuster trade from the Seahawks and one in Pittsburgh.
Last season with the Steelers, he replaced Justin Fields in Week 7 after missing time with a calf injury and went 4-0 in his first four starts and 6-1 in his first seven games, throwing 12 touchdown passes to only three interceptions in that stretch.
But then Wilson and Pittsburgh lost five straight games to close the season. And the Baltimore Ravens smoked the Steelers in the AFC Wild Card playoff round, 28-14, going up 21-0 and outgaining Pittsburgh 308 yards to 59 by halftime.
This was a concerning reminder of why the Broncos had cut Wilson outright the year prior in the middle of a five-year, $242.6 million contract.
Denver benched Wilson in 2023 before he could suffer an injury that would have triggered a $37 million injury guarantee for 2024, then released him and ate a huge dead cap hit. The Steelers then only had to pay Wilson a $1.2 million base salary to sign him for the season.
Ironically, the Giants then did the same thing with Daniel Jones last fall: they benched him to avoid triggering a $23 million injury guarantee and eventually granted his release.
Now, in an offseason in which Schoen promised to keep “swinging,” the Giants’ quarterbacks so far are a backup the Browns didn’t bring back and a starter the Steelers no longer prioritized.
The NFL Draft is now their only hope for upside in a year that will cost everyone their jobs if the Giants don’t start winning and demonstrating progress and promise.
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