Even though the New York Giants added veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston to a quarterback room that already included Tommy Devito this offseason, many believe the Giants will target a signal-caller at some point during the 2025 NFL Draft.
Coming off Wilson’s single season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo touched upon how the one-time Super Bowl champion will fit with the Giants after sharing a locker room with New York Jets starter Justin Fields from March 2024 through January 2025.
“It seemed like Wilson and Fields both handled an awkward situation about as well as they could have,” DeFabo said about the signal-callers who allegedly competed for the Pittsburgh starting job last summer. “When Wilson was injured the first six weeks of the season, he’d routinely snap balls to Fields. He didn’t have to do that. That’s just one little example. Wilson also talked publicly about how he feels an obligation to pay it forward to younger QBs.”
Most insiders now assume the Giants agreeing to deals with Wilson and Winston will keep the club from moving from the draft’s third overall pick to the No. 1 spot for Miami’s Cam Ward. While some think the Cleveland Browns will happily make Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders the draft’s second selection, others believe the Browns and Giants are among a handful of teams that will pass on Sanders.
Other than Ward, the quarterbacks in this year’s draft are all considered projects for the future who should develop as backups through at least a portion of the 2025 season. Thus, Wilson is on track to enter September as the Giants’ QB1.
For Friday’s article, DeFabo addressed what went wrong for Wilson and the Steelers during a five-game losing streak from Week 15 of the season through the wild-card round of the playoffs.
“The problems for the Steelers started cropping up when Wilson’s best deep threat, George Pickens, went down with a hamstring injury and opponents started game planning with two-high looks to take away deep shots,” DeFabo added. “In his younger days, Wilson would use his excellent mobility to turn those plays into four- and five-yard scrambles. Now, his wheels aren’t the same and those often turn into throwaways or sacks. The Giants’ offensive tackles had better get ready for a QB who wants to hold the ball. Steelers left tackle Dan Moore Jr. gave up the most sacks in the league (12) last season and right tackle Broderick Jones was tied for the second-most allowed (11), according to (Pro Football Focus).”
The StatMuse website shows no quarterback has taken more regular-season sacks since Week 1 of the 2022 campaign than Wilson (133). This suggests the 36-year-old will absorb the kind of punishment that could sideline him at any point during the upcoming season.
In short, Wilson is probably a better mentor than a starting quarterback at this point in his career. That’s fine for a Giants team coming off a 3-14 campaign that won’t be expected to compete for anything more than a wild-card playoff berth, at most, next season.
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