The Steelers became the first team connected to Russell Wilson following the news of his imminent Broncos release, but one other team was believed to be in on the decorated quarterback. It appears the Giants are that mystery suitor.
Wilson has already met with — or is meeting with — the Giants, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. The two-year Broncos quarterback was recently at an airport in Newark. While Wilson arrived in Pittsburgh for a Steelers meeting Friday, the 35-year-old passer appears squarely on the Giants’ radar. The Broncos are allowing Wilson to negotiate with teams before his actual release.
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Wilson’s Giants meeting can be labeled an “exploratory” session, Schefter adds, confirming the Pittsburgh trip is a go. The Giants fit would seem a bit clunkier, due to Daniel Jones‘ 2024 guaranteed salary, but GM Joe Schoen has frequently mentioned the team will add a QB this offseason. What remains to be seen is how the Giants will go about doing that.
They have been increasingly tied to an effort to trade up for a passer or select one at No. 6. A Wilson addition would stand to be a different route altogether, and the team would then seemingly be signing off on a Wilson-Jones competition despite the $40MM-AAV contract it gave its starter last March. The Giants can reasonably escape that contract in 2025.
Financially, a Wilson move would be a creative effort on the Giants’ part. Due to offset language in his current contract, Wilson can sign with his next team for the league minimum and stick the Broncos with the rest of the bill. Although Wilson made a point to thank several of his former teammates in a farewell post, he unsurprisingly omitted Sean Payton and George Paton when confirming he was done in Denver. Wilson has confirmed the Broncos attempted to convince him to move the vesting date for his 2025 guarantee; he refused, which will led to an official exit March 13 (as a post-June 1 cut).
That drama would benefit the accomplished passer’s next team, which would be able to add a former franchise QB at a significant discount. Wilson is currently tied to a $49MM-per-year Broncos deal; he played on a $35MM-AAV Seahawks pact from 2019-21. While attached to the latter deal, Wilson famously made a list of acceptable trade destinations. The Bears, Saints, Raiders and Cowboys initially made that 2021 list, but the then-Seahawks starter amended it to include the Broncos and Giants. He ended up waiving his no-trade clause for Denver, which proved to be a poor fit.
The Giants have Jones and Tommy DeVito under contract for 2024; they are not expected to re-sign Tyrod Taylor. Jones is on track to be ready for training camp, though four-plus months still remain until that point on his ACL rehab journey. Wilson has expressed obvious interest in becoming a starter again. With Schoen repeatedly indicating Jones will be the starter when he returns, it would seem the Giants would not be the favorite to secure Wilson’s services. Though, it will depend on just how many teams are truly interested.
Schefter also mentions the Raiders as a possibility, but that is not certain yet. Antonio Pierce has made no secret of the team’s interest in adding a long-term option; at this stage, Wilson does not qualify as such. The Raiders have joined the Giants in being regularly linked to a first-round trade-up maneuver.
The former second-round pick had stops in Buffalo and Arizona before landing with the Bengals last offseason on a one-year, $1MM deal. Ford ended up emerging as the team’s “sixth offensive lineman,” although thanks to the team’s relative health on the OL, that didn’t result in many offensive snaps.
