The New York Giants are just hours away from entering the legal tampering period in hopes of grabbing a veteran quarterback.
Though it remains to be seen exactly how it will go down for New York, the latest reports have the Giants narrowing their search to a pair of veteran options set to be available on the market this week. That reportedly includes former New York Jets star Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson.
How the rest of the quarterback-needy teams negotiate will have an impact on the Giants’ chances of landing one of those options. With that said, Matt Johnson of Sportsnaut is predicting New York will land Wilson to be their bridge option for an incoming rookie.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers re-signing Justin Fields in our NFL free agency predictions, Russell Wilson quickly runs out of options. The New York Jets might consider him, but that’s a team that won’t be competitive in 2025. Instead, Wilson agrees to be the bridge quarterback for the New York Giants. He walks into a nice scenario, having a No. 1 receiver (Malik Nabers) and quality play-caller, with a nice one-year payday to go with it. Importantly, this wouldn’t prevent New York from trading up for the first overall pick to take Cam Ward. It’s not a conventional approach, but it’s the best thing for the Giants’ present and future.
While much of the early discourse will be around Wilson’s arrival in East Rutherford, the key here is what Johnson alluded to near the end of his snippet. It doesn’t truly matter who the Giants bring in as long as there is a plan to address the future of the position.
Wilson is far from the ideal player to lead the Giants into the future, but he has shown enough flashes to warrant consideration as a bridge option. On top of that, he’s been known as a strong teammate, which should help the development of an incoming rookie.
After missing the first six games of the season in 2024 due to a calf injury, Wilson made 11 starts for the Steelers. He completed 63.7% of his passes for 2,482 yards (225.6 YPG), 16 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 95.6 passer rating.
Those numbers are solid on the surface, but they don’t paint the whole picture. Over his final eight games of the season, Wilson averaged just 218.1 passing yards per game while throwing 10 touchdown passes — averaging just over one per game during that stretch. How much of the blame should be placed on the Steelers offense isn’t clear, but it’s something the Giants must consider.
Spotrac is currently projecting Wilson to land a two-year deal worth $77.47 million in free agency while Pro Football Focus has similar thoughts, projecting a two-year, $60 million deal.