Daniel Bellinger’s career arc with the New York Giants has been difficult to understand at times.
A fourth-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Bellinger started immediately. He caught 30 passes in 35 targets, two for touchdowns, in a promising rookie season.
Since then, though, Bellinger has always played second-fiddle to someone else on the Giants’ tight end depth chart.
In 2023, that was veteran Darren Waller. Bellinger was mostly forgotten about that season until Waller, inevitably, was injured. He ended up with 25 receptions.
Over the past two seasons, Bellinger has been usurped by 2024 fourth-round pick Theo Johnson. He caught just 14 passes in 2024 and 19 this season.
The 2025 season featured the two longest receptions of his career, 44 and 29 yards. The 29-yarder came in Week 18 against the Dallas Cowboys, a play that showed off more athleticism than Bellinger is often given credit for.
Bellinger has never complained about his situation with the Giants, even if it has long been clear that he was being under-utilized.
“I think every opportunity they gave me, I made the most of it,” Bellinger said. “Was it perfect? Was it clean 100 percent of the time? No.”
“But at the end of the day, I just wanted to help us win, regardless of what role that looked like. Whether that means I’m playing 60 snaps a game or 30 snaps a game or five snaps a game. I just wanted to help us win.”
The Giants, of course, have not won nearly enough over the past three seasons. Bellinger is now a backup tight end headed to free agency who doesn’t know if the Giants, who will have a new coaching staff, will want him around.
Bellinger said GM Joe Schoen told him be believes the tight end is “part of the solution” for the Giants, which he admitted was “good to hear.”
Still, he has no idea whether or not he will return to the Giants next season.
“Ultimately I don’t know,” Bellinger said. “It’s a business. We’ll see what happens in the next few months.”
Bellinger would love a bigger role somewhere than the Giants have been willing to give him. He said he would “100 percent” be looking for an opportunity to be a full-time starter.
“Everybody wants to be number one in their position to succeed as much as they can. And, of course, that’s what I want,” Bellinger said. “But my main goal in football from Little League to now and furthermore is just help a team win. If that is a tight end one role, that’s what I want. But if I can help a team in a tight end two role or in special teams, whatever it takes to help a team win, I think is my biggest goal, because that’s what I want to walk away from the game and say, OK, I helped the team win games.”
Bellinger is looking ahead to free agency for the first time as his rookie contract expires is “exciting.”
“I’ve never gone through it,” Bellinger said. “I’ve talked to a bunch of guys that have gone through the free agency process and all that, so I’m excited and just ready to see what happens next.”
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