One NFL analyst believes the Giants and Wilson are the right match
As the New York Giants search for a new quarterback, much of the fan focus is on the 2025 NFL Draft. Free agency comes first, though, and the Giants will have to decide who they want to pursue there before they figure out who they might or might not be able to draft.
FOX Sports recently tried to play free agent matchmaker for quarterback-needy teams, and Ralph Vacchiano has Russell Wilson of the Pittsburgh Steelers as the match for the Giants.
Vacchiano writes:
The Giants really blew it by beating the Colts in Week 17, which cost them the No. 1 pick in the draft and the young quarterback of their choice. Instead, they slipped to No. 3, which might be too low to get one of the top two quarterbacks and too high to pick a third option.
That leaves them searching for a veteran, which won’t be as easy as it sounds. Any veteran with options is going to see a team that’s been a mess for a decade, an offensive line that’s dangerously bad, and a head coach on the hot seat. The Giants will probably pursue Kirk Cousins if he’s cut by Atlanta, or available in an affordable trade. But they don’t have a lot of tradeable assets and can’t afford to give up any draft picks for short-term solutions. And if Cousins does become a free agent, he’ll surely find better options than this.
Wilson, though, has long had an interest in playing in New York and even paid a visit to the Giants at the start of free agency last March. While he’s not a long-term option, and certainly hasn’t played like he’s in his prime anymore, the 36-year-old could bring some consistency to the position for the Giants — something they haven’t had in a while.
Don’t underestimate how important that would be for head coach Brian Daboll and even GM Joe Schoen, both of whom likely need to win in 2025 to hold onto their jobs. Wilson isn’t going to lead New York on a title run, but he could at least help the club be competitive, which right now is a huge step up. It might even be enough to save Daboll and Schoen from being fired and buy them time to find a younger quarterback to start building around.
Valentine’s View
Wilson is certainly an obvious possibility. I agree with a couple of things that Vacchiano said.
Not every veteran quarterback with options is going to look at the Giants as a desirable location. The Giants should not give up significant draft capital to acquire a stop-gap like Cousins.
In a recent mock draft, Jamie Eisner of The Draft Network has the Giants trading up to No. 1 to draft Cam Ward. I have always maintained that no price is too high if you end up being right about the quarterback. The price Eisner has the Giants paying — picks 3, 34, 65 (basically the first two days of their draft) and a 2026 second-round pick — is, in my view, too steep for a team that has to show improvement in 2025 or face another complete teardown/rebuild.
How do you surround the quarterback with talent without draft picks to help you do that?
Back to Wilson, though. If the Giants think they are going to be unable to land the quarterback they want at No. 3 they have to have a legitimate veteran starting quarterback on the roster.
They didn’t have that after moving on from Daniel Jones. Some would, of course, say they didn’t have it with Jones.
I might prefer Justin Fields to Wilson if I had my choice of Steelers quarterbacks, but I could live with Wilson for a year. Especially since it wouldn’t require draft picks to get him.
