The seemingly never-ending offseason game of NFL Quarterback Musical Chairs has had one less seat taken away.
And Russell Wilson has a chair.
The New York Giants agreed to a deal with Wilson, the former Seattle Seahawk, former Denver Bronco, former Pittsburgh Steeler – does that sound weird to anyone but me? – on Tuesday.
Sources for TFB are reporting that it’s just a one-year deal that, with incentives, is worth right around $10 million guaranteed and in the $21 million ballpark, and ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter is also reporting that.
Wilson was drafted by and spent most of his career with the Seahawks, whom he helped win Super Bowl XLVIII over the Denver Broncos – coincidentally enough, at MetLife Stadium, home of the Giants – and also returned to the game and lost to the New England Patriots. Most remember that game’s key sequence late in the contest, when the Seahawks had gotten inside the Patriots’ 5-yard-line, and rather than hand off to running back Marshawn Lynch, a pass play was called.
Wilson was picked off by New England’s Malcolm Butler, and the Patriots held on for the win.
The former North Carolina State and Wisconsin standout spent a few seasons with Seattle after that, but was eventually traded to Denver, where things just simply didn’t work out. It cost the Broncos five draft picks (two of them first-round) and three players. The Broncos were 11-19 with Wilson as a starter.
Denver released Wilson outright and he signed with Pittsburgh for the 2024 season.
That didn’t turn out well, either. It was almost like the Steelers couldn’t decide between Wilson or Justin Fields, and wound up finishing the 2024 campaign on a five-game losing streak. Wilson did go 6-5 as a starter in Pittsburgh, although he was sacked 33 times.
Wilson, now 36, has completed 64 percent of his passes in his 13-year career for 46,135 yards, 350 touchdown passes and 111 interceptions.
It’s assumed Wilson will be the Giants’ starter on opening day this fall, but they do have two other quarterbacks on the roster: Tommy DeVito, and recently-signed Jameis Winston, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft.
Incidentally, this also likely takes the Giants out of the Aaron Rodgers Sweepstakes. Rodgers, 41, was recently released by the New York Jets and had interest from both the Giants and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Rodgers himself was also interested in Minnesota, but the Vikings apparently have cooled on signing the former Green Bay standout.
Pittsburgh’s interest in Rodgers remains to be seen.
