Less than an hour before the latest quarterback domino dropped, an NFC talent evaluator made their case: Jameis Winston is well-suited to be a bridge quarterback.
The veteran whom the New York Giants signed Friday night has demonstrated the highs of quarterbacking (a 5,000-yard season!) and the lows (a 30-interception season!), a full showcase from which a rookie could learn.
Winston’s unique personality, the evaluator reasoned, would energize a team. His high-octane potential could give the franchise early hope. But then, as reality set in in the form of weekly multi-interception games, the Giants would have a smooth path to saying: Bench the turnover-creating veteran and start the rookie.
Suddenly, the formula that the New England Patriots traveled to Drake Maye’s Week 6 debut last season would repeat — but with Winston taking much of the early spotlight and pressure off of the rookie.
By sundown Tuesday, the recipe had changed.
The Giants surprised many around the league as they signed nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson to a one-year deal worth up to $21 million with $10.5 million guaranteed, per multiple media reports. Wilson’s salary indicates the club views him as the frontrunner to start the 2025 season ahead of Winston, whose two-year deal was worth $8 million, per multiple reports.
The Giants landed a safer and seemingly upgraded starter option at a reasonable price with Wilson. But in answering one question about their roster, they opened a Pandora’s box full of others.
The highest-intrigue question: What does a quarterback room already housing Wilson and Winston mean for the Giants’ strategy with the third overall NFL Draft pick?
Perhaps, the Giants’ pursuit of Aaron Rodgers reminded them that New York and the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves pursuing the 41-year-old four-time MVP because of prior reaches on first-round quarterbacks. Avoiding a repeat of the Daniel Jones and Kenny Pickett experiences, respectively, should be a goal for each. And in a weak draft class, the perils of overdrafting a quarterback become more challenging to avoid.
But on a more micro level, the Giants’ decision to sign Wilson seems to send a message about Shedeur Sanders. The question is which message they’re sending.
To Giants, is Shedeur Sanders too coveted or not coveted enough?
If the Giants believed that Sanders will be available with the third overall pick, and that he merits such prime draft capital, it seems unlikely that they would have signed Wilson.
Sure, New York didn’t break the bank to sign the Super Bowl XLVIII champion.
But they already had a backup/bridge option in Winston for 2025. And at least some evaluators do not believe sitting Sanders has merit.
“I just think he’s physically maxed out,” one AFC talent evaluator told Yahoo Sports on Monday. “Where he’s at, that’s all he is going to ever be. If you look at his body, he is as big as he’s going to be. He’s as fast as he’s going to be. I just don’t see how much better he can get. He’s already good at the technique and he’s got poise. He could throw it pretty well.
“I don’t think sitting him does anything.”
NFL teams diverge wildly on their draft grades, because evaluations are subjective and because evaluators are projecting a player’s fit into different sets of team circumstances. One AFC evaluator told Yahoo Sports they placed a second-round grade on Sanders while another said they placed a fourth-round grade, projecting him as a career third-string quarterback.
The Giants, of course, have not publicly stated their talent evaluation of Sanders. But while their assessment of his talent may vary from the evaluator, it’s less likely their assessment of his readiness does. Evaluators from several teams have said they believe Sanders has a higher floor than expected first-round pick Cam Ward while Ward has a higher ceiling, in large part because of how much rawer Ward’s athleticism and technique are.
So coaches and executives around the league doubted that the Giants were signing Wilson and Winston with the intention of adding Sanders — especially as head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen appear to be entering a win-or-go-home year.
It’s possible, then, that the Giants do not believe Sanders will be available at No. 3 because they believe the Tennessee Titans will take Ward with the first overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft and the Cleveland Browns will take Sanders with the second. Or it’s possible that the Giants, in considering Sanders’ potential, believe taking him at third sets them up for another overreach like they made with Jones.
The NFC talent evaluator considered Sanders’ viability for the Browns in a conversation shortly before Wilson’s signing. The logic applies to both teams.
“If you feel like there’s not going to be too many guys who go in the first round anyway, you might still have your pick [later] of somebody who’s not too far of a discrepancy from Shedeur,” the evaluator told Yahoo Sports. “If I wasn’t sure, I might just go with the pure talent and figure it out from there.”
Don’t underestimate Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen’s outlook as decision-making factor
If the Giants don’t take a quarterback with the third overall pick, they still could select one in this year’s draft. Wilson’s one-year contract does not indicate the Giants believe he’s their answer for the next three to five years.
And while there’s a case to be made for waiting until the 2026 draft to take a quarterback, the Giants are signing a quarterback who just helped the Steelers to the playoffs. While Wilson and Pittsburgh ended the season on a five-game losing streak, it’s unlikely the Giants’ tenuously positioned leadership group is signing Wilson with the expectation of playing poorly enough to land a high 2026 pick.
Multiple league sources wondered whether the Giants would thus draft a quarterback from the perceived second or third tier of this class to develop in hopes of readiness for 2026 and beyond.
For those interested in connecting dots, Schoen was at Louisville pro day on Tuesday, where quarterback Tyler Shough worked out. Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka joined defensive coordinate Shane Bowen and assistant director of player personnel Dennis Hickey at Texas’ same-day pro day, where Quinn Ewers worked out.
Schoen, Kafka and quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney all attended Ward’s Miami pro day on Monday though Ward is not expected to be available at pick No. 3.
Yahoo Sports’ draft experts currently project Ward and Sanders as the only quarterbacks who will go in the first round, while ranking Ward as the 10th-most talented prospect, Sanders as the 35th-most talented and Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard at 49.
Shough and Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart have also been topics of conversation in the scouting community in recent weeks.
Schoen and Daboll have yet to draft and develop a quarterback, though they extended Jones to what became a de facto two-year deal worth $40 million per year. They released Jones during the 2024 season and he has since signed with the Indianapolis Colts to compete with Anthony Richardson to start.
Could the Giants’ decision-makers sell team owner John Mara on the hope of a competitive 2025 led by Wilson, followed by a longer-term answer from a 2025 class prospect who sits?
“You kind of have this opportunity now to be able to say, ‘OK, we finally got to pick our guy, create our vision,’” the NFC talent evaluator said. “And they had the first-year playoffs as well, so there’s enough there to be able to save it. And yet, it does feel like the time is ticking and they need to be able to answer that position or provide some type of hope for that role sooner than later.”
Drafting a later-tier rookie need not eliminate future options in the way that drafting a quarterback top-three could. The Giants could take one of the top non-quarterback talents like Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter or Colorado defensive back/wide receiver Travis Hunter, and then later stockpile a quarterback who will learn from two high-profile veterans.
NFL teams have drafted quarterbacks highly in consecutive years, from the Carolina Panthers selecting Cam Newton first overall a year after taking Jimmy Clausen 48th to the Arizona Cardinals taking Kyler Murray first overall a year after selecting Josh Rosen 10th.
A year ago, the Giants’ interest in trading up to take Maye third overall was not a well-kept secret. Instead, they spent the sixth pick on receiver Malik Nabers, who caught 109 passes for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns despite a shaky and rotating cast at quarterback.
With Wilson in the building, the Giants again have bought time to bolster their roster before they find a long-term answer at quarterback. They could augment the room in the draft, but they no longer should feel the same desperation to overreach.
“You take the best available player,” the NFC talent evaluator said. “You take the quarterback where the value is — just don’t hemorrhage the capital that would take you out of being able to get the player that you would potentially want even more next year.
“Let it play out.”
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