When the New York Giants’ dismal 2024 season ended, the last thing anyone could have predicted for 2025 was a quarterback controversy. They had just finished a disappointing 3-14 campaign and had no quarterbacks under contract for this season.
That’s when general manager Joe Schoen shifted into overdrive and began filling up the quarterback room. Restricted free agent Tommy DeVito was brought back. Veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston were added in free agency, and Jaxson Dart was selected in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft.
The offseason workouts, training camp, and the preseason were conducted with the understanding that Wilson was going to be the team’s starter come the regular season. Dart was named the No. 2, and Winston, who was signed for two seasons, would be the third, or emergency, quarterback. DeVito was waived at the roster deadline and claimed by the New England Patriots.
One week into the regular season, Wilson’s status as the starter is being questioned. The Giants’ offense fell flat on its face in the opener in Washington last week, scoring a league-low six points. Nothing much appeared to have changed since last year, it seemed.
The fans and media are calling for Dart already. Head coach Brian Daboll quashed that talk on Wednesday, inferring that Wilson will be the starter for Sunday’s game in Dallas.
“He just said people (are) trying to make noise and this and that. But we didn’t really talk about it, to be honest with you,” Wilson said of his contact with Daboll on the subject. “I think the biggest thing is just, like I said, I never blink, guys. That’s the thing about me, I just know who I am and know what I bring to the table and what we can do as a group.
“It’s not about me, it’s about us as a collective group, and I think if we can play a little cleaner on first and second down, I mean, that’s the name – we had so many second-and-longs and third-and-longs. It’s hard to win that way, and we still had a chance to win. That’s the crazy thing. We still had a chance to win down there and down low. I think that’s what we’ve got to clean up and do.”
How much of a chance will Wilson get to clean things up is the question. If the Giants are flat again this Sunday in Dallas, Dart could be under center next week when the Giants host Kansas City in their home opener on Sunday night.
Wilson remains confident and undeterred. He knows he can only control what he can control.
“I think that you embrace challenge. I don’t think I run from challenges. I don’t think I run from anything,” he said. “I know how confident I am in myself; confident I am in the guys that we have. How much confidence I think that we’ve established through our work.”
Wilson has this week to show that he’s still got it. The Giants will fall to 0-2 with a loss and be winless in their last eight games within the division. That’s “more of the same,” and Schoen and Daboll were brought back on the condition that “more of the same” would no longer be acceptable.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: New York Giants QB Russell Wilson embracing multiple challenges this week in Dallas
Reporting by John Fennelly, Giants Wire / Giants Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
