The New York Giants found themselves in an odd scenario at the start of this offseason.
Typically, teams coming off a 3-14 season will clean house and start over. However, the constant front office turnover throughout the last decade likely kept general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll safe.
Thus, the current regime had to go into the offseason with a win-now mindset even if the roster hadn't entered that type of status just yet.
It led to a handful of veteran signings in free agency, including the addition of quarterback Russell Wilson, who signed a one-year deal worth $10.5 million with incentives that can bring it up to $21.5 million in 2025.
It was a move that was met with strong criticism from Seth Trachtman of Yardbarker, who dubbed it one of the NFL's most head-scratching offseason moves.
"The Giants offseason screams desperation after ownership put the front office and coaching staff on notice following the 2024 season. The team is now caught in between at quarterback after signing Wilson and Jameis Winston, and then also drafting Jaxson Dart in the first round. While the quarterback situation has improved over the last year, it's hard to see how the team will bounce back to be competitive immediately," Trachtman wrote.
Wilson doesn't make the Giants playoff contenders, but he does provide an upgrade over what they had in the room during the disastrous 2024 campaign.
The Giants needed to make sure they have multiple options under center for the upcoming season, which is why they signed Winston before bringing Wilson into the mix.
Neither Wilson nor Winston will be the one to save Schoen's job. That's likely going to come down to the promise and upside of Dart.
Even so, there were worse options than bringing in Wilson on a one-year deal to be the bridge quarterback.
