Russell Wilson is the New York Giants’ starting quarterback, Brian Daboll reaffirmed Saturday. There is no plan for that to change anytime soon, the Giants coach said.
The unsaid end part of that sentence is … no matter how good Jaxson Dart looks right now.
The rookie QB has been excellent throughout training camp and the preseason, and with every performance like the one he delivered Saturday, he fans the flames of a quarterback “debate.” However, the Giants have remained steadfast in their plan to give Dart time on the bench to develop, and that means the QB1 job is Wilson’s … for as long as he can hang on to it.
That the QB1 question is even being asked is indicative of the situation Wilson finds himself in. The former Seahawks star and Super Bowl champion is clinging to this starting job while trying to hold off the arrival of the franchise’s future. Wilson is an aging quarterback on his third team (Broncos, Steelers, Giants) in three seasons, and, according to those around the NFL, he’s definitely on the decline.
In Mike Sando’s annual “Quarterback Tiers,” in which Sando polled 50 NFL coaches and executives for their opinions of the league’s current crop of starting quarterbacks (excluding rookies), Wilson came in at No. 26 after taking another tumble down the rankings. It’s been a gradual decline for Wilson, who went from tied for first (2020) to fourth (2021) to eighth (2022), to 16th (2023) to 22nd (2024) and finally to 26th this season. That puts Wilson in Tier 4 for the first time in his career.
Are these rankings fair? It’s debatable, though Wilson is out to prove this season that he still deserves to be discussed among the league’s best. We won’t know for sure if he can accomplish that mission until the regular season is underway, but so far this summer, Wilson hasn’t been earth-shatteringly good or bad. He’s mostly just been competent, which is what the Giants need from the position after some tough recent seasons. If Wilson can perform at that level and lead a respectable, competent offense, it might not guarantee a surge up Sando’s QB Tiers next year, but it might mean he can halt his slide down the rankings, while also allowing the Giants to develop Dart at his own pace.
Can Wilson deliver for himself and for the Giants? Sando’s tiers explore that question.
Russell Wilson
Giants
◂ Worse
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What was said
The biggest takeaway from what coaches and executives had to say about Wilson is that at 36 years old, he is battling the ultimate opponent: age.
“He can still do some things, but I think he is just declining. Some of the throws he was good at are not there for him anymore,” one defensive coordinator said. “I did not feel like he was ripping throws. Even his deep throws were like airball stuff, hoping (ex-Steelers receiver) George Pickens makes a play.”
Another defensive coordinator put it more bluntly: “What he had that was magical about him — the ability to create plays on the move — is gone,” the DC said.
“If you are a quarterback who has to create time — instead of one who knows where everything is, hits his back foot and throws it — then this is what happens to you,” a defensive coach added.
Wilson isn’t just fighting Father Time, either. He’s also fighting perception. No matter what you think of how his play has aged, it’s hard to argue against the optics of the coaches who have chosen to move on from him in the past five seasons: Pete Carroll, Sean Payton and Mike Tomlin are all potential Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches.
For all of the negatives in the rankings, there were a few positives, with one head coach noting that Wilson is still a starter despite the team situations he’s been in the last few seasons.
“He has pelts on the wall for two-minute offense, and you have to give him credit for that,” a head coach said. “I think he is a legitimate starter. I wish he would play better, but he’s been in three offenses in the last three years. You know how that goes.”
Comparable veterans
There’s really only one comparable QB to dial in on here, and wouldn’t you know it: It’s the QB who traded cities with Wilson and was the other big-name, free-agent quarterback the Giants pursued pretty heavily this offseason. Of course, we’re talking about Aaron Rodgers.
After the New York Jets moved on from the 41-year-old Rodgers following two seasons, the quarterback took his time deciding on his future. The Giants showed interest in Rodgers, but amid the uncertainty of what would be Rodgers’ ultimate decision, the Giants signed Jameis Winston and Wilson and drafted Dart — all before Rodgers signed a one-year deal with the Steelers in June.
Like Wilson, Rodgers has seen his standing in Sando’s QB tiers plummet. His average tier vote dropped a full point from last year, which was more than twice as large a drop as for any other player — ex-Giants quarterback and current Colts signal-caller Daniel Jones fell by nearly one-half tier. Rodgers played the 2024 season with the Jets after returning from a torn Achilles. It didn’t go well, as the Jets went 5-12, though Rodgers’ numbers were decent; he completed 63% of his passes for 3,897 yards and 28 touchdowns versus 11 interceptions.
This season, Rodgers will represent, in some ways, the road not taken for the Giants. So, it will be fascinating from a Giants perspective to see how he fares in Pittsburgh versus how Wilson lifts (or drags down) the Giants.
While Rodgers is the cleanest comparison for Wilson, given their similar plummets, another interesting veteran to consider is Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford. The Giants also showed strong interest in bringing the 37-year-old Stafford to New York this offseason, but he ended up reaching an extension agreement to remain in Los Angeles. Interestingly enough, after 11 straight seasons as a Tier 2 QB, Stafford made his Tier 1 debut this year. That comes after Stafford and the Rams went 10-7, won the NFC West and gave the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles a run for their money in the divisional round of last year’s playoffs. Maybe the Giants never actually had a chance to acquire Stafford, but he is another interesting road-not-taken QB to watch from afar this season.
Giants history
As we mentioned, the Giants are looking for consistency at the quarterback position. They haven’t had that in some time: The last time the Giants had a Tier 2 QB was in 2018 with Eli Manning. The two-time Super Bowl winner fell to Tier 3 in 2019. That’s the year the Giants drafted Jones with the No. 6 pick in the hopes he’d take over the position for years to come.
Jones played six up-and-down seasons in New York that were dominated by coaching changes and his own injuries. While Jones landed a lucrative contract extension following the 2022 playoff run, that was his highlight season for Big Blue. You probably don’t need to be reminded about what happened next.
As previously mentioned, Jones remains a Tier 4 quarterback as he pursues a fresh start with the Colts.
Speaking of Jones, it’s worth mentioning amid all of the hype around Dart right now that Jones, too, delivered a strong preseason in his rookie year before failing to live up to expectations. The Giants are hoping Dart doesn’t suffer the same fate. But they’re also hoping they won’t know exactly how good Dart is until either much later this season or even in 2026.
That would mean Wilson played well enough to keep the rookie on the bench. And, hey, that might even mean Wilson could find himself back in Tier 3 of Sando’s rankings next year. You never know.
(Photo: Rich Graessle / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)
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