Big Blue View
The New York Giants have set their initial 53-man roster for the 2025 NFL season. Initial because by Wednesday at noon, when many of the more than 1,000 players cut on Tuesday can be claimed on waivers, that roster will begin to change.
There were some surprises, like defensive tackle Elijah Chatman getting cut. There were close calls, like Gunner Olszewski winning a job over Ihmir Smith-Marsette. There were no-brainers, like Tommy DeVito being the odd man out in the quarterback room.
Head coach Brian Daboll would not discuss any of the roster decisions during his mid-day Zoom call with media on Tuesday, saying that he and GM Joe Schoen would discuss the roster during a joint press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Daboll did admit the Giants will continue to look to upgrade the roster wherever possible.
“I think Joe and the personnel staff do a great job of evaluating players. We’ll continue to do that. It’s a fluid situation right now,” Daboll said. “Again, those types of things right now, we’re still having a lot of conversations about a lot of different things. A lot of players will get cut.”
Here is the 53-man roster as of 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday along with some of my position-by-position thoughts.
Quarterback (3) — Russell Wilson, Jaxson Dart, Jameis Winston
This is how the roster was always going to work out. There were reportedly calls to the Giants about the availability of Jameis Winston, but trading him was never something the Giants wanted to do.
Tommy DeVito was always going to be the odd man out. Based on reps allotted, that has been clear since spring practices began. I thought the Giants might be able to trade him. Perhaps that door closed when the Las Vegas Raiders acquired Kenny Pickett via trade from the Cleveland Browns.
Running back (3) — Tyrone Tracy, Devin Singletary, Cam Skattebo
The cut of Dante “Turbo” Miller was a bit surprising, but understandable. He was clearly RB4, and if he had a game day role at all it was going to be on special teams, where he was inexperienced. The mistake he made vs. the New England Patriots, creating a turnover when he had a punt bounce off of him, might have sealed his fate.
There have been rumblings from some media members that the Giants might be looking to add another running back to the mix. That is a bit surprising. We will see if it happens.
Tight end (4) — Theo Johnson, Chris Manhertz, Daniel Bellinger, Thomas Fidone
I thought perhaps the Giants would keep Greg Dulcich and move on from Bellinger, a player they haven’t fully utilized the last two seasons. Especially since they need cap space, and Bellinger carries a $3.6 cap hit in the final year of his rookie deal.
They held on to the player GM Joe Schoen drafted, though.
I am not surprised at all that Fidone, a seventh-round pick, made the roster. I did not...
