The third-year receiver’s career is sidelined again
New York Giants wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton is done for the year with a torn ACL, suffered in practice on Sunday.
It was initially believed that Ford-Wheaton suffered a torn Achilles, and Giant’s Head coach Brian Daboll confirmed Monday that it is indeed an Achilles.
“Man, my heart aches for that man,” Daboll said. “He’s done everything he could do to get back. He’s a very good special teams player for us and was having a good camp from working back from his injury.
“He’s just laying there on the ground and you just can’t help but… That’s the tough part of this business – probably one of the worst (parts) is seeing these guys go down that have put so much time and effort and energy into getting back and we’ll certainly miss him. It’s just an unfortunate thing for Bryce, I feel terrible for him, I feel bad for our team because he was a good player for us in the kicking game and now other people are going to have to step up but, man, that was a tough one.”
The Giants originally signed Ford-Wheaton as an undrafted free agent out of West Virginia in 2023. There was hope that Ford-Wheaton’s rare size and athleticism could make him an undrafted gem, however he suffered a torn ACL in training camp that year.
He made it back onto the field in 2024 and became a core special teams player for the Giants. He was on the field for 74 percent of the Giants’ special teams snaps, and the Giants valued his contributions in that phase of the game. As Daboll said in his remarks, Ford-Wheaton is “a good special teams player for us.”
Considering his season was highlighted by returning a blocked punt for a touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks, Daboll’s is a fair assessment. Even if Ford-Wheaton couldn’t get up to speed as a receiver, he was a definite contributor on special teams.
Now he’ll spend another year on the injured reserve. Gunner Olszewski was signed to take Ford-Wheaton’s roster spot.