JANUARY 9: Doubling down on his intention of playing next season, Wilson recently revealed (via ESPN’s Jordan Raanan) he changed agents. The former Super Bowl winner will now be represented by David Mulugheta as he prepares for an expected change of scenery.
JANUARY 5: Russell Wilson is nearing the end of a decorated career, albeit one that has trended steeply downward over the past few seasons. The 14-year veteran, however, has no intention of retiring after this season.
The demoted Giants quarterback confirmed (via Newsday’s Tom Rock) he will seek to play a 15th season. It would certainly appear the Giants will not be interested in giving him that opportunity. Jameis Winston is signed for one more season, being set to retain his role as Jaxson Dart‘s backup. Wilson also shared a bit of pertinent information regarding his Giants season.
Although the Giants benched Wilson after Week 3, he indicated he suffered a hamstring tear before his high-octane Week 2 performance in Dallas. Wilson said the injury occurred on the final play of the last practice that week.
“I know what I’m capable of. I think I showed that in Dallas, and I want to be able to do that again,” Wilson said. “I played that [Week 2] game, you know, I tore my hamstring on Friday in practice — the last play of practice. And I had a grade two [tear]. I couldn’t tell anybody. I had to go and play on it just because I knew the circumstance, I had to play on it, no matter what.”
Wilson said he went to the Dallas Mavericks’ facility for rehab purposes but indicated he did not inform the Giants of his injury. It is worth wondering how he meandered into the Mavericks’ facility without anyone from the Giants knowing, but Wilson went to X to say the Giants did not know about his injury before the Cowboys game. The Giants presumably will not be too happy to learn of Wilson’s secret injury. Wilson did not appear on the Giants’ injury report before Week 2 or Week 3.
Wilson went on to throw for a career-high 450 yards in that overtime loss. He finished with three touchdown passes and completed more than 73% of his throws. A much worse outing against the Chiefs in Week 3 began the Dart era, however, and Wilson was relegated to afterthought status after Winston leapfrogged him on the depth chart.
The Giants will likely be subject to an NFL investigation on this, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, who adds a source informed him this belated confession will not make a team especially eager to add Wilson for 2026. Boos rained down when Wilson replaced an injured Dart in Week 6 at MetLife Stadium, but he is a year removed from guiding the Steelers to the playoffs. Wilson, however, was not deemed a Steelers priority to re-sign last year. He waited behind Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh’s queue before signing a one-year, $10.5MM Giants deal.
That became a bridge contract, as the Giants traded up for Dart in Round 1. Wilson, 37, is unlikely to command that in 2026. He has been benched in two of the past three seasons, though the Broncos’ decision late in the 2023 season appeared more contract-related, and some among the Steelers wanted to keep him on the bench for Justin Fields after the older QB finished rehabbing his calf injury. Wilson, who played hurt in 2022 as well, adding this hamstring issue to his medical history will only complicate his case at another gig.
Wilson did play better in 2023 than he did under Nathaniel Hackett in 2022, and he finished an abbreviated 2024 season — albeit one that included a season-closing five-game Steelers losing streak — with 16 touchdown passes and five interceptions. He is undoubtedly still talented enough to be a backup and took on a mentor role for Dart this season. Conflicting reports surfaced about the Bengals’ interest following Joe Burrow‘s injury. Will another team sign up for Wilson as a bridge option, or is he squarely on the QB2 level now?