After their failed pursuit of Matthew Stafford, the Giants are “shifting their interest” to Aaron Rodgers, per The Athletic’s Diana Russini.
Rodgers has been reaching out to teams since the Jets decided to release him, including multiple calls to the Giants, per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones. The Giants have been discussing the possibility of signing Rodgers “all week,” according to Russini.
Acquiring Rodgers would be considerably less expensive than trading for Stafford. The Giants were prepared to give up significant draft capital and give Stafford a contract exceeding $50MM per year, per SNY’s Connor Hughes. Rodgers, meanwhile, will be a free agent once the Jets formalize his release with a post-June 1 designation. He is unlikely to command a top-of-the-market salary and signing him would not require the Giants to part with any draft picks.
Rodgers is not the Giants’ “leading candidate,” according to FOX Sports’ Ralph Vacciano. The team is discussing other free agent quarterbacks, per Hughes, including Russell Wilson, Sam Darnold, and Justin Fields. The Giants had interest in Darnold last offseason, according to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, but he was too expensive at the time. His value has certainly risen in the last year, but so has the Giants’ need for a quarterback.
After playing for four different teams over the last five years, Darnold may be looking for a long-term situation if he hits free agency. That could clash with the Giants’ vision for the position. They would prefer to pair a veteran signing with a top rookie from this year’s draft, according to Hughes.
Rodgers might fit better into those plans. The team views the four-time MVP as a “viable option” for one season, per Paul Schwartz of the New York Post. The Giants could then use a first-round pick on a quarterback prospect who would sit behind Rodgers as a rookie before taking over in 2026.
That rookie would likely be either Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward, who are generally considered the top two quarterbacks in the 2025 draft class. The Giants currently hold the No. 3 pick, but are exploring a trade with the Titans to acquire the first overall pick that they would then use on their preferred quarterback prospect.
Clearly, the Giants’ pursuit of a new quarterback remains fluid. Stafford was the first domino to fall, and other signings and trades will certainly impact the team’s plans. They will have to balance the financial investment of a free agent signing with the draft capital required to secure their top choice in April. The Falcons were criticized last year for signing Kirk Cousins to a massive contract in free agency and using the No. 8 pick on Michael Penix a month later. That has left Atlanta at an impasse with Cousins after moving to Penix during the season, something Schoen will likely consider as he navigates the quarterback market in free agency and the draft.
Aaron Rodgers? Just don’t NYG!
If the plan is to draft someone like Travis Hunter and tank for Arch Manning, sign me up for one year of Rodgers.
If the idea is to draft Sanders or Ward and have Rodgers mentor them, then yikes.
Arch manning will play 2 years as starter for Texas
Arch will play 3 yrs with the Longhorns will be drafted in 2028 number one
If the plan is to tank, you can do it way cheaper at QB than Rodgers
Rodgers as a member of the rebuilding NY Giants with no talent on that team. Lmao
I’m wondering why Rodger’s would even want to play for the Giants. Unless he has no other options.
Or he had a vision.
Nabers & Tracy have entered the chat
That’s hardly enough. I’m a huge Giant fan and it doesn’t make sense for either side
Wilson and Hall leave the chat?
Getting a lunatic to “mentor” a mediocre QB reach doesn’t seem like it would be the best rebuilding plan I’ve ever heard.
lmao
Let’s just jump ahead to the update where the Giants start calling every Manning listed in the phone book.
If they sign Rodgers, after 70 years, I’ll change allegiances and become a Bills’ fan. DON’T DO IT!!!!
Relax. It’s just a year or two. Everything’s OK. I know it seems like a long time, but tied for 3rd most titles in the last 20 years.
Surviving a rough patch is what makes the good times special. Ask a REAL Bills fan.
Yeah, but I’m almost 78. Don’t have time for a year or 2 of Rodger’s.
Fair enough. What about rooting for both?
no not Rodgers! organization cannot do anything else that will magnify what they have already let happen
Eww
Getting Rodgers takes pressure off the rest of the team and it’s great for me since I like WFAN
Will they balk if Rodgers demands a release clause in case he is offered a cabinet position?
Rodgers to Nabers can possibly win at least 7 games. To Wandale too. Draft a zippy RB and build an O Line. Crazier things have happened
Having a vet allows then to use #’s 1 and 34 to get at least 1 if not 2 starters to bolster the teams overall roster….of course winning more takes them in the opposite direction draft order wise to draft Manning or another QB stud in the 27 draft….
I thought giants have #3 behind titans and browns? But yeah get Abdul carter and a RB at 34, maybe Henderson or Hampton and build from there. Also get a day 2-3 QB to develop behind Rodgers like Jaxson Dart or Tyler Shough
Sooo follow up the Saquon brainfart by signing Rodgers?
That’s the thought process?
And what, tread water in hopes of Arch Manning down the line … after the way Eli was shown the door?
Send in the clowns
Don’t bother
They’re here
Imho- the Giants sign Rodgers for a 1 year rental trade with Titans drafts Saunders number one. Just my 2 cents worth
I can’t imagine that Daboll and Shoen saved their job by proposing this to Mara in their plan going forward.
Like it or not, They’re drafting Sanders or Ward. By doing that, it buys them a couple more years by default. If they somehow go with a guy like Rodgers (Or even Stafford before he decided to stay in LA), they don’t have near the talent on the roster to win this year so they’d be fired after what would be a losing season with an old QB
The article suggests signing a vet and then using their #1 to draft either Ward or Sanders to sit and learn for a year….does anyone think, after reading comments from them both that they have the patience, attitude, or interest to sit, watch and learn for a year…ay be wrong about this but Wards got a chop on his shoulder, and Sanders and his Daddy aren’t going to be happy parking his Bentley in the back row of the parking lot with all the other non starters….
Sign Rodgers, draft Hunter, then take either Dart or the Oregon QB.
If the price is right. But if the price is right, I don’t know why Rodgers would be out there to tarnish his legacy further.
Rodgers should stay in game shape and wait for one of the contenders to lose their starting star QB in some kind of freak injury (Joe Burrow a couple of seasons ago for instance). And sign up for down the stretch.
A short season would be better for Rodgers’s 41 year year old body.