Mario Manningham

Giants Release Mario Manningham

The Giants have released veteran receiver Mario Manningham, according to Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). After signing a one-year deal with New York in March, Manningham was placed on injured reserve when the Giants made their final roster cutdowns in August. However, Manningham’s calf injury was not season-ending, meaning he can now explore joining a team with a need at WR.

Manningham, 28, spent his first three NFL seasons with the Giants after being selected in the third round of the 2008 draft. He is perhaps best known for his sideline catch in the 2012 Super Bowl that helped New York overtake the Patriots in the final minutes of the contest. He played with the 49ers from 2012-13, but was active for just 18 total games during those two seasons. For his career, Manningham has caught 211 balls for 2,849 yards and 19 touchdowns.

As our Luke Adams explained last week, players are cut from injured reserve in one of two ways — the team and player agree to an injury settlement that pays the player until he is fully recovered, or the player attains full health while on IR, and the team is forced to release him or add him to the 53-man roster. It’s unclear which avenue the Giants took with Manningham.

Buccaneers rookie Mike Evans is expected to be sidelined for several weeks, so perhaps Tampa Bay would be interested in adding Manningham. Similarly, the Jets (Eric Decker) and Bears (Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery) have been hit by wideout injuries, and could look to bring in Manningham. Additionally, the Patriots, Browns, and Steelers are among the teams who could be on the lookout for upgrades at receiver.

Giants Cut Curtis Painter, 10 Others

1:10pm: Since the initial post, the Giants have made additional moves, including placing wideout Mario Manningham on injured reserve.

Cut:

  • Adam Gress (OL) (via Vacchiano on Twitter)
  • Jordan Stanton (DE) (via Vacchiano on Twitter)
  • Kendall Gaskins (RB) (via Vacchiano on Twitter)
  • Thomas Gordon (DB) (via Jordan Raanan on Twitter)

Placed on injured reserve:

9:00am: The Giants have started to trim their team down to 53 players, and one of the first roster victims is quarterback Curtis Painter. According to Jordan Raanan of NJ.com (via Twitter), the team has decided to carry only two quarterbacks heading into the regular season. We’ll keep track of all the Giants’ cuts here:

Giants Sign Mario Manningham

2:35pm: The Giants have officially announced the Manningham signing.

11:32am: The Giants have reached an agreement to bring wide receiver Mario Manningham back to New York, according to Pro Football Talk. Manningham will return to the Giants on a one-year contract.

After putting up 944 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in 2010, then playing a key role on the Giants’ offense during their Super Bowl run in the 2011 season, Manningham inked a two-year deal with the 49ers. However, he never really put it all together in San Francisco, and a knee injury limited his playing time in late 2012 and 2013. The former third-round pick, who turns 28 in May, will return to a Giants receiving corps that lost Hakeem Nicks to the Colts but still features Victor Cruz and Rueben Randle, among others.

Visit Updates: Manningham, Britt, Bridgewater

Several notes on player visits:

  • Receiver Mario Manningham will meet the Giants on Monday, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN. Manningham played for the Giants from 2008-2011 before signing with the 49ers.
  • Receiver Kenny Britt will meet with the Redskins after he visits the Patriots, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. We noted earlier today that Washington was attempting to schedule a visit with the free agent.
  • Linebacker Will Herring visited the Cowboys on Saturday, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. A previous deal between the two parties fell through.
  • The Chiefs met with offensive tackle J’Marcus Webb, according to ESPN’s Adam Caplan (Twitter link).
  • Caplan also tweets that fullback Erik Lorig met the Saints, who do not have a fullback on the roster after non-tendering Jed Collins.
  • Linebacker Rob Jackson will meet with the Raiders, per Mike Jones of the Washington Post (via Twitter).
  • Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater met with the Vikings staff, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.