Giants Work Out LB Anfernee Orji, DL Marlon Davidson
The Giants hosted linebacker Anfernee Orji and defensive lineman Marlon Davidson for workouts during mandatory minicamp this week , per Dan Duggan of The Athletic. Both spent time under Giants defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson while he held the same job in Tennessee.
Orji, 25, signed with the Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2023 and spent the year on the practice squad. He made the 53-man roster in 2024 and appeared in 16 games with a core special teams role (82% snap share) and 146 snaps on defense.
Orji was a casualty of the New Orleans’ 2025 offseason overhaul. He was waived by the Saints and made his way to Tennessee but suffered a torn ACL in training camp that sidelined him for the entire season.
The Giants’ inside linebacker room is the thinnest one on their defense. They have just six players under contract – seven if you count No. 5 pick and hybrid edge rusher Arvell Reese – so they could stand to add another body for training camp.
Davidson, 28, was a Falcons second-round pick in 2020 who largely disappointed in Atlanta. He appeared in 19 games in his first two seasons with 29 tackles, one sack, and one tackle for loss before undergoing knee surgery that sidelined him for all of 2022. The Falcons waived Davidson the following offseason. He then spent time with the 49ers and the Titans with five appearances for Tennessee to close the 2023 season. Davidson missed the 2024 season due to a biceps injury and played nine snaps for the Falcons next year.
The Giants should place Roy Robertson-Harris (torn Achilles) on the physically unable to perform list at the start of training camp, which could open a spot in the defensive line room for Davidson. Even if signed, he and Orji would both face an uphill battle to a roster spot, though their connection with Wilson might give them a leg up in catching up on the team’s new defensive scheme.
Giants Optimistic Malik Nabers Will Be Ready For Week 1
Giants No. 1 receiver Malik Nabers remains in recovery from the torn ACL and meniscus he suffered last September. It has been a difficult rehab for Nabers, who required a second surgery – a cleanup procedure – in mid-April. While Nabers is still sidelined, Giants bigwigs are optimistic he will be ready when they open their season against the Cowboys on Sept. 13.
“I still think he’ll be fine Week 1,” general manager Joe Schoen told Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports on Monday. “So we’ll see. He’s trending in the right direction. Again, these things take time, so it’s not instant. Every patient is different.”
Head coach John Harbaugh took a similarly positive tone Wednesday, saying (via Dan Duggan of The Athletic) that Nabers is making “really good progress.” Harbaugh added he is “very hopeful that he’ll be back soon.” In Harbaugh’s estimation, Nabers is 70 to 80 percent through his rehab.
Nabers’ absence is the most glaring in the Giants’ receiving corps, but he isn’t their only wideout on the shelf. Darius Slayton is on the mend from core-muscle surgery, and the team saw Gunner Olszewski go down with a season-ending Achilles tear during practice on May 29. Scrambling for healthy bodies, the Giants reunited with Odell Beckham Jr. and also brought in JuJu Smith-Schuster and Braxton Berrios during a June 1 shopping spree. Those modest signings came a few months after the Giants added Calvin Austin and Darnell Mooney on the open market. They also traded up 31 picks to draft Malachi Fields in the third round (No. 74 overall).
Schoen admitted to Epstein that the Giants’ new-look WR group does not have a “true No. 1 alpha” with Nabers out, but he believes “there’s enough to go.” It is clear, however, that Nabers is the best player of the bunch. After going sixth overall in the 2024 draft, Nabers dazzled during a Pro Bowl rookie year in which he caught 109 passes for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns. Last season’s injury, which he incurred in quarterback Jaxson Dart‘s first career start, limited him to four games. Nabers will be a little under a year removed from it when Week 1 arrives, and the Giants are hopeful he will be on the field for the first meaningful game of the Harbaugh era.
Contract Details: James, Steelers, Berrios
Here are the latest details from recently agreed to contracts from around the NFL:
- Derwin James, S (Chargers): Three years, $75.6MM. Almost all the details for James’ newest extension to stay in LA were divulged in the original post. Per OvertheCap.com, we can now add the final detail that the $3MM roster bonus in the final year of his contract will be due on the third day of the 2029 league year.
- Nick Herbig, OLB (Steelers): Four years, $100MM. Of the $42MM of guaranteed money on the deal, $21MM is fully guaranteed at signing, consisting of a $19.68MM signing bonus and Herbig’s 2026 base salary of $1.33MM, per OvertheCap.com. Herbig will have roster bonuses of $7MM, $6MM, and $6MM due to him on the third days of the 2028, 2029, and 2030 league years, respectively. He’ll also have $300K workout bonuses available to earn each year.
- Darnell Washington, TE (Steelers): Four years. $42MM. According to Michael Ginnitti of Spotrac, Washington’s new deal includes $20.25MM of total guarantees, $11.25MM of which is guaranteed at signing including a $10MM signing bonus and his 2026 base salary of $1.25MM. He’ll be able to earn annual roster bonuses $2.5MM from 2028-30.
- Braxton Berrios, WR (Giants): One year, $1.3MM. Per Dan Duggan of The Athletic, Berrios’ contract is simply a veteran minimum deal with a base salary of $1.3MM and no guaranteed money, similar to Odell Beckham, Jr.‘s deal.
Giants DL Roy Robertson-Harris Could Return This Season
The Giants have bought in bulk on their defensive line following the Dexter Lawrence trade. New York added Shelby Harris, D.J. Reader, Zacch Pickens, Leki Fotu and Josh Tupou this offseason. The team also drafted Bobby Jamison-Travis in Round 6.
Part of this spree did come after a notable setback, as Roy Robertson-Harris — given a two-year contract in 2025 — suffered an Achilles tear. While the veteran interior D-lineman is facing a long recovery journey, the Giants are not placing him on IR. John Harbaugh said (via The Athletic’s Dan Duggan) the team has hope Robertson-Harris can return late in the season.
Robertson-Harris going down in late May would conceivably support an in-season return. We have seen similar timetables emerge involving players to suffer this injury during offseason work. Terrell Suggs‘ 2011 Defensive Player of the Year season preceded an Achilles tear in spring 2012. Suggs underwent surgery and returned in Week 7, helping Baltimore win its second Super Bowl. A year later, Michael Crabtree suffered an Achilles tear during 49ers OTAs. He came back in Week 13 as the 49ers reached a third straight NFC championship game.
Cam Akers beat those two standouts’ timetables in 2021, suffering a tear in late July and returning by Week 18. The Rams running back was not in great form upon return, but he made his way back to dress for Los Angeles’ four-game playoff run that culminated with a Super Bowl LVI win. Robertson-Harris is not on a team with lofty aspirations, but there is precedent for players in his circumstance completing a rehab effort by season’s end.
It looks like the Giants will stash Robertson-Harris on their reserve/PUP list when they set their 53-man roster in late August. He would miss at least the first four games, and a late-May Achilles tear will almost certainly lead to a longer hiatus. If the Giants were to place Robertson-Harris on IR now, he would — barring a situation involving a release and injury settlement — be forced to miss the season. The Giants would not lose one of their eight injury activations by activating Robertson-Harris from the PUP list.
A 10th-year veteran, Robertson-Harris started 17 games for the Giants last season and played 56% of their defensive snaps. The former Bears, Jaguars and Seahawks defender signed with the Giants — on a two-year, $9MM deal — after a Seattle release.
The Giants, who geared their D-line group (and pretty much their entire front seven) around Lawrence’s presence for seven years, have four 30-somethings rostered along their defensive front post-Lawrence. Robertson-Harris, 32, will not join Harris and Reader — and perhaps Tupou, who is 32 — on New York’s active roster for a while, but the team will hold out hope he can come back this season.
Russell Wilson Announces Retirement
On Monday, it was reported Russell Wilson would spend the 2026 season as an analyst for CBS. That news obviously suggested his playing days were over, and that has now been confirmed.
On Wednesday, Wilson posted a video to social media announcing his retirement. The 37-year-old initially expressed a desire to play in 2026, and he received an offer from the Jets. Instead of serving as a backup for another campaign, though, Wilson will turn his attention to broadcasting.
Today’s announcement marks the expected end to a playing career which began with tempered expectations. As a third-round pick, Wilson was far from certain to serve as a capable long-term replacement for Matt Hasselbeck, whose Seattle tenure ended in 2010. As things turned out, though, the franchise enjoyed a sustained run of success under head coach Pete Carroll. His work and that of the ‘Legion of Boom’ on defense was of course critical to the Seahawks’ strong play, but Wilson was a foundational player as well.
Taking on QB1 duties as a rookie and never losing them over the course of his time in the Emerald City, Wilson helped lead Seattle to eight playoff appearances. That stretch included back-to-back trips to the Super Bowl; the Seahawks comfortably won Super Bowl XLVIII over the Broncos and nearly came out on top the following year against the Patriots. Replicating those deep postseason runs proved to be a challenge Carroll’s Seahawks were unable to meet, but Wilson continued to provide the team with strong play over a decade in Seattle.
From the start of his career, Wilson was recognized as a perennial Pro Bowler, earning invitations to the event in nine of 10 seasons with the Seahawks. He also earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2019 after finishing the year with 31 touchdowns to just five interceptions despite getting sacked a league-leading 48 times that season. He departed Seattle as the franchise-leader in passing yards, touchdowns, and several other statistical categories.
Wilson’s time with the Seahawks came to an end after the 2021 NFL season, when he was packaged with a fourth-round pick and shipped off to Denver in exchange for two first- and second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, quarterback Drew Lock, defensive tackle Shelby Harris, and tight end Noah Fant. Over two years with the Broncos, Westbrook struggled to produce as he followed up his only losing season as a starter in Seattle with two more in Denver.
After getting released, Wilson signed with the Steelers, going 6-5 as a starter after missing the first six games of the season and earning Pro Bowl honors one last time. He began the following year as a starter for the Giants, before ultimately ceding his job to Jaxson Dart. He failed to go out on top, but for a third-round quarterback, winning a Super Bowl, making 10 Pro Bowls, winning the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, and cementing himself as a top player in Seahawks history is a pretty good résumé. He’ll look now to expand his accomplishments on air.
Ely Allen contributed to this post.
Giants Release K Jason Sanders
The list of Giants kickers has shrunk from three to two. The team announced on Tuesday that veteran Jason Sanders has been released.
New York’s efforts to find a Graham Gano replacement have included a number of moves. One was the signing of Sanders in March. The former Dolphin missed all of 2025, something which hindered his market value. Sanders collected $300K guaranteed from the Giants on his one-year deal, so that amount will now represent a dead cap charge.
As a result of today’s move, the Giants’ kicking competition will consist of Ben Sauls and Dominic Zvada. Sauls made three appearances as part of New York’s rotation at the position last year, connecting on each of his eight field goal attempts and all seven of his extra point tries. Zvada signed with the Giants this spring as an undrafted free agent, and he and Sauls represent an inexperienced duo vying for the full-time gig. New York has similarly opted for youth at the long snapper position with Ben Mann the only current option on the roster following Zach Triner‘s Monday release.
Sanders enjoyed a strong seven-year run in Miami. The former seventh-rounder reached or surpassed a 90% success rate on field goals three times during his Dolphins tenure. Overall, Sanders has converted 84.6% of his field goals and all but nine of his 268 extra point attempts over the course of his career. It will be interesting to see if the 30-year-old manages to line up a new gig in time for training camp or if he remains unsigned well into the summer.
Today’s release represents the corresponding move to make JuJu Smith-Schuster‘s signing official. The veteran wideout was one of three additions at that position which were lined up yesterday in the wake of a successful workout. Smith-Schuster will spend the summer competing for a roster spot, while Sanders will now attempt to find a new home elsewhere in the NFL.
Giants Sign WR Odell Beckham Jr.
JUNE 2: Beckham’s deal – just like that of Berrios and Smith-Schuster – is worth the veteran minimum, ESPN’s Jordan Raanan reports. The Giants will not incur any risk from a financial standpoint as a result while all three wideouts aim to earn a roster spot this summer.
JUNE 1: 2026 will indeed see a reunion take place between Odell Beckham Jr. and the Giants. Team and player have reached agreement on a deal, as first reported by NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
This signing – which is now official – comes shortly after Beckham’s Monday workout. That represented the second time the former Pro Bowl wideout took part in a visit with New York. A special teams addition was arranged earlier today (Braxton Berrios), but the Giants were still seen as a candidate to make another WR move.
[RELATED: Giants To Sign WR JuJu Smith-Schuster]
That has proven to be the case. Beckham returning to where his career began has remained a talking point for some time now, with communication taking place over an extended period. A mutual interest in a signing has resulted in plenty of speculation and anticipation, and today’s news will result in a high-profile training camp period during which Beckham will aim to carve out an offensive role.
The 33-year-old worked with John Harbaugh for one year when the two were together in Baltimore for 2023. Their relationship has remained strong since then, a factor in the signing which has now taken place. Expectations will of course be tempered relative to the first five seasons of Beckham’s career, during which he racked up 5,476 yards and 44 touchdown receptions as an impact Giants player on the field and a target for attention and controversy off it.
A trade to the Browns in 2019 resulted in one 1,000-yard Cleveland campaign but largely did not yield the desired results. Beckham would up being dealt ahead of the trade deadline in 2021, and he served as a valuable receiving presence on the Rams as part of their Super Bowl-winning team. An ACL tear suffered during the title game led to a full season out of action, however. Beckham then spent 2023 in Baltimore and part of the following season in Miami.
The Dolphins moved on following the 2024 trade deadline, and Beckham was hit with a six-game PED suspension ahead of last season. No team opted to add him as a free agent at that time, making it little surprise when a sparse market was present this past spring. Nevertheless, a Giants deal is now in place and the LSU product will have the opportunity to find stability (at least in the short term) late in his career.
Malik Nabers figures to reprise his role as No. 1 receiver when he is fully healthy, but it is unclear if that point will come in time for the start of the 2026 season. Missed time early in the year could help Beckham chip in offensively among the likes of returnees Darius Slayton and Jalin Hyatt, free agent signings Darnell Mooney and Calvin Austin and third-round rookie Malachi Fields.
Minor NFL Transactions: 6/1/26
Today’s minor moves:
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: WR Mac Dalena
- Waived: CB Daryl Porter Jr.
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: WR Romello Brinson
Houston Texans
- Signed: OL Derrick Graham
- Waived: G Sidy Sow
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: DT Quinton Bohanna
New York Giants
- Signed: OT Jarrod Gray
- Placed on IR: WR Gunner Olszewski
- Released: LS Zach Triner
New York Jets
- Signed: WR Da’Quan Felton, LB Chase Wilson
- Waived: K Lenny Krieg
- Waived/injured: LB Kobe King
Philadelphia Eagles
- Waived: LB Chandler Martin
Giants To Sign WR JuJu Smith-Schuster
The Giants’ efforts to add at the receiver position have still not ended. A third deal has been arranged after today’s workouts.
JuJu Smith-Schuster has agreed to sign with New York, as first reported by NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport. He too was among the veterans who took part in a workout Monday morning. Like with Odell Beckham Jr. and Braxton Berrios, it has proven to be successful in this case.
Smith-Schuster, 29, had not previously been linked to interest from other teams. The 10th-year veteran has seen his production vary considerably from one season to the next over the course of his career, and the past two campaigns with the Chiefs were not among his best. A depth spot with the Giants will nevertheless be sought out with a familiar face present at the offensive coordinator spot.
Matt Nagy worked alongside Smith-Schuster in Kansas City. He is now the Giants’ offensive coordinator. Nagy will have several new faces to work with during training camp, although Berrios will of course be expected to operate primarily on special teams. Beckham and now Smith-Schuster will look to establish themselves as veteran contributors to a New York WR room which has undergone a number of changes in recent months.
Darius Slayton and Jalin Hyatt are still in the fold as returnees from 2025, but the Giants added Darnell Mooney and Calvin Austin during free agency. Those signings were followed by the decision to select Malachi Fields in the third round of the draft. That group will aim to complement Malik Nabers when he is fully recovered from a follow-up surgery on his knee. Whether or not Nabers will be available for Week 1 remains to be seen, though.
After topping 830 yards twice during his five-year run in Pittsburgh, Smith-Schuster had a productive first campaign in Kansas City in 2022 (78-933-3 statline). That was followed by a single season in New England and a pair of one-year Chiefs deals. During that span, the former second-rounder saw his production tail off as a member of offenses which largely struggled with efficiency. He will look to bounce back in New York as part of a crowded receiver room.
Giants, WR Braxton Berrios Agree To Deal
Not long after his Giants workout, Braxton Berrios has landed a deal. The veteran receiver/returner has agreed to a one-year New York pact, per his agents (h/t ESPN’s Adam Schefter).
Berrios was joined by JuJu Smith-Schuster and Anthony Miller in taking part in a workout earlier today. Odell Beckham Jr. also went through a second Giants visit this morning. Those three remain unsigned at this time, although Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reports a second receiver addition can be expected.
Last week, Gunner Olszewski suffered what the Giants fear was an Achilles tear. Targeting a replacement with considerable special teams experience was a logical goal, and it comes as little surprise Berrios has secured a deal. The 30-year-old has returned 100 punts and 93 kickoffs over the course of his career, and will look to contribute in that regard on his latest team.
Berrios spent his first four seasons as a member of the Jets. During that time, he was a contributor on offense (totaling 46 catches in 2021) but made his most notable impact on special teams. The former sixth-round pick earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2021 for his work as a returner, amassing 1,524 all-purpose yards that season. Berrios remained productive in that capacity for another two years, including his first campaign in Miami.
An ACL tear limited Berrios to just six games in 2024 and brought his Dolphins tenure to an abrupt end. The Miami alum managed to recover in time to sign with the Texans early in free agency last March, although his Houston spell proved to be sparse in terms of playing time. The Texans moved Berrios to injured reserve in September, and he totaled just four appearances with the team.
The Giants entered Monday with $10.49MM in cap space. This Berrios contract will no doubt check in at or near the league minimum, so it will not have a large impact on any other signings New York is contemplating.