New York Giants News & Rumors

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC East

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These Cowboys, Commanders, Giants and Eagles moves are noted below.

Dallas Cowboys

Signed:

Claimed:

  • DB Twikweze Bridges (from Chargers), DB Reddy Steward (from Vikings)

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Signed to practice squad:

New York Giants

Claimed:

Released:

Signed to practice squad:

Philadelphia Eagles

Signed:

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Washington Commanders

Signed to practice squad:

2025 NFL Waiver Order

Many of the players cut Tuesday were subject to waivers, giving teams a chance to pick them up (along with the rest of their contract). Teams can claim as many players as they want before the next team gets their remaining targets.

It’s also worth noting that relatively few players are claimed off waivers during final roster cuts each year. Waiver claims will be processed at 11am CT in the following order (via NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo). In reverse order of the 2024 NFL standings, here is how the waiver priority sits:

  1. Titans
  2. Browns
  3. Giants
  4. Patriots
  5. Jaguars
  6. Raiders
  7. Jets
  8. Panthers
  9. Saints
  10. Bears
  11. 49ers
  12. Cowboys
  13. Dolphins
  14. Colts
  15. Falcons
  16. Cardinals
  17. Bengals
  18. Seahawks
  19. Buccaneers
  20. Broncos
  21. Steelers
  22. Chargers
  23. Packers
  24. Vikings
  25. Texans
  26. Rams
  27. Ravens
  28. Lions
  29. Commanders
  30. Bills
  31. Chiefs
  32. Eagles

Giants Move Down To 53

Following the Tommy DeVito cut, here are the moves the Giants made to trim their roster to 53:

Released:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Placed on reserve/PUP list:

Placed on IR (return designation):

Two years after winning a starting job as a rookie (and forcing Adoree’ Jackson into a brief slot CB sojourn), Hawkins is off the Giants’ roster. He joins Dulcich as notable players waived today. Dulcich came over via waivers from the Broncos midway through last season. The Giants have been light at tight end since Darren Waller‘s retirement, but they now have starter Theo Johnson back after a season-ending injury. Daniel Bellinger, Chris Manhertz and seventh-round rookie Thomas Fidone made the team over Dulcich.

Forsythe came over from the Seahawks on a one-year, $1.34MM deal, doing so after having started 13 games between the 2023 and ’24 seasons. The Giants gave more money (two years, $12MM) to James Hudson to be their swing tackle, while fifth-round rookie Marcus Mbow has been working at tackle as well. Evan Neal is also an option at tackle, though the demoted RT has been working at guard for months.

Ezeudu will count toward the Giants’ in-season injury activation total, reducing that number from eight to seven. The former third-round pick has been out for a few weeks after being carted off the practice field early in camp. The Giants view Ezeudu as likely to return, however. This is the North Carolina product’s contract year.

Teams can officially begin setting their 16-man practice squads starting at 11am CT Wednesday. The Giants have a few candidates from this bunch to stay, with a decent percentage of the above contingent under consideration to stay. Kabas is one, per The Athletic’s Dan Duggan, who adds Miller is another. Paige is viewed as a candidate for New York’s P-squad as well, per KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson. Ward is a vested veteran and can determine his future earlier, but Wilson adds the reserve RB is a taxi squad candidate.

Giants To Waive QB Tommy DeVito

The Giants’ trio of new quarterbacks has pushed Tommy DeVito off the roster. New York is moving on in this case, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

DeVito has made 12 appearances and eight starts across the past two seasons, but the Giants’ actions this offseason led to the expectation he would wind up on the wrong side of the roster bubble. New York added Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston in free agency before selecting Jaxson Dart in the first round of the draft. Each of those three signal-callers will be on the team’s 53-man roster, Dianna Russini of The Athletic confirms.

DeVito’s showings during his regular season appearances as well as New York’s preseason finale last Thursday could make him an attractive option on the waiver wire. Teams will be able to put in a claim through tomorrow, the first day in which practice squads will be formed. If DeVito, 27, passes through waivers, he will become a free agent.

As NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo notes, DeVito himself was the subject of trade talks in recent days. Winston has also been the target of a potential deal, but the Giants are prepared to move forward with the former No. 1 pick in a depth capacity. Wilson will handle starting duties to begin the year with Dart looming as a potential replacement depending on how the early portion of the campaign shakes out.

This time of year often brings about shuffling at the QB position, and it will be interesting to see how strong DeVito’s market turns out to be. The Raiders found themselves in need of an addition, but their vacancy was filled yesterday with the Kenny Pickett trade. The Patriots, meanwhile, have only two passers in the organization at the moment. New England thus represents a candidate for a waiver claim or a free agent push in the event DeVito hits the market.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/24/25

Here are today’s minor transactions that may have slipped through the cracks with a day full of mass cuts:

Buffalo Bills

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

New England Patriots

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Thompson-Robinson continues to struggle to find his place in the NFL. A fifth-round pick for the Browns out of UCLA, Thompson-Robinson was asked to make a number of spot starts in Cleveland. In five starts, he went 1-4, averaging about 150 passing yards per game. Over those two seasons, he scored only one touchdown while throwing 10 interceptions. He was sent to Philadelphia along with a 2025 fifth-round pick in exchange for Kenny Pickett, but the Eagles seemingly do not have a place for him.

Moore was hospitalized with a leg injury suffered in the Giants’ final preseason game but has been discharged following a successful surgery. Barring an injury settlement, he’ll spend the 2025 season on New York’s injured reserve.

Webb received a large signing bonus to sign with the Broncos as an undrafted free agent. While other teams will get their chance to claim him, the Broncos will hope to be able to bring him back to their practice squad.

Giants Will Look For Safeties On Waivers

For one reason or another, the Giants had only two safeties active in their final preseason game Thursday night. Because of this, the team will reportedly be looking to add some quality safety depth on waivers, according to Ryan Dunleavy of New York Post Sports.

While presumed starters Jevon Holland and Tyler Nubin, and likely third safety Dane Belton, were probably unavailable due to their importance to the Week 1 roster, Raheem Layne and Anthony Johnson Jr. were unavailable, presumably, for health reasons. This left Makari Paige and K’Von Wallace to play the entire game as the only two active safeties, leading them to the waiver wire.

NFL Players with fewer than four accrued seasons under their belt (and some injured players) are subject to the waiver wire, while vested veterans immediately become free agents that can sign a new contract at their own whim. This is a unique time of year to utilize the waiver wire, though.

Usually, waivers claims are processed at the end of a 24-hour period, claimed players are awarded to new teams, and teams with successful waivers are sent to the back of the priority list. What makes this time of year unique is that, from the final week of preseason games to the day after the roster cut deadline, any waived players will remain on the waiver wire, potentially for days, available to be claimed.

This gives the New York brass ample time to examine the young safeties available to be claimed. With the waiver order on Wednesday being based on 2024 records, the Giants should boast the third-highest waiver priority when claims begin processing.

The Giants should be pretty secure in their group of three safeties at the top of the depth chart. Holland came in this offseason from Miami on a sizeable three-year, $45.3MM deal. He had alternating seasons of outstanding and average play in Miami, which, if the pattern stays true, means the New York should expect the best from Holland in 2025. He should be the easy answer to slide in next to Nubin, the returning starter from last year, replacing Jason Pinnock, who now resides in the Bay Area. Belton has been a frequently used third safety in New York, rotating in often, and starting as an injury replacement as needed in his first three years with the team.

Of the safeties currently in the building, Wallace probably stands the best chance at staying as a fourth safety. After three seasons as a rotation safety in Philadelphia, Wallace started 12 games in a 2023 season that he spent with both the Cardinals (seven games) and Titans (10 games). Unfortunately, neither opportunity led to further contracts, and in 2024, he had a regressive year as an injured depth piece in Seattle.

Layne and Johnson have been depth pieces so far in their short time in New York, and Paige is an undrafted rookie out of Michigan. If the Giants decide that they don’t believe any combination of the four can effectively fill out their 53-man roster, they will have the next four days to evaluate the litany of players who end up on waivers.

Giants Make First Wave Of Roster Cuts

Over the next few days, NFL teams will trim their roster down to 53 players. The Giants began their first wave of cuts on Friday with the following eight players (via a team announcement):

Every player listed was waived except for Pascal, a vested veteran with seven accrued seasons. The other seven will be subject to waivers until Wednesday’s claiming deadline, per Howard Balzer of CardsWire. None are expected to stay in New York on the Giants’ practice squad, according to The Athletic’s Dan Duggan.

Pascal is now able to sign with any team, though his lack of meaningful offensive production since 2021 may force him to take a spot on a practice squad. He recorded back-to-back 600-yard seasons for the Colts in 2019 and 2020, but his output has waned since. The 30-year-old wideout has grown into a special teams contributor as his offensive snaps decreased, which helped him earn a veteran minimum contract in New York this offseason. Pascal’s contract only included $90k in guarantees, per OverTheCap, which will remain as dead money on the Giants’ 2025 salary cap.

Giants Not Making Jameis Winston Available In Trades

Jaxson Dart capped off a promising preseason tonight. While Brian Daboll continues to reaffirm Russell Wilson‘s starter status, calls for the rookie to receive the call will be plentiful in the coming weeks.

While Daboll has (via ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan) labeled Dart as developing and Wilson his starter, Jameis Winston is also rostered. The Giants gave Winston a two-year, $8MM deal days before signing Wilson. Some in the team’s building preferred Winston to Wilson during free agency. But the former No. 1 overall pick hovers in a gray area for now, making it worth wondering if the Giants would consider moving on early.

Assistant GM Brandon Brown attempted to shoot that down, saying this week (via the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy) Winston is “a New York Giant” and noted the 11th-year passer wants to stay. This reinforces what NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo had heard about this situation previously. Moving past some early-career off-field trouble, Winston has become something of a character as he has traveled the league. The 2024 Browns fill-in drew interest from the 49ers and Chargers on Day 1 of the legal tampering period. It took until March 21 for Winston to sign, however.

The Giants having both Winston and Wilson would stand to represent overkill behind Dart (if/once the rookie takes over this year), though the team’s QB reserves obviously became an issue a few times this decade. It would be perhaps a slight surprise if all three of New York’s top passers remained on the roster by season’s end — especially if Dart proves ready by then. Winston being signed to a two-year deal would give the Giants a multiyear Dart backup and/or a player to reevaluate trading in 2026.

A report earlier this month pegged the Giants in being OK leaving the first-round rookie on the bench for the full season. Based on the rate at which Round 1 QBs play as rookies (and considering Wilson’s post-Seattle struggles), it would be shocking if Dart did not play this season. After a 32-for-47, 372-yard, three-touchdown preseason, the Ole Miss product certainly helped his cause for early-season playing time. Would that inevitable promotion then move Wilson, rather than Winston, to the trade block?

An unquestioned starter between beating out Matt Flynn in 2012 and being benched in Week 17 of the 2023 season, Wilson will generate an interesting Hall of Fame debate down the road. He is tied to a one-year, $10.5MM deal ($10MM guaranteed). The Giants also face the NFL’s toughest schedule, and that docket includes road games against the Commanders and Cowboys before Chiefs and Chargers home tilts. Although a reprieve (via the Saints) comes in Week 5, the Giants go Eagles-Broncos-Eagles after that.

It is possible the team will want Wilson to navigate that schedule early, but with Daboll and GM Joe Schoen on hot seats, an understandable temptation to play the QB they drafted will probably emerge. With Tommy DeVito perhaps headed for the practice squad (or potentially elsewhere) next week, how the Giants proceed with Wilson and Winston before the November 4 deadline will be an interesting QB storyline to monitor. Wilson has changed teams thrice since 2022; how likely is it that he moves again before season’s end?

Giants Activate LT Andrew Thomas

Sidelined to date through training camp, Andrew Thomas is now cleared to practice. The Giants’ left tackle was activated from the active/PUP list on Tuesday, per a team announcement.

An October 2024 Lisfranc injury limited Thomas to just six games last season and set him up for a lengthy rehab process. A return to full health in time for Week 1 remained the target, though. When speaking to the media on Tuesday, head coach Brian Daboll said (via Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post) today had long been the expected activation date in Thomas’ case.

Given the timing of this move, the 26-year-old will have time to ramp up in advance of the regular season. Thomas is entering his sixth campaign in New York, each of which have been spent as the team’s starter on the blind side. Considering the term remaining (five years) on his $23.5MM-per-year extension, a full season would be critical for team and player.

Thomas had been trending in this direction, per The Athletic’s Dan Duggan. Though, he has missed substantial practice work while recovering from an injury sustained in Week 6 of last season. The Giants had seen some stumbling blocks form during the All-Pro’s recovery, but they had not wavered in confidence he would be ready to start the season. Thomas did stop short (via the New York Daily News’ Pat Leonard) of proclaiming he will start the season on time. That still seems likely, given the timing of this activation.

Chosen fourth overall in 2020, Thomas has proven to be the Giants’ best O-lineman by a wide margin. The team may well, should Evan Neal‘s bid to unseat Greg Van Roten at right guard fail, start the same O-line it did to open last season. That is certainly an atypical path after a 3-14 season, but having Thomas available again changes the equation.

The Giants are also expected to have Malik Nabers ready to roll to open the season, but injury trouble continues to slow the promising wide receiver. After a lingering toe problem kept Nabers on the shelf alongside Thomas during the Giants’ offseason program, he missed nearly two weeks of camp due to what is being classified as a minor back injury, ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan notes. While a source informed Raanan Nabers is experiencing “normal camp tightness,” a two-week absence is a bit concerning regardless. Nabers returned to work Tuesday but has missed most of the Giants’ 2025 practices.

Nabers is certainly not the only NFL regular likely to miss his team’s full preseason slate, but his light participation since last season ended obviously differs from most players’ schedules. A shoulder issue also sidelined Nabers early during training camp, limiting his work with new QB Russell Wilson and eventual replacement Jaxson Dart.

Sam Robinson contributed to this post.

Court Rules Brian Flores Discrimination Case Against NFL, Three Teams Can Go To Trial

Brian Flores is an active NFL defensive coordinator, helping the Vikings into a top-five defensive ranking last season. His discrimination lawsuit, stemming from his Dolphins dismissal and time on the HC interview circuit, remains ongoing. And the veteran staffer scored a big victory Thursday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld a prior ruling indicating Flores will be permitted to put the NFL on trial. Flores can take the league and the three teams he sued — the Broncos, Giants and Texans — to court, according to an ESPN.com report. A federal appeals court found “insurmountable flaws” with an NFL arbitration process that would have permitted Roger Goodell to be the arbitrator in this case. Rather than the deck being stacked against Flores, the third-year Minnesota DC is on track to proceed with his claims in a true courtroom.

Circuit Judge Jose A. Cabranes wrote Thursday NFL rules forcing Flores to take his claims to arbitration before Goodell represented “arbitration in name only.”

The significance of the Second Circuit’s decision cannot be overstated,” Douglas H. Wigdor, David E. Gottlieb and John Elefterakis (Flores’ attorneys) said in a statement. “For too long, the NFL has relied on a fundamentally biased and unfair arbitration process — even in cases involving serious claims of discrimination. This ruling sends a clear message: that practice must end. This is a victory not only for NFL employees, but for workers across the country — and for anyone who believes in transparency, accountability and justice.”

Although NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy countered by saying the league disagrees with the panel’s ruling and that it will “seek further review,” an active assistant being set to take the league to court is a landmark ruling. Flores filed his suit in 2022, upon being fired from the Dolphins, and various legal developments have unfolded since.

The topic of Goodell potentially serving as arbitrator in this case dates back to mid-2022. Flores had initially included the Dolphins in his suit, but Judge Valerie Caproni ruled in 2023 he must pursue that discrimination claim through arbitration. Flores initially filed his suit Feb. 1, 2022. After a lengthy delay, he will operate in a rather unusual dual role: active defensive coordinator and plaintiff in a high-profile case. Flores, 44, also figures to land back on the HC carousel in January. An actual trial taking place could reinsert a hurdle in his path to such a job. It was thought Flores would see his coaching aspirations blocked while he pursued this case, but the Steelers hired him as linebackers coach in 2022. That propelled him to the Vikes’ DC gig a year later.

When Flores accused the quartet of teams and the NFL of discrimination, he was coming off a firing after back-to-back winning seasons with the Dolphins. The firing represented a shock at the time, as the Dolphins went from an overmatched 2019 roster — one that generated a Flores tanking accusation against owner Stephen Ross, one that did not lead to NFL punishment — to a 10-6 season in 2020. Flores accused the Giants of conducting a “sham” interview with him in the wake of his Dolphins firing; his Texans accusation also comes from 2022. His Broncos accusation stems from a 2019 interview.

The Cardinals have interviewed Flores for a head coaching job since, though he backed out of a second meeting about the position in 2023. He became a much more attractive candidate after the Vikings’ defensive improvement last season. After Minnesota’s defense climbed to fifth in scoring, Flores met about the Bears, Jaguars and Jets’ jobs. None of those teams are included in the suit, and Flores is still positioned as the architect of Kevin O’Connell‘s Vikes defense.