Russell Wilson for now can be Giants' voice and command respect
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson lifts the Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl XLVII at MetLife Stadium on February, 2, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Willams
The Giants hope Russell Wilson can give them a boost at the most important position on any football field. After two years of subpar quarterback performances helped turn a playoff team in 2022 into a league-wide punchline with only eight wins since, they certainly need a lot of passing yards, points and production from the 10-time Pro Bowler.
But that’s not the only reason the Giants signed him.
It may not even be the most important one.
Wilson — and for that matter Jameis Winston, the other veteran quarterback the Giants signed this offseason — isn’t here just to replace Daniel Jones, Drew Lock and the other underachievers who have manned the position recently.
In many ways they also are here to fill the voids left by Saquon Barkley, Xavier McKinney, Julian Love, Leonard Williams and all of the other strong locker room voices that have departed through various routes since that postseason run.
The Giants needed leadership on their roster. They needed a force to not just illustrate but demand that certain levels of expectation are met. They needed a new face of the franchise, even if it is only a temporary one.
Wilson fills that role.
“This team is really looking for somebody to lead them in every way in terms of process and the offseason, during the season, our habits and our thought process, how we create a great winning culture,” Wilson said this past week during his introductory news conference. “I think the big part for me — this might be my 14th year — is to be able to lead an amazing group of men that really have big hopes and goals and dreams and desires. We all share the same goal.”
It’ll be fascinating to see how Wilson’s special brand of that part of the job plays here in New Snark City. He’s someone whose rah-rah, preternaturally positive messages definitely can be cloying. Between him and the perpetually peppy Winston, the Giants may need to push their Sunday afternoon kickoff times back to 1:30 p.m. just to allow for the hype speeches each quarterback will want to deliver.
There definitely will be and already has been plenty of eye-rolling at some of the things this Sultan of Saccharine will espouse. When he talks about being ready to “rock and roll every day” and how “every morsel in your body, in your being, has to think about winning and what that looks like,” it can sound as if Wilson should be writing Hallmark cards rather than playing football.
But it doesn’t really matter how his corny prose is received out here in the real world. It has to land with the relatively young players in front of whom he soon will be standing. Fact is, any positive internal vibe is better than no message at all, and that’s basically what the rudderless Giants got from their quarterbacks with Jones leading the group.
Being a quiet lead-by-example type works when Andrew Thomas does it at left tackle or Dexter Lawrence does it along the defensive line, but there has to be some life emanating from the guy through whom everything flows.
Wilson brings that.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to lead everybody,” he said. “It’s not just one room, one guy, one thing. It’s the whole organization. I think that’s the thing that you realize being a quarterback in the National Football League. You’ve got the best fricking job in the world. You’re one of 32. The reality is you’re like a CEO of a corporation, the whole process of it all. So you’re not just leading one person. You’re leading a whole entire fan base, too.”
How long will he have the soapbox? Part of that depends on how well he plays. He almost certainly will be the opening day starter. Nothing beyond that is guaranteed.
The Giants still are likely to select a quarterback relatively early in the draft even if Wilson’s arrival eases some of the pressure to do so with the third overall pick (or trade up higher to be assured of landing Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders, the top two prospects). That will put a timestamp on Wilson’s usefulness even more than his one-year contract does. The team’s main objective of this offseason was always to find its quarterback of the future, and Wilson, 36, is not that.
“I’m for taking swings at that position,” general manager Joe Schoen said of quarterbacks at the NFL Combine in February. “It’s the most important position, and it’s hard to find ’em. So keep swinging at the position until you find one.”
Expect that mentality to continue in late April.
Wilson also will be contending with Winston for playing time. This coaching staff can’t afford any early missteps and will ride with whoever gives them the best chance to win regardless of resume, contract or draft status.
A slow start, even if it is not entirely Wilson’s fault, could relegate him to the bench in a matter of weeks. The Giants could become someone else’s team before he even has a chance to make a true impact on the field.
It also could work. Wilson could lift the Giants and the Giants could elevate him. Stranger things have happened.
For now, though, the Giants at least have a quarterback (and probably two) who understands that the job description goes beyond making throws and running plays.
They have a voice.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
